Ben Okri: An Introduction to His Early Fiction »

The focus of this study is to examine satirical and critical modes both as objective and creative media. It explores the tradition of satire in African oral and written literature pre-Okri, and analyses how his practice of satire coheres with advances in the existing tradition, or differs from it. The targets of Ben Okri's criticism, his techniques of attack, and other devices are identified and discussed in full. Finally the author presents an opinion as to how far Ben Okri's works have succeeded in making a satirical and critical appraisal of the socio-political climate in Africa generally, particularly in Nigeria.