My Re-attempts at Literary Review

Literary reviews used to be my forte. Especially during my years in the university. Since leaving, I’ve not been great at it. This is my re-attempt at it.

For this blog and my next, I’ll be writing a review of J.P. Clark’s State of the Union.

Postcolonial Conditions in JP Clark’s State of the Union

JP Clark is famous for his literary materials on the state of the Nigerian nation in which we contextualize the analysis of his poems. The problems that are endemic in society are what poets and literary figures like JP Clark highlight in their works. The anthology ”State of the Nation” is an expository of the postcolonial conditions experienced in many African states which special focus on Nigeria. The goal of these kinds of literary works is to serve as a way of informing and educating the audience about the state of the nation but also, it is also meant to serve as a form of protest from the poet towards constituted authority. JP Clark also takes time to engage the youths and other stakeholders in the society, describing what roles they have to play in formulating a better society. 

In analysing these poems, we will be explicating what the term postcolonial conditions is while relating the postcolonial conditions to the situation of the country. We will employ a more pragmatic and mimetic approach in order to achieve this. Firstly, a vast number of countries around the world experienced colonialism at a particular point in time. From Asia to the Caribbean Islands to Africa and the West Indies, countries around the world were once colonies of dominating and hegemonic powers such as Britain, France, Belgium, etc. In the context of this analysis, we use Nigeria as a case study. Nigeria, a west African country was colonised for around 100 years by the British Empire. Nigeria was a colony of the British, hence, Britain wielded ultimate and supreme powers over the socio-economic and political landscape of the country. In 1960, Nigeria gained independence from Britain with three main ethnic groups – Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo – and other minority tribes joined together to form one sovereign nation. 

Low and behold, independence was a fairy tale as Nigeria remains to wallow in the same problems over and over again. Hence, postcolonial conditions in this article will be the representation of events, happenings, feelings of the Nigerian people after 1960. JP Clark in his poems talks about contemporary postcolonial issues such as moral decadence, environmental degradation, minority alienation, tyranny of the majority, exploitation, corruption, etc. Firstly, we will be addressing the issue of moral decadence. In the poem New Currency, JP Clark analogises the topic of morals using gold. Contextually, gold is an expensive, costly and relatively scarce commodity. Gold is used as a measure of not just economic wealth but also social status. JP Clark uses gold to depict the situation of morality or uprightness in our postcolonial society. JP Clark symbolises moral values with gold. Gold in this context is highly valued and respected. JP Clark says “Gold has rolled into a pit”, this expression depicts the systematic downturn and gradual demise of moral uprightness in the society. Some might argue that since morality or what is referred to as good or bad is relative according to different societies, it is rather wrong for JP Clark to question the morality of people. But we say that while morality appears to be subjective, we must not forget that there are conventional morals that cut across all tribes and races. These morals such as honesty, faith, tolerance, etc, are what JP Clark preaches because they are needed for a good state of the nation.