Recommended JAMB Literature Books for 2021-2026 (drama)

JAMB Recommended Books for Literature in English

Drama

African Drama

The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka

Lion and the Jewel Background, Plot and Settings

Author’s Background

Lion and the Jewel, one of the JAMB Literature books was written by Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka who was born on July13,1934, in Abeokuta, western Nigeria. He eventually went by the name Wole Soyinka. Soyinka was reared in an Anglican mission compound by his Anglican priest father. Through his granddad, a Yoruba priest, he simultaneously forged a close bond with his Yoruba heritage. Soyinka was a lovely, inquisitive child who did well in school. He finished his secondary school education in 1954 and proceeded to England to enroll in the University of Leeds, where he graduated with a master of arts in English Literature in 1958. Later, he went back to Leeds to finish his doctoral work, which he did in 1973.

Plot of Lion and the Jewel

It is a play about two suitors, Lakunle and Baroka, courting a stunning woman named Sidi. While Baroka, an elderly village elder and polygamist, expressed interest in Sidi, Lakunle, a teacher, purported to be interested in a modern marriage. Sidi rebuffed both men, feeling empowered by the recent magazine appearance of her images. Lakunle’s inability to pay her bride price and Baroka’s advanced age were the reasons she rejected them both. Sidi planned to embarrass Baroka after discovering that he was impotent. But her strategy was a failure. Baroka used a falsehood about being sterile to seduce Sidi. Sidi was subjected to sexual assault by Baroka, who later married her.

Settings of Lion and the Jewel

The play takes place in the Nigerian Yoruba town of Ilujinle. The drama is broken into three scenes: Morning, Noon, and Night, and it took place over the course of a single day.

Non-African Drama

Look Back in Anger by John Osborne

Background of the Author

John James Osborne, an English dramatist, screenwriter, and actor who lived from 12 December, 1929 to 24 December 1994, was well-known for his criticism of prevailing social and political standards. His 1956 drama Look Back in Anger’s critical and commercial triumph changed English theater. Osborne was well known for using foul language, both against his own family and the political causes he supported, such as his wives and kids. One of the earliest authors to discuss Britain’s role in the post-imperial era was Osborne.

Strongly autobiographical, Look Back in Anger was based on Osborne’s unfortunate marriage to actress Pamela Lane and their living in a small Derby apartment. Osborne wanted to work in theater, while Lane was more realistic and materialistic. 

Additionally, it alludes to Osborne’s past; for instance, the heartbreaking statement about witnessing a loved one pass away served as a flashback to the passing of his father, Thomas.

Plot of Look Back in Anger

Jimmy is the focus of the play Look Back in Anger synopsis. Jimmy is a man who owns a little confectionery. Additionally, he feels underpaid and unsatisfied with his employment. Jimmy has a temper and frequently snaps at his wife Alison. He frequently insults his wife. Helena, a friend of Alison’s, encourages her to leave Jimmy.

Jimmy also makes the decision to confront Helena after his wife departs. But Jimmy and Helena start dating and moving in together. Themes in Look Back in Anger get more complex once Alison visits Jimmy. However, what’s notable is that she’s back after having a miscarriage. At this point, Alison and Helena make up. This was due to Helena’s emotional state. Alison and Jimmy reunite around the book’s conclusion, according to the Look Back in Anger description. The couple makes the decision to patch things up.

Settings of Look Back in Anger

The one-room apartment of the Porters, an average-sized attic room, is where Look Back in Anger is set. A double bed, a dressing table, book shelves, a chest of drawers, a dining table, three chairs, and two worn-out leather arm chairs make up the room’s basic and somewhat dated furniture. The play’s dismal backdrop draws attention to the contrast between idealistic Jimmy and the lifeless reality of the world around him.

In the early 1950s, the flat was situated in the Midlands, an area in the center of Britain. The opening of the play in April is a nod to T.S. Eliot’s remark in The Waste Land that “April is the cruellest month.” Eliot is referred to several more times throughout the play as a key example of English culture.