Literature as Prophecy in J. P. Clark's "The Casualties" and It's Implications for Contemporary Nigerian Society.

There is no doubt that some scholars have attempted to situate J. P. Clark Bekederemo's poem "The Casualties" within the framework of the Nigerian Civil War. However, very little attention seems to have been given to the prophetic and contemporaneous implications of the creative work. This paper is an effort at bridging the gap, by conceptualizing the visionary content of the poem, and locating it in the present-day socio-political context of Nigeria. While using the critical tool of New Historicism as a basis for the analytical procedure, the paper observes that the various issues that culminated in the national crisis are still prevalent, and concludes that unless urgent and proactive steps are taken towards addressing them, a repeat of the bloody incident of 6[sup th] July 1967-15[sup th] January 1971 may be inevitable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]