Magical Realism in Stars of the New Curfew by Ben Okri : Focusing on "Worlds That Flourish"

Abstract

In African literature, especially in Nigerian literature, Social Realism was the dominant trend until the mid 1980s, and social comment was the mainspring of the works of Nigerian novelists such as Ben Okri, Festus Iyayi, T. M. Aluko and Ken Saro-Wiwa who was killed by the military government. During the last few years of the 1980s and the begining of the 1990s, a new trend known as Magical realism, has emerged in Nigerian literature. It is true that the elements of magic and the supernatural have always been present in African literature, but they were never the dominant trend. Focusing on "Worlds That Flourish", written in the late 1980s, I would like to clarify that through Magical Realism, the social reality of Nigeria that has been ruled by the brutal and irrational military government, could be depicted more vividly, and that Magical Realism is, in a sense, a deepening of Social Realism through which social comment can be caused.