Kongi's Harvest
Kongi's
Harvest is a 1965 play written by Wole
Soyinka. It premiered in Dakar, Senegal,
at the first Negro Arts Festival
in April 1966. It was later adapted as a film of the same name, directed by the American Ossie
Davis.
The
play was published in 1967 in London and New York by Oxford University Press (Three Crowns Books;
96 pp).
Plot
President
Kongi, the dictator of an African developing
nation, is trying to modernize after
deposing King Oba Danlola, who is being held in detention. Kongi demands that
Danlola present him with a ceremonial yam at a state
dinner to indicate his abdication. Daodu, Danlola's nephew and heir, grows prized yams on his
farm.
Daodu's
lover Segi owns a bar where Daodu spends most of his time. She is revealed to
have been Kongi's former lover.
As
the different tribes are resisting unification, Kongi tries to reach his goal
by any means necessary, including forcing government officials to wear
traditional African outfits and seeking advice from the man he deposed. In a
climactic scene at the state dinner, Segi presents Kongi with the head of her
father.
References
· Berry, Poyd M. (1980). Kongi's Harvest (a
review). Gibbs, James (ed.). In Critical Perspectives on Wole Soyinka.
Lynne Rienner Publishers, ISBN 978-0-914478-50-8.
· · Gugler, Josef (1997).
"Wole Soyinka's
Kongi's Harvest from stage to screen: Four endings to tyranny", Canadian Journal of African Studies, Vol. 31, No.
1, 1997.
· · Gugler, Josef
(1999). "African Writing Projected onto the Screen: Sambizanga, Xala,
and Kongi's Harvest", African Studies Review, Vol. 42, No.
1, April 1999.
· · Davis, Ossie
(September 20, 1970). Movies: When Is a Camera a Weapon? The Camera As Weapon. New
York Times.
· · Bolwell, Edwin (July
15, 1967). "Tarzan's Africa may be up a tree; U.S.-Nigerian Film Company
Would Change Image", New
York Times.
·
Bunce, Alan (September 1, 1970). "'There is a constant thread in
all I've done'", The
Christian Science Monitor.
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