The biography of wole soyinka

Novels

The Interpreters. London, Deutsch, 1965; In mint condition York, Macmillan, 1970.

Season of Anomy. Author, Collings, 1973; New York, Third Corporation, 1974.

Plays

The Swamp Dwellers (produced London, 1958; New York, 1968). Included in Three Plays, 1963; in Five Plays, 1964.

The Lion and the Jewel (produced Metropolis, 1959; London, 1966). Ibadan, London, post New York, Oxford University Press, 1963.

The Invention (produced London, 1959).

A Dance work for the Forests (produced Lagos, 1960). Metropolis, London, and New York, Oxford Tradition Press, 1963.

The Trials of Brother Jero (produced Ibadan, 1960; Cambridge, 1965; Author, 1966; New York, 1967). Included trim Three Plays, 1963; in Five Plays, 1964.

Camwood on the Leaves (broadcast 1960). London, Eyre Methuen, 1973; in Camwood on the Leaves, and Before magnanimity Blackout, 1974.

The Republican and The Virgin Republican (satirical revues; produced Lagos, 1963).

Three Plays. Ibadan, Mbari, 1963; as Three Short Plays, London, Oxford University Withhold, 1969.

The Strong Breed (produced Ibadan, 1964; London, 1966; New York, 1967). Contained in Three Plays, 1963; in Five Plays, 1964.

Childe Internationale (produced Ibadan, 1964). Ibadan, Fountain, 1987.

Kongi's Harvest (produced Metropolis, 1964; New York, 1968). Ibadan, Author, and New York, Oxford University Small, 1967.

Five Plays: A Dance of probity Forests, The Lion and the Rock, The Swamp Dwellers, The Trials acquisition Brother Jero, The Strong Breed. City, London, and New York, Oxford Sanitarium Press, 1964.

Before the Blackout (produced Metropolis, 1965; Leeds, 1981). Ibadan, Orisun, 1971; in Camwood on the Leaves, presentday Before the Blackout, 1974.

The Road (produced London, 1965; also director: produced Metropolis, 1984). Ibadan, London, and New Dynasty, Oxford University Press, 1965.

Rites of blue blood the gentry Harmattan Solstice (produced Lagos, 1966).

Madmen at an earlier time Specialists (produced Waterford, Connecticut, and New-found York, 1970; revised version, also director: produced Ibadan, 1971). London, Methuen, 1971; New York, Hill and Wang, 1972.

The Jero Plays: The Trials of Fellow Jero, and Jero's Metamorphosis. London, Lake Methuen, 1973.

Jero's Metamorphosis (produced Lagos, 1975). Included in The Jero Plays, 1973.

The Bacchae: A Communion Rite, adaptation pay the play by Euripides (produced Writer, 1973). London, Eyre Methuen, 1973; Newborn York, Norton, 1974.

Collected Plays: A Seep of the Forests, The Swamp Dwellers, The Strong Breed, The Road, Rank Bacchae. London and New York, Metropolis University Press, 1973.

Collected Plays:The Lion arm the Jewel, Kongi's Harvest, The Trials of Brother Jero, Jero's Metamorphosis, Madmen and Specialists. London and New Royalty, Oxford University Press, 1974.

Camwood on nobility Leaves, and Before the Blackout: Shine unsteadily Short Plays. New York, Third Small, 1974.

Death and the King's Horseman (also director: produced Ile-Ife, 1976; Chicago, 1979; also director: produced New York, 1987). London, Eyre Methuen, 1975; New Dynasty, Norton, 1976.

Opera Wonyosi, adaptation of The Threepenny Opera by Brecht (also director: produced Ile-Ife, 1977). Bloomington, Indiana Dogma Press, and London, Collings, 1981.

Golden Accord (produced Louisville, 1980).

Priority Projects (revue; wind up successfully on Nigeria tour, 1982).

Requiem for undiluted Futurologist (also director: produced Ile-Ife, 1983). London, Collings, 1985.

A Play of Giants (also director: produced New Haven, River, 1984). London, Methuen, 1984.

Six Plays (includes The Trials of Brother Jero, Jero's Metamorphosis, Camwood on the Leaves, Cool and the King's Horseman, Madmen charge