Il golfo della transizione: Wole Soyinka riscrive Le Baccanti di Euripide.

Abstract

The study investigates Wole Soyinka's rewriting of Euripides' Bacchae: The Bacchae of Euripides: A Communal Rite. In his process of remodulating the classical prototype, the Nigerian Nobel merges, with perfect alchemy, the Greek/European tradition with the African one, creating a kaleidoscope of images and symbols of profound complexity. This analysis which identifies the similarities and divergences between Greek myths and gods and Yoruba cosmogony and rituals, focuses on the idea of ​​drama as an ideal medium for social and political expression within a postcolonial space. The critical and exegetical course proceeds along four lines: 1) the relationship between the classical prototype and its Yoruba version (the recontextualization of time, space and characters; 2) the similarities and inconsistencies between the myths and gods of Greece ancient and the equivalents of Yoruba cosmogony and folklore; 3) the concept of Fourth Stage, a sort of metaphysical manifesto of the Yoruba ethnic group; 4) finally, the metamorphosis of the identity of the myth, or the deconstruction of traditional Western canons and themes replaced by pre-colonial rites. The result is that of a syncretic text and theatre.