Femi Osofisan: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Nigerian writer (born 1946)}}

| name = Femi Osofisan

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| pseudonym = Okinba Launko

| birth_name = Babafemi Adeyemi Osofisan

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1946|06|16}}

| birth_place = Erunwon, [[Ogun State]], Nigeria

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| occupation = Professor, Playwright, Poet

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| nationality = Nigerian

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'''Babafemi Adeyemi Osofisan''' (born June 16, 1946), known as '''Femi Osofisan''' or '''F.O.''', is a [[NigeriaNigerian]]n writer noted for his critique of societal problems and his use of African traditional performances and surrealism in some of his novelsplays.

A frequent theme that his novelsdrama explore is the conflict between good and evil. He is in fact a didactic writer whose works seek to correct his decadent society. He has written poetry under the [[pseudonym]] '''Okinba Launko'''.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-06-25|title=As Osofisan’sOsofisan's ‘Cordelia’'Cordelia' goes on big screen {{!}} The Nation|url=https://thenationonlineng.net/as-osofisans-cordelia-goes-on-big-screen/|access-date=2021-07-07|website=Latest Nigeria News, Nigerian Newspapers, Politics|language=en-US}}</ref>

Babafemi Adeyemi Osofisan was born in the village of Erunwon,<ref>[http://www.africanbookscollective.com/authors-editors/femi-osofisan Femi Osofisan page] at African Books Collective.</ref> [[Ogun State]], Nigeria, on June 16, 1946, to Ebenezer Olatokunbo Osofisan, a school teacher, lay reader and church organist, and Phoebe Olufunke Osofisan, a schoolteacher. His last name, Ọ̀sọ́fisan, signifies that his paternal ancestors were artists and artisans who worshipped the god of beauty and ornaments, Ọ̀ṣọ́. Osofisan attended primary school at [[Ife]] and secondary school at [[Government College, Ibadan]].

He then attended the [[University of Ibadan]] (1966–69), majoring in [[French language|French]] and as part of his degree course studying at the [[University of Dakar]] for a year, and going on to do post-graduate studies at the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne, Paris]].<ref>Don Rubin, [http://www.critical-stages.org/14/prof-don-rubins-brief-introduction-to-femi-osofisan/ "A Brief Introduction to Femi Osofisan"], ''Critical Stages/Scènes Critiques'', December 2016: Issue No 14.</ref> He subsequently held faculty positions at the [[University of Ibadan]], where he retired as full professor in 2011. He is currently a Distinguished Professor of [[Theatre arts|Theatre Arts]], [[Kwara State University]], Nigeria.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-06-16 |title=Femi Osofisan at 75: Homage to a literary luminary and statesman, By Toyin Falola |url=https://www.premiumtimesng.com/opinion/468012-femi-osofisan-at-75-homage-to-a-literary-luminary-and-statesman-by-toyin-falola.html |access-date=2022-03-08 |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Osofisan has written and produced more than 60 plays.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Prof. Femi Osofisan {{!}} UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN|url=https://www.ui.edu.ng/osofisanfemi|website=www.ui.edu.ng|access-date=2020-05-26|archive-date=2020-07-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731044149/https://www.ui.edu.ng/osofisanfemi|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=International conference in Osofisan’sOsofisan's honour holds next June {{!}} City Voice Newspaper|url=http://cityvoiceng.com/international-conference-in-osofisans-honour-holds-next-june/|last=Voice|first=City|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-11}}</ref> He has also written four prose works: ''Ma'ami'', ''Abigail'', ''Pirates of Hurt'' and ''Cordelia'', first produced in newspaper columns, in ''[[Daily Times of Nigeria|The Daily Times]]'' and then [[The Guardian (Nigeria)|''The Guardian'' (Nigeria)]]. One of his prose works; Ma'ami was [[Ma'ami|adapted into a film in 2011]].

Several of Osofisan's plays are adaptations of works by other writers: ''[[Women of Owu]]'' from [[Euripides]]' ''[[The Trojan Women]]'';<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Olasope|first=Olakunbi|date=2012|title=To Sack a City or to Breach a Woman’sWoman's Chastity: Euripides’Euripides' Trojan Women and Osofisan’sOsofisan's Women of Owu|journal=African Performance Review, Journal of African Theatre Association UK|volume=6.| issue=1 |pages=111–121}}</ref> ''Who's Afraid of Solarin?'' from [[Nikolai Gogol]]'s ''[[The Government Inspector]]''; ''No More the Wasted Breed'' from [[Wole Soyinka]]'s ''[[The Strong Breed]]''; ''Another Raft'' from [[J. P. Clark]]'s ''The Raft''; ''Tegonni: An African Antigone'' from [[Sophocles]]′ ''[[Antigone (Sophocles)|Antigone]]'',<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Olasope|first=Olakunbi|date=2002|title=Greek and Yoruba Beliefs in Sophocles' Antigone and Femi Osofisan's Adaptation, Tegonni|journal=Papers in Honour of Tekena N. Tamuno|pages=408–420}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199296101.001.0001/acprof-9780199296101-chapter-3|title=Antigone’sAntigone's Boat: the Colonial and the Postcolonial in Tegonni: An African Antigone by Femi Osofisan|last=Goff|first=Barbara| editor1-first=Lorna | editor1-last=Hardwick | editor2-first=Carol | editor2-last=Gillespie |date=2007-10-11|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780191712135|language=en-US|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199296101.001.0001/acprof-9780199296101-chapter-3}}</ref> and others.

Osofisan in his works also emphasizes gender: his representation of women as objects, objects of social division, due to shifting customs and long-lived traditions, and also as instruments for sexual exploitation; and his portrayal of women as subjects, individuals capable of cognition, endowed with consciousness and will, and capable of making decisions and effecting actions. His inspiration is based on his hometown and his society.{{fact|date=September 2024}}

* 2015: PAWA Membership Honorary Award<ref name=PAWA /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Echoes of Achebe’sAchebe's works at writers’writers' show|url=https://thenationonlineng.net/echoes-of-achebes-works-at-writers-show/|date=2015-11-24|website=Latest Nigeria News, Nigerian Newspapers, Politics|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-30}}</ref>

*Osisanwo, Ayo & Muideen Adekunle. Expressions of Political Consciousness in [[Wole Soyinka]]’s ''Alapata Apata'' and Femi Osofisan’sOsofisan's ''Morountodun'': A Pragma-Stylistic Analysis. ''Ibadan Journal of English Studies'' 7 (2018): 521-542521–542.

[[Category:Nigerian writersdramatists and playwrights]]

[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Ibadan faculty]]

[[Category:Academic staff of Kwara State University faculty]]