Abstract

This paper aims to discuss the being of Èsù in/between the undercurrents of aesthetic-ethical entanglements in the contemporary artworld. It draws its critical tools from Ọ̀rúnmìlà/Yorùbá oral philosophy and explores various manifestations of Èsù in Yorùbá/African literatures, and non/African cinema. Using examples from Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman, Femi Lasode’s (1997) film Sango: The Legendary African King, and Edward Zwick’s (2006) film Blood Diamond, the paper clarifies the importance of the metaphor of Èsù to the mode of relating to aesthetic-ethical entanglements in the Yorùbá and non-Yorùbá artworld. It shows how contemporary narrative arts transform and push Èsù into different contexts and media of storytelling.