Proverbs and Postproverbial Stance in Selected Plays of Emeka Nwabueze and Zulu Sofola

Abstract

Since the birth of Nigerian literature, writers have produced impressive collection of literature in English. African oral traditions like proverbs have been in use in creative works. Over time, there have been some alterations in proverbs as their usage and meanings slightly assume different dimensions on their seriousness, effects and explicitness of the message therein, forming either an extension to the traditional proverbs or coinages of certain expressions. It is contended that the meaning of proverbs can be interpreted within the semantic, ideational, stimulus-response, realist and contextual theories, as proverbs play significant roles in literary works. This paper anchors on J.L. Austin’s Speech Act Theory and examines the proverb uses and postproverbial reflections with the view to foregrounding their implications in two plays of common thematic preoccupations—Zulu Sofola’s Old Wines are Tasty and Emeka Nwabueze’s A Parliament of Vultures. Ultimately, it will highlight the proverbial stance and significance of the texts, thereby ascertaining the proverbial mutations in contexts.