Work Classification Layer
Compare Works
Pick two or more works to set their attribute fingerprints, dimension-by-dimension passages, and shared school embodiments side by side. Especially useful for author-stage comparisons (Wittgenstein early vs late) and for setting a single tradition's foundational texts against each other.
A Dance of the Forests
Soyinka's 1960 Nigerian-Independence play — Yoruba mythology against romantic-pan-African self-congratulation
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | A Dance of the Forests (Early) |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Infinite |
| Time · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Non-Deterministic |
| Time · Traversability | Non-Linear |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Bi-directional |
| Space · Extent | Infinite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Space · Curvature | Flat |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | Local |
| Matter · Extent | Infinite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Matter · Conservation | Conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | Local |
| Observer · Time Instance | Multiple |
| Observer · Space Instance | Multiple |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Partial |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Personal |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Tradition |
| Observer · Theological Method | — |
| Energy · Extent | Infinite |
| Energy · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Energy · Conservation | Conserved |
| Energy · Dispersibility | Reversible |
| Information · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Information · Cosmic Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Personal Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Granularity | Continuous |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
A Dance of the Forests
The October 1960 Nigerian Independence moment; the deeper Yoruba-mythological time.
Space
A Dance of the Forests
The forest-setting of Yoruba mythological geography; the Independence-Nigeria political setting.
Matter
A Dance of the Forests
The embodied dead, the embodied living, the unborn — the three Yoruba worlds.
Observer
A Dance of the Forests
The Yoruba community as proper communal-participant-observer.
Energy
A Dance of the Forests
The mythic-political energies of the African Independence moment.
Information
A Dance of the Forests
The mythological-political content of the dramatic work.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The play was less well-received by audiences expecting Independence-celebration; later assessed as Soyinka's major early dramatic work and as the dramatic-theoretical foundation of his later Yoruba-philosophical commitments.