The aesthetics and social vision of Festus Iyayi's writing demonstrate the difficulty of the literary artist's mission to effect change in today's materialistic world. His social ambitions for the economic and social liberation of the Nigerian worker are presented in a critical realism that shows the worker's exploitation and humiliation. Iyayi is a part of what's called "literature of disillusionment" or "literature of post-colonial experience." Instead of just reporting on the social and economic problems in Nigeria, he offers a novel solution that puts the people first. His "discourse of the praxis," as I see it, is at work in his books Violence and The Contract, in which he uses words to effect social change. This study compares and contrasts the two books in order to demonstrate how social reality constrains literary language. As contrast to theoretical linguistics, this exemplifies the interplay between language and social situation. This article argues that for contemporary literature to remain relevant, it must adopt a more praxis-oriented focus. Both "Violence" and "The Contract" realistically portray oppressive worlds while offering glimmers of escape from economic tyranny.

Social change, modern materialist society, Literature of disillusionment, Theoretical liguistics