Wole Soyinkas

Previously unpublished, Salutation to the Gut is an essay Soyinka wrote more than forty years ago. The essay is a celebration of Yoruba culture, in particular Yoruba food and gastronomic culture. Its witty and whimsical style foreshadows the kind of writing that would become Soyinka's hallmark, and for which he would subsequently win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

In this book, Soyinka argues that all claims that Africa has been explored are as premature as news of her imminent demise. A truly illuminating exploration of Africa has yet to take place. It does not pretend to take place even on the pages of this book, being content with retrieving a few grains for germination from the wasteful threshing floor of Africa's existential totality.

Early Soyinka endeavors to reveal Wole Soyinka’s precocious talent as a writer of stories, dramas, essays, letters, humorous sketches and jokes, by presenting a collection of essays on writings by Soyinka composed prior to publication of his first books in 1963. The underlying argument in the book appears to be that Soyinka’s early works cannot be considered as “juvenilia or immature scribblings” for they already display a high command of language and acceptable formal structures.

The introduction lays out the background of the book when Bernth Lindfors attempts to settle a score with Biodun Jeyifo and Soyinka. Lindfors first retells Jeyifo’s position in Wole Soyinka: Politics, Poetics and Postcolonialism (2004), in which the latter identified Lindfors as one “who, almost alone among students of Soyinka’s writings, has been obsessed with his literary juvenilia, hoping therein to find materials to prove Soyinka was once a rookie writer, a neophyte artist, even if his rise to fame seemed instantaneous and meteoric.” Then, Lindfors reveals Soyinka’s misunderstanding of his efforts to demonstrate that Soyinka’s earliest writings were not the “awkward fumblings of a neophyte artist but the handiwork of a skilled craftsman who could articulate original ideas with fluency, precision and persuasiveness.” Soyinka had apparently taken issue with Lindfors in his essay “The Critic and Society: Barthes, Leftocracy and Other Mythologies,” by branding the latter as a “hagiographer extraordinary, who re-creates my juvenilia, in the old University College of Ibadan; every page of his essay contains at least one inaccuracy of time and place and a series of absurd attributions.” Lindfors’ probable purpose in bringing out these two misinterpretations of his interest in that early expressive body of work is to show the reason why many critics have refrained from studying Soyinka’s writings prior to publication of A Dance of the Forests, The Lion and the Jewel, and Three Plays in 1963. By considering these first published works as the starting point for an exploration of Soyinka’s talent and personality, those critics have been “studying the growth of a tree without examining its roots.” Early Soyinka aims then at putting things right by studying the growth of Soyinka from a close examination of his roots.

"Unquestionably Africa's most versatile writer and arguably one of her finest." (New York Times Book Review) When the Military decrees that a crime carrying a prison sentence now retroactively warrants summary execution, confusion and fear permeate a society where the brutality and injustice of military rule is parodied by life inside prison. Based on events in Nigeria in the early 1980s Wole Soyinka's stage play From Zia with Love and radio play A Scourge of Hyacinths, were produced in the early 90s when the writer was exiled by Sani Abacha's notorious and unjust military regime.

Biodun Jeyifo examines the relationship between the innovative and influential writings of Wole Soyinka and his radical political activism. Jeyifo analyzes Soyinka's most ambitious works, relating them to the controversies generated by his appropriation of literature and theater for radical political objectives. The evaluations of this study are presented in the context of Soyinka's sustained engagement with the collective experience of violence in post-independence, post-colonial Africa.

    Sheds light on the literary career of Wole Soyinka as it intersects with politics and collective identities in the developing world
    Investigates Soyinka's ambiguous relationship to forms of avant-garde representation in the twentieth century
    Will be of interest to African literature scholars as well as scholars of politics and literature

This is a study of Africa's most widely read, and, arguably, her finest writers. Despite their shared nationality and levels of prestige, each represents a distinct pole of Nigerian writing. On the one hand, there is Wole Soyinka, the playful imagist steeped in the myth and magic of his native Yoruba culture; at the other end of the spectrum, Chinua Achebe's internalized Igbo cultural traditions. Kole Omotoso - himself a prolific writer and prize-winning Nigerian novelist - explores and defines the differences in style, background, and vision betweem the two men. Individual chapters describe the childhood and early experiences of each writer, their cultural influences, education, life styles, and political involvement. Omotoso also observes the responses of Nigerian, British and American critics to their output, with a final chapter dedicated to the vision of each writer for Nigeria. An extensive bibliography completes the volume

A truly unique compendium, the essayists include three African leaders, three Nobel Laureates, distinguished playwrights, novelists, literary critics, historians, academics and public policy practitioners from around the world.

