Trauma and History in Ben Okri’s Fiction

Deyan GUO

Abstract


In his Azaro Trilogy, Nigerian writer Ben Okri describes a fantastic but painful world in the style of magical realism. Through the miserable life of Azaro’s family against poverty and the political power struggle between the Party of the Rich and the Party of the Poor in pre-independence days, the trilogy traces the causes of Nigerian political chaos to the heritages of colonialism and regionalism, and foretells the impending nightmarish civil war. By exploring these historical issues, Okri reveals how Nigeria has been traumatized by British colonizers and how the dispossessed are oppressed by the rich, at the same time he attempts to search for some solutions to the present problems of Nigeria.

Key words: Okri; Colonialism; Regionalism; The civil war; Trauma


References


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