Magical Realism as a Narrative Strategy in Ben Okri’s The Famished Road and Infinite Riches
| dc.contributor.author | Mbaabu, Alfred Mutuma | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-03-11T09:15:23Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-03-11T09:15:23Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025-11 | |
| dc.description | A Thesis Submitted to the School of Law, Arts and Social Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Arts of Kenyatta University, November 2025. Supervisor 1. Dr. Oscar Macharia Maina 2. Dr. Yuvenalis Mwairumba | |
| dc.description.abstract | Magical realism fuses the real and the marvelous to expose the complexities of postcolonial life. The study investigates magical realism as a narrative strategy in representing postcolonial realities in Ben Okri’s The Famished Road and Infinite Riches. This research is driven by the need to understand how postcolonial writers employ the magical to question the contradictions and disillusionment of independence. Drawing on Homi Bhabha’s notions of ambivalence and hybridity, Gayatri spivak’s insights on subalternity and silenced voices and Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of dialogism, the study examines how Okri’s narrative forms challenge colonial authority and reticulate African subjectivity. Chapter Two, The Use of Magical Realism to represent the socio-political ills in The Famished Road and Infinite Riches, finds that Okri exposes corruption, greed and moral decay, contributing to scholarship by demonstrating magical realism’s role in socio-political critique. Chapter Three, The Nexus Between Magical Realism and Postcolonial Discourse, reveals how Okri negotiates Western realism and African cosmologies to express hybridity and cultural resistance, highlighting the link between narrative technique and postcolonial identity. Chapter Four, Ben Okri’s vision of the postcoloniality, shows that his fiction fosters hope, spiritual resilience and imaginative renewal, providing insight into reconstructing African futures. Chapter Five synthesises these findings, arguing that Okri’s magical realism functions as both artistic and ideological tool that critiques power, affirms African subjectivity, and envisions liberated nationhood. Overall, the study contributes to scholarship by positioning magical realism as a critical instrument in postcolonial literature. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/32698 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | Kenyatta University | |
| dc.title | Magical Realism as a Narrative Strategy in Ben Okri’s The Famished Road and Infinite Riches | |
| dc.type | Thesis |