Among the contributors are Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Nadine Gordimer, Margaret Busby, Nicholas Westcott, Toni Morrison, Ama Ata Aidoo, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Kwame Anthony Appiah, Ali Mazrui, Derek Walcott, Atukwei Okai, Cameron Duodu, Yemi Ogunbiyi, Toyin Falola, King of Asante, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, President of the Republic of Ghana, John Mahama and former South Africa President Thabo Mbeki.

“...a valuable publication that should stand the test of all intellectual rigours and, in the end, should be read by every African... It is, above all, a timely volume with majestic, priceless and supreme intellectual importance."
–A.B. Assensoh PhD, Indiana University Professor Emeritus and Courtesy Professor of History, University of Oregon-Eugene, USA

The Strong Breed is one of the best known plays by Wole Soyinka. It is a tragedy that ends with an individual sacrifice for the sake of the communal benefit. The play is centered on the tradition of egungun, a Yoruba festival tradition in which a scapegoat of the village carries out the evil of the community and is exiled from the civilization. Eman, the play's protagonist, takes on the role of "carrier", knowing it will result in beating and exile. He does this to spare a young simpleton the same fate. The ritual takes an unexpected turn as Eman flees. His pursuers set a trap for him that results in his death.

From the first African Nobel Laureate, this is the first in a series of Olufosoye Annual Lectures on Religions, delivered at the University of Ibadan in 1991. Soyinka, in his characteristically stimulating way, discusses the religions of Nigeria in their national context, and other religions from around the world. The author says "At one conceptual level or the other...deeply embedded as an article of faith, is a relegation of this material world to a mere staging-post...then universal negation...Existence, as we know it, comes to the end that was pre-ordained from the beginning of time. Indeed, time itself comes to anend."

Aké, the first volume of Nigerian Nobel prize winner Wole Soyinka's (possibly slightly fictionalized) autobiography, is the first book of his I've read. For most authors, an autobiography is probably not the best place to start; most of the time, I want a reason to care about what the author has done before getting into his life story.

In this case, though, it doesn't disappoint at all. Aké chronicles young Wole's childhood up to about 11 years of age, and given that he was born in 1934, that's a fairly tumultuous time. While the world war rages somewhere just beyond the horizon, Nigeria is somewhere in between the old ways and the new ones, stuck between old tribal kingdoms and the new world, the old religion and Christianity, the old language and English, still ruled by the British but beginning to find a new identity of its own - which isn't an easy process, as shown by the occasional sobering flash-forward to Nigeria in the early 80s.

Ake tells the story of Wole Soyinka's first eleven years as a child (1934–1945), a period that coincides with major historical events in Nigeria, and around the world – World War II and the famous Women's Uprising in Egbaland, an event in which the author played the role of a courier.

Told, of course, with the benefit of hindsight, the story of Ake is rich, and the wit is bold and blithe. His touching and vivid evocation of the colourful sights, sounds, and aromas of the world that shaped him is lyrical, laced with humour and adorned with the sheer delight of a child's-eye view.

This account contains invaluable and delightful vignettes of some of the individuals and events which were to shape the future political and human rights activist, and Nobel Laureate.

A "photo-biography" of Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka

This compilation contains three lectures delivered by Professor Wole Soyinka on recent developments in the Nigerian polity which call for well-informed critical analysis. And, true to the very nature of the great writer, these essays are nothing short of intelligence, eloquence and profundity.

The Nigerian state is bedevilled by various scourges: the constant thirst for and abuse of power by governments and individuals alike, is posing a great threat to freedom more than ever before in the country; Religion is in a perpetual supremacy contest with Nationhood; and 'Rituals' the latest being the Nigerian Centenary Celebration have come to be very effective in concealing the reality of decay going on around. And where is the average Nigerian in all these? Obscured.

And the so-called heroes among them? They have been dismissed and shouted into anonymity by the very ones who are supposed to lend them their voices.

The 130 page work – InterInventions, Between Defective Memory and Public Lie, A Personal Odyssey in The Republic of Liars – was presented to the public at the June 12 Cultural Centre Kuto, Abeokuta by the Edo State governor, Comrade Adams Oshiohmole.

Nigeria as a country is bedevilled by myriads of paradoxes. These unite to dwarf its stature and hence there have been popular calls for a National Conference. Yet the powers-that-be oppose its convening with overt recalcitrance prompting Soyinka at Emeka Anyaoku's 70'" Birthday to articulate his position once again and ask "Will the National Conference open up a Pandora's Box?"

Dining with that breed of humanity known as the devil has its problems, but none that is insurmountable for those who are not truly hungry, unless of course one takes the view that experiencing acutely, albeit vicariously, the hunger of others can be considered a self-serving rationalisation.

There is a very subjective sense, near mystical, in which I feel that the mantle has been placed on my shoulders to respond to the rhetorical question posed in the title of this address: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Fortunately this also compels me to discharge the onerous burden of conforming to a moral and legal caution which goes – ubi jus ibi remedium. I promise this is the last time I shall talk Latin, no matter how much Greek provocation we encounter along the way: That last item means simply: he who comes to equity must come with clean hands. For four years, Mr. President, the nation had accorded you such servile obeisance on the understanding that you inherited a weak state and that anything after Abacha was tolerable. The people were optimistic that you had the credentials to lead them to the Promised Land. What will now pass as your mythical image of a great achiever and statesman prevailed on even the doubting Thomases to believe that you were divinely anointed. But barely two years into your first term, it was clear to even your most jaundiced admirers that you are not after all the Messiah this nation has been waiting for. –The Devil Is It, Mr. President: (An Open Letter to President Obasanjo - January 21, 2004) by Dangiwa Abubakar Umar, Rtd Col.

The Nobel Laureate's reputation as a dramatist tends to cloud his poetic achievement, and in modern African literature, poetry lives in the shadow of fiction. The criticism of Soyinka's poetry has so far centred on his themes of individuality and death, his imagery, and on the controversy over his authenticity, obscurity and difficulty. Here, in a new approach, an academic himself and one of the leading younger generation of African poets, discusses critically the voice and viewpoint of the poet with the object of establishing Soyinka's persona. The book covers the personality and world view of the man, as revealed in his poetry.

The title of this book is Iku Olokun-esin and it was written by Wole Soyinka. This particular edition is in a Book format. This books publish date is January 1, 1994. It was published by Fountain Publications and has a total of 105 pages in the book.

“Basic education, sometimes known as Home Upbringing matters, and nurturing remains a dedicated undertaking. Internet accessibility is no substitute. Like the lyrics of that ancient Lagosian song 'Eko gb'ole o gb'ole', Internet accommodates robber and indolent in equal, non-discriminating measure. The fact however remains that facts do remain facts, and one incontestable fact is that at no time did WS make any pronouncement, public or private, that invited any of these posturing mutants to come and 'play with him', least of all on a bicycle that even he has never considered his, only borrowed for a term, liable to be reclaimed or relinquished by either contracting party.” Taken somewhat aback by the unexpectedly viral response which accompanied his decision to keep his promise to destroy his American Green Card, if Donald Trump was elected president, Soyinka – with the help of a few other contributors to this volume – takes on his trolls - online as well as off.

Year of Publication: 2017

103 pages

The Lion and the Jewel is a play by Wole Soyinka first performed in 1959. It chronicles how Baroka, the lion, fights with the modern Lakunle over the right to marry Sidi, the titular Jewel. Lakunle is portrayed as the civilized antithesis of Baroka and unilaterally attempts to modernize his community and change its social conventions for no reason other than the fact that he can. The transcript of the play was first published in 1962 by Oxford University Press. Soyinka emphasises the theme of the corrupted African culture through the play as well as how the youth should embrace the original African culture.

Fresh from his studies in the UK, Maren, the protagonist of Ibadan: The Penkelemes Years, and Wole Soyinka's alter ego, takes a job at the University of Ibadan. Maren soon begins to feel an acute sense of outrage at injustices for which he will inevitably be at loggerheads with the authorities. Before long, he is drawn into the unfolding political maelstrom of the Western Region.

Linking events – national and international – over a 20-year period, and personal experiences, this third volume of Wole Soyinka's memoirs is a wonderful parlay of 'faction', to produce a vividly compelling autobiography.

The interpreters, written by Wole Soyinka in 1965, divided into two parts, is a social realism which major theme centres on the post-independence moral decadence that plagues the Nigerian society, up-till date, attempted to be solved by the Nigerians who had just returned from studies abroad. Each of the main characters is engaged in the enterprise of interpreting himself in relation to the society in which he lives, in an attempt to discover the right way to live. The narrative is, as a result, multi-stranded and employs a shifting, subjective time-scale, and in some aspects, the narrative situation used is figural, sometimes resulting in flashbacks; rendered with an intense use of language somewhat complex and metaphorical. The novel has its settings in Lagos and University of Ibadan. There is a range of character types in The Interpreters in that each of the main personae has an individual way of interpreting the world, though of course, due to their association with each other, there is a degree of commonality in some respects, both in the sense of shared experience and of quality of experience as intellectuals, though with some exceptions. However, their interpretations tilted towards the same thought stemming from shared experiences as intellectuals, except Kola. They bear the burden of the author’s worries and emphasis on indecision. They collectively and helplessly search for self-identity as a way out of the identity crisis and lack of moral stance.

"Literary duelist and inimitable dramatist, Soyinka, bursts into the historical scenes of Africa, taking on issues and societal flaws that most writers simply leave out. His unconditioned reflex, gut reactions and flashes of inspiration, through shotgun sketches of his eloquent and sharp pen, come from his impulse and are examples of the Soyinka Impulse."--back cover.

The play, a Play of Giants, was written by Wole Soyinka to present a savage portrait of a group of dictatorial African leaders at bay in an embassy in New York City, United Nations. The play was purposely written to show the resemblance between the recent historical characters/African leaders and long or one time leaders in Africa who were known for their authoritarian or tyrannical rule and these include: Macias Nguema (late) of Equatorial Guinea, Jean Basptiste Bokassa of the Central African Republic, Mobutu Sese Koko of Congo Kinshasa and the Hero of heroes, the Field Marshal El-Haji Dr. Idi Amin of Uganda.

The play started with three of the dictatorial African leaders, Kamini, Kasco and Gunema who are planning to get a life-size group sculpture of the 'crowned heads' in their likeness. They have the intentions of making their statues part of other statues that would be placed at the UN stair passage. Their discussion on power and governance was interrupted by the presence of the Chairman of the Bugara Central Bank who brought the news of the refusal of the World Bank to grant Bugara country the demanded loan based on the ground of unsatisfied conditions to which the Bugaran President, Life President Dr. Kamini, responded that the Chairman should go back and agree to whatsoever conditions put forward by the World Bank even at the expense of the Bugaran people's body and soul.

This is the yoruba version of Ake: The Years of Childhood.

A savage, stabbing inquiry, not into human nature proper, but into human nature viewed through the concave mirrors of solitary confinement and human evil, stretched and warped into horrible familiarity. Soyinka is hard to read, if you read him straight -- this book is most effective when you enter into its twisting, doubling corridors and let Soyinka transform your mind and introspection into a prison of your own. Like most great books, this one works on several levels: an indictment of political injustice, a pyschological study of the prisoner, and (pardon the cliche) a metaphor for the human condition. Brilliant and haunting.

During the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970) Wole Soyinka was arrested and incarcerated for twenty-two months, most of it spent in solitary confinement in a cell, 4ft by 8ft. His offence: assisting the Biafran secessionists.

The Man Died, now regarded as a classic of prison literature, is a product of this experience. What comes through in the compelling narrative is the author's uncompromising, principled stand on the universality and indivisibility of freedom and human rights.

The contents of a tin box – a handful of letters; old journals with marked pages and annotations; school reports; notebook jottings; tax and other levy receipts; minutes of meetings; and programme notes of special events – which belonged to his father, S. A. (“Essay”) Soyinka, a school teacher during the colonial period in Nigeria, provide the grist for Isara: A Voyage Around Essay, the second instalment of Wole Soyinka's memoirs – a son's fictionalised “voyage” into the life and times of his father.

A well written account of childhood in pre independence Yorubaland. Although it is probably not typical, it illustrates the essence of the Yoruba parenting style, a style that makes every adult a parent and every child dutiful. I recommend it.

The Jero Plays by Wole Soyinka consist of two short plays re-released as a collection in 1973. The Trials of Brother Jero first came out in 1964, while Jero’s Metamorphosis was published two years later in 1966. Both plays satirize Christianity and religious hypocrisy, particularly, the unquestioning devotion that many converts display towards their spiritual leaders, often exposing themselves to manipulation in the process.

As the title suggests, The Trials of Brother Jero is about a charlatan preacher, Brother Jero.  Brother Jero is a cunning beach diviner who woos customers (penitents) to his church by using Christian superstition for his own salvation. For him, the church is a business. He says:

 ‘I am glad I got here before any customers-I mean worshipers..  l always get a feeling every morning that am a shopkeeper waiting for customers.’

Brother Jero is suave while his followers are gullible. He lures people to his church by promising them material gains and promotions through prayer. Chume his assistant often seeks for permission to beat his arrogant wife Amope but Brother Jero disagrees:

‘ I keep my followers dissatisfied because if they are satisfied, they won’t come again..’

Madmen and Specialists is a play by Wole Soyinka, conceived in 1970 during his imprisonment in the Nigerian Civil War. The play, Soyinka's eighth, has close links to the Theatre of the Absurd. Abiola Irele (in the Lagos Sunday Times) called it "a nightmarish image of our collective life as it appears to a detached and reflective consciousness". It was published in London 1971 by Methuen and in New York in 1972 by Hill & Wang.

Madmen and Specialists is considered Soyinka's most pessimistic play, dealing with "man's inhumanity and pervasive corruption in structures of power". The plot concerns Dr. Bero, a corrupt specialist, who imprisons and torments his physician father.

'Wole Soyinka's Nobel Prize for Literature is a triumphant affirmation of the universality of this novelist, poet, film-maker and political activist.' - Guardian