PAPERBACK ISBN: 0-88258-136-8       $34.95

360 pages; 6 x 9 inches

by J. P. Clark-Bekederemo

J. P. Clark-Bekederemo’s Collected Plays, 1964-1988, with an introduction by African literature scholar Abiola Irele, assembles three previously published volumes of the award-winning Nigerian playwright’s work.  The author’s picturesque native land, the western Niger Delta, where rivers meet and break into many small creeks and islands, inspires the settings of these assembled plays, which draw heavily upon traditional Ijaw themes.  His acclaimed dramas, such as Song of a Goat and The Masquerade, share many attributes with classical Greek tragedy, addressing universal themes of family conflict and the tragedy that ensues when individuals fail to resolve burgeoning cri­ses. In Ozidi, Clark-Bekederemo traces the fate of a hero who is trapped by destiny to avenge the death of his father. The conflict arising from com­mon ownership of a boat by two brothers who wish to ply their trade in different directions engenders a recurring tragedy in three generations of a family in the dramatic cycle, The Bikoroa Plays. These collected works reveal why critic Robert M. Wren has called J. P. Clark-Bekederemo “a poet and playwright of the first rank in both originality and in expressive power.”

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