Wole Soyinka, Jero's Metamorphosis

Craig McLuckie (Okanagan College)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 8.2.3: Anglophone African Writing and Culture: Subsaharan.
Vol. editors: Helen Rachel Cousins (Birmingham Newman University), David Firth (University of Manchester)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1973

Places

Nigeria (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

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Jero’s Metamorphosis

(1973) is more substantive than

The Trials of Brother Jero

(1964), in that it is a full length stage play.

Jero’s Metamorphosis

remains on similar terrain to the earlier work, though Brother Jero’s appetite for power has increased. Indeed the image in the opening stage direction recalls the brevity and succinctness of Soyinka’s revue sketches: “On the wall, a large framed picture of a uniformed figure ... indicates that Jero’s diocese is no longer governed by his old friends the civilian politicians. As Jero dictates ... it is obvious that he has his mind very much on this photograph” (Soyinka,

The Jero Plays,

London: Methuen, 1977, p.47). The play’s coherence centres on the repetition of this image: in scene two, “A portrait of the uniformed figure,…

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1049 words

Citation: McLuckie, Craig. "Jero's Metamorphosis". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 February 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=12838, accessed 05 May 2024.]

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