Magical Realism: The Spoken Word as a Superperson in Niyi Osundare’s The Word Is an Egg

Abstract

Abstract The Yorùbá are one of the major ethnic groups in West Africa, with Nigeria being the homeland for the majority. The Yorùbá poet Niyi Osundare’s work is influenced by the Yorùbá animist worldview, which venerates the spoken word. Such influence is evident in his depiction of the spoken word as an extraordinary sort of person, a superperson. One central artistic feature of his poetry is the adaptation of devices of Yorùbá oral literature. Therefore, most studies of his poetry privilege its link to Yorùbá oral poetry. However, the use of devices found in Yorùbá folktales in his verse has not been subjected to detailed study. One implication of this is that, despite magical realism being a major artistic feature of Osundare’s poetry, critics have largely overlooked the fact that he is a magical realist poet. In his collection The Word Is an Egg (Ibadan: Kraft, 2000), Osundare relies substantially on the folktale as a model to frame his message on the personhood of the spoken word. In this article, I use the lens of magical realism to explore how he uses an adapted Yorùbá folktale to depict the message that the spoken word is a superperson who deserves to be treated with respect.