Originally presented as the author's thesis, Columbia, 1975. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-200).

The originality of this study stems primarily from its comparative nature, with its substantive focus on the Egyptian playwright Salāḥ 'Abd al-Sabūr who wrote in Arabic and the Nigerian dramatist, Wole Soyinka (1934), writing in English. It thus attempts to address a gap in comparative research which has so far been largely confined to comparative studies of either Western writers and African counterparts or Western writers and Arab counterparts, but rarely combined Arab and African writers. This thesis investigates selected dramatic works of the two playwrights seeking to reveal the various manifestations of poetics and politics in their drama. The aim is to find the theatrical connection between the two dramatists, a connection that could shed more light on the aesthetics of their drama and the sources of influence on them. My main concern has been, firstly, to explore Nietzsche’s influence on their drama; secondly, to analyse the dynamic relationship between their dramatic content and the local cultural and political environment of Egypt and Nigeria; and thirdly, to examine the use of history as a means of addressing contemporary issues. The first chapter is a discussion of Soyink ’s The Bacchae of Euripides. It investigates the impact of Nietzsche’s ideas, particularly those voiced in The Birth of Tragedy (1872), on Soyink ’s critic and dramatic perspectives. In the second chapter 'Abd al-Sabūr' Night Traveller is discussed. In this chapter I attempt to explore how the Egyptian playwright presente Nietzsche’s theological ideas in dramatic form. I also attempt to show how ʻAbd al-Sabūr adapted Nietzsche’s concepts to fit in with the aesthetics of modern drama in Egyptian culture. Chapter Three examines the use of religion in their drama. Religion features as an important source which afforded both ʻAbd al-Sabūr and Soyinka sufficient material for rituals, symbols, allusions, metaphors and language. In Chapter Four, the dramatists’ views and use of history is explored. The value of history and its intricate relationship to aesthetics in drama is discussed within the frame of modernism and in the light of Nietzsche’s controversial ideas of history. Chapter Five examines the interrelation between politics and poetics in the theatre of the two dramatists. It presents an attempt at a postcolonial reading of selected plays. Chapter Six explores the image, role and dilemma of the intellectual. The role assigned to this figure is important in understanding their view of theatre and its function in society. The thesis finally argues that both 'Abd al-Sabūr and Soyinka established a theatre that was based on syncretism of indigenous traditions and foreign influence. Their dramatic works tackle local issues in theatrical forms that are not necessarily indigenous. While ʻAbd al-Sabūr' drama was highly literary and its theatricality was not obviously compelling, Soyink ’s possessed theatrical elements that made their performance vividly interesting for audiences.

Plusieurs pièces du dramaturge égyptien Alfred Faraǧ (1929-2005) réécrivent des textes préexistants. Se caractérisant de façon différente selon le genre textuel de son hypotexte, la réécriture se révèle une stratégie variable. Une comparaison entre les genres, les récits, les personnages, le style et les contenus des hypertextes et des hypotextes montre que les pièces réécrivant l’histoire se focalisent sur des aspects privés et font ainsi que le passé se mêle à des questions d’actualité ; la réécriture de la Qiṣṣat al-Zīr Sālim subvertit les valeurs de la légende en les adaptant aux goûts du public ; tandis que les pièces dérivées des Mille et une Nuits encadrent des questions politiques dans une ambiance ludique.Réinvestissant le patrimoine arabe, ces réécritures soutiennent le panarabisme. En même temps, elles encodent des critiques à l’encontre du régime de l’époque. De plus, la réécriture d’Alfred Faraǧ remodèle le patrimoine arabe : elle pourvoit l’histoire d’interprétations nouvelles et positives, adapte les valeurs de la légende et gomme le pouvoir effectif de la magie ainsi que le comique basé sur des préjudices religieux ou raciaux des contes des Nuits. Les personnages tirés de l’histoire et de la légende sont réinterprétés et livrés au public comme des héros. En plus d’être multifonctionnelle, la réécriture produit une création à plusieurs niveaux. Soumise à une double réception (celle de l’hypotexte seul et celle de l’hypertexte dans son ensemble), sa perception est complexement variable. Comme un kaléidoscope, la réécriture replace des éléments pour composer des dessins constamment variables au regard du spectateur qui forment l’esthétique de ces ouvrages. / Several of Alfred Faraǧ’s plays rewrite preexistent texts. As each play presents distinctive features depending on the genre of its hypotext, rewriting is a variable strategy. A comparison between the literary genres, the plots, the characters, the style and the contents of the hypertexts and their hypotexts reveals that plays rewriting History focus on private aspects of the events and make the past reflects issues relevant in the present; the rewriting of the Qiṣṣat al-Zīr Sālim subverts its original values adapting them to the contemporary audience’s taste; and plays based on the Arabian Nights frame political issues in cheerful atmospheres.All the plays derived from the rewriting reinvest the Arab heritage and most of them are written in Classical Arabic, and so they contribute to foster the pan-arabist ideology. In the meantime, they contain political ideas which could be expressed because they were encoded through the rewriting. Alfred Faraǧ’s rewritings also reshape the socio-cultural Arab heritage providing History with new, positive interpretations of the events, substituting the values of the legend and erasing the effective power of magic and the comic based on racial or religious prejudices from the tales of the Nights. Similarly, characters taken from History or legend are reinterpreted and delivered to the audience as heroes. Besides being multifunctional, rewriting also produces a multilayered creation. Affected by a double reception (of the hypotext and of the hypertext in its whole), its perception complexly variates. Like a kaleidoscope, the rewriting resettles elements to compose ever-changing viewed patterns shaping the aesthetic of such works.