Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth

Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth
Author: Wole Soyinka
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 465
Release: 2021-09-28
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1526638223

'Soyinka's greatest novel ... No one else can write such a book' - Ben Okri 'A high-jinks state-of-the-nation novel' - Chibundu Onuzo A FINANCIAL TIMES AND SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR A towering figure in world literature, Wole Soyinka aims directly at the corridors of power as he warns against corruption both of high office and of the soul, with a dazzling lightness of touch and gleeful irreverence. Much to Doctor Menka's horror, some cunning entrepreneur has decided to sell body parts from his hospital for use in ritualistic practices. Already at the end of his tether from the horrors he routinely sees in surgery, he shares this latest development with his oldest college friend, bon viveur, star engineer and Yoruba royal, Duyole Pitan-Payne, who has never before met a puzzle he couldn't solve. Neither realise how close the enemy is, nor how powerful. Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth is at once a savagely witty whodunit, a scathing indictment of Nigeria's political elite, and a provocative call to arms from one of the country's most relentless political activists and an international literary giant. MORE PRAISE FOR WOLE SOYINKA: 'You don't see the things the same when you encounter a voice like that' - Toni Morrison 'One of the best there is today, a poet and a thinker, who knows both how the world works and how the world should work' - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

You Must Set Forth at Dawn

You Must Set Forth at Dawn
Author: Wole Soyinka
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 525
Release: 2007-12-18
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0307432904

The first African to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, as well as a political activist of prodigious energies, Wole Soyinka now follows his modern classic Ake: The Years of Childhood with an equally important chronicle of his turbulent life as an adult in (and in exile from) his beloved, beleaguered homeland. In the tough, humane, and lyrical language that has typified his plays and novels, Soyinka captures the indomitable spirit of Nigeria itself by bringing to life the friends and family who bolstered and inspired him, and by describing the pioneering theater works that defied censure and tradition. Soyinka not only recounts his exile and the terrible reign of General Sani Abacha, but shares vivid memories and playful anecdotes–including his improbable friendship with a prominent Nigerian businessman and the time he smuggled a frozen wildcat into America so that his students could experience a proper Nigerian barbecue. More than a major figure in the world of literature, Wole Soyinka is a courageous voice for human rights, democracy, and freedom. You Must Set Forth at Dawn is an intimate chronicle of his thrilling public life, a meditation on justice and tyranny, and a mesmerizing testament to a ravaged yet hopeful land.

The Interpreters

The Interpreters
Author: Wole Soyinka
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2021-09-14
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0593467213

From the first Black winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature—his debut novel about a group of young Nigerian intellectuals trying to come to grips with themselves and their changing country. First published in 1965. Friends since high school, the five young men at the heart of The Interpreters have returned to Lagos after studying abroad to embark on careers as a physician, a journalist, an engineer, a teacher, and an artist. As they navigate wild parties, affairs of the heart, philosophical debates, and professional dilemmas, they struggle to reconcile the cultural traditions and Western influences that have shaped them—and that still divide their country. Soyinka deftly weaves memories of the past through scenes of the present as the five friends move toward an uncertain future. The result is a vividly realized fictional world rendered in prose that pivots easily from satire to tragedy and manages to be both wildly funny and soaringly poetic.

Beyond Aesthetics

Beyond Aesthetics
Author: Wole Soyinka
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2020-01-21
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0300247621

An intimate reflection on culture and tradition, creativity and power, that draws on a lifetime’s commitment to aesthetic encounter The playwright, poet, essayist, novelist, and Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka is also a longtime art collector. This book of essays offers a glimpse into the motivations of the collector, as well as a highly personal look at the politics of aesthetics and collecting. Detailing moments of first encounter with objects that drew him in and continue to affect him, Soyinka describes a world of mortals, muses, and deities that imbue the artworks with history and meaning. Beyond Aesthetics is a passionate discussion of the role of identity, tradition, and originality in making, collecting, and exhibiting African art today. Soyinka considers objects that have stirred controversy, and he decries dogmatic efforts—whether colonial or religious—to suppress Africa’s artistic traditions. By turns poetic, provocative, and humorous, Soyinka affirms the power of collecting to reclaim tradition. He urges African artists, filmmakers, collectors, and curators to engage with their aesthetic and cultural histories.

Myth, Literature and the African World

Myth, Literature and the African World
Author: Wole Soyinka
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 196
Release: 1990-09-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780521398343

Wole Soyinka, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, here analyses the interconnecting worlds of myth, ritual and literature in Africa.

Conversations with Wole Soyinka

Conversations with Wole Soyinka
Author: Wole Soyinka
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2001
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781578063383

Within these interviews, Soyinka is forthright, clear and eloquent. He addresses many facets of his writing and plumbs pressing issues of culture, society and community.

The Open Sore of a Continent

The Open Sore of a Continent
Author: Wole Soyinka
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 180
Release: 1996
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780195119213

The events that led up to dissident writer Ken Saro-Wiwa's execution in 1995 marked Nigeria's decline from a post-colonial success story to its current military dictatorship. Wole Soyinka, whose own Nigerian passport was confiscated by the Nigerian military in 1994, explores the history and future of Nigeria in a compelling jeremiad that is as intense as it is provocative, learned, and wide-ranging.

The Burden of Memory, the Muse of Forgiveness

The Burden of Memory, the Muse of Forgiveness
Author: Wole Soyinka
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 145
Release: 2000-02-17
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0190285435

Nobel Laureate in Literature Wole Soyinka considers all of Africa--indeed, all the world--as he poses this question: once repression stops, is reconciliation between oppressor and victim possible? In the face of centuries-long devastation wrought on the African continent and her Diaspora by slavery, colonialism, Apartheid, and the manifold faces of racism, what form of recompense could possibly suffice? In a voice as eloquent and humane as it is forceful, Soyinka boldly challenges in these pages the notions of simple forgiveness, confession, and absolution as strategies for social healing. Ultimately, he turns to art--poetry, music, painting, etc.--as the one source that can nourish the seed of reconciliation: art is the generous vessel that can hold together the burden of memory and the hope of forgiveness. Based on Soyinka's Stewart-McMillan lectures delivered at the DuBois Institute at Harvard, The Burden of Memory speaks not only to those concerned specifically with African politics, but also to anyone seeking the path to social justice through some of history's most inhospitable terrain.

Samarkand and Other Markets I Have Known

Samarkand and Other Markets I Have Known
Author: Wole Soyinka
Publisher: Methuen Publishing
Total Pages: 104
Release: 2002
Genre: Drama
ISBN:

This is the eagerly awaited new collection of poetry from the Nobel prize-winning author - his first since 'Mandela's Earth' in 1989.