African Figure's Journey as a Divine Trickster Character to the Political World of the Signifying Monkey

Subject Areas : Comparative Literature Studies

Maryam Jalali Farahani ¹ , Saeedeh Erfanrad ²

1 - Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities, Taft Branch, Islamic Azad University, Taft, Iran.
2 - Yazd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yazd, Iran

Received: 2023-09-27 Accepted : 2024-08-13

Keywords: Esu-Elegbara, a trickster figure, African Tradition, Henry Louis Gates, African Literature.,

Abstract :

African Figure's Journey as a Divine Trickster Character to the Political World of the Signifying Monkey Abstract Esu-Elegbara is repeated throughout black oral narrative traditions and cultures and is a mediator and the messenger of the gods who interprets the will of the gods to man and carries the desires of man to the gods. This significant trickster figure has survived the horrible passage; however, its shape has transformed in Western Black cultures into The Signifying Monkey a political character. This study reveals his change or metamorphosis from a minor role to a major one. This research is a library-based descriptive qualitative one and surveys the diachronic journey of Esu-Elegbara, the divine trickster figure from the Western Coast of Africa to African-American Literature in the United States and its metamorphosis into The Signifying Monkey, a political figure. Keywords: Esu-Elegbara, a trickster figure, African Tradition, Henry Louis Gates, African Literature, divine character