PAPERBACK ISBN: 0-88258-213-5       $42.95

480 pages; 6 x 9 inches

by J. P. Clark-Bekederemo

J. P. Clark-Bekederemo’s Collected Plays and Poems, 1958-1988, with an introduction by African literature scholar Abiola Irele, assembles the creative literary output of one of contemporary Africa’s leading poets and playwrights during a period spanning three decades when the new African literature to which Clark-Bekederemo has made such a significant contribution was being established. 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 denial. Ozidi traces the fate of a hero who is trapped by destiny to avenge his father’s death. 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 Bikoroa Plays. This collection also gathers Clark-Bekederemo’s poetry, previously pub­lished in three volumes: A Decade of Tongues: Selected Poems, 1958-1968; A Reed in the Tides; and Casualties. The poetry extends from short lyrics to extended treatments of particular themes in other collected works including State of the Union, Mandela, and other poems, which address colonialism and the manifold tragedy wrought by the Nigerian Civil War upon the individual and the nation, and the liberation struggle in South Africa.

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