No danger no delay: Wole Soyinka and the perils of the road

Abstract

This article examines the way in which the road functions in Wole Soyinka's work as a Bakhtinian chronotope that gives shape to the paradoxical symbolism and dangerous reality of Nigerian roads. After briefly examining Soyinka's poem Death in the Dawn, where Soyinka first articulates the psychological consequences of road accidents, it turns to discuss his play The Road. It highlights the ways in which various chronotopes interact dialogically to reveal the complex space-times that the characters occupy as they attempt to cope with the death and tragedy that is part of daily life on the road. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.