Bate Besong’s Beasts of no Nations :: Bate Besong Beasts Nations Essays

Bate Besong’s Beasts of no Nations Drama is one genre in Literature whose functionality in society cannot be under estimated. It is an active and practical genre because; there is harmony and a practical relationship between the audience and the dramatis personae. It thus imitates its society at best. From this, it is difficult to separate drama from politics; politics being a science that deals with the state and the condition of the human society. Bate Besong is one of the most renown Cameroonian playwright of English expression, besides Bole Butake, Victor Epie Ngome and John Nkemngong, who is of the younger generation of Cameroonian playwrights in English. Even then, Bate Besong’s plays have not gained impetus in the eyes of critics. But examining the content and form of Beasts of no Nations,a play he published in 1990, one can rightly conclude that Bate Besong is an experimentalist playwright and a reformer. That is, one who uses art with the hope of changing the state of affairs in his ailing Cameroonian society. It is in this light that he becomes a political writer. I defend the hypothesis here that drama and politics are inseparable. Drama does not only mirror society but plays the role of a conscientizing, since man is only a political being and not a political genius. My goal in this paper will be to assess the relationship that exists between drama and politics and its results in society. The sociological approach would be used to analyse the relationship between drama and politics in Batae Besong’s play. This approach is based on the assumption that literary works are reflections of society. Critics of the approach hold that the understanding of the actual society is very important in the understanding of the textual society. In this case a literary work becomes the product of the community. I find this approach relevant in that I am going to be dealing with a subject, which handles text and societal relationship. This paper has been structured into two broad phases: the first phase looks at drama as a genre, politics as a discipline and their relationship. The next phase looks at how Bate Besong uses the art of drama to handle some burning issues in Post-independent Cameroon Aristotle defines drama as â€Å"action†. Action results from the interaction between the dramatis personae. Through action, the audience understands the conflicts and follows closely how it is resolved. Bate Besong’s Beasts of no Nations :: Bate Besong Beasts Nations Essays Bate Besong’s Beasts of no Nations Drama is one genre in Literature whose functionality in society cannot be under estimated. It is an active and practical genre because; there is harmony and a practical relationship between the audience and the dramatis personae. It thus imitates its society at best. From this, it is difficult to separate drama from politics; politics being a science that deals with the state and the condition of the human society. Bate Besong is one of the most renown Cameroonian playwright of English expression, besides Bole Butake, Victor Epie Ngome and John Nkemngong, who is of the younger generation of Cameroonian playwrights in English. Even then, Bate Besong’s plays have not gained impetus in the eyes of critics. But examining the content and form of Beasts of no Nations,a play he published in 1990, one can rightly conclude that Bate Besong is an experimentalist playwright and a reformer. That is, one who uses art with the hope of changing the state of affairs in his ailing Cameroonian society. It is in this light that he becomes a political writer. I defend the hypothesis here that drama and politics are inseparable. Drama does not only mirror society but plays the role of a conscientizing, since man is only a political being and not a political genius. My goal in this paper will be to assess the relationship that exists between drama and politics and its results in society. The sociological approach would be used to analyse the relationship between drama and politics in Batae Besong’s play. This approach is based on the assumption that literary works are reflections of society. Critics of the approach hold that the understanding of the actual society is very important in the understanding of the textual society. In this case a literary work becomes the product of the community. I find this approach relevant in that I am going to be dealing with a subject, which handles text and societal relationship. This paper has been structured into two broad phases: the first phase looks at drama as a genre, politics as a discipline and their relationship. The next phase looks at how Bate Besong uses the art of drama to handle some burning issues in Post-independent Cameroon Aristotle defines drama as â€Å"action†. Action results from the interaction between the dramatis personae. Through action, the audience understands the conflicts and follows closely how it is resolved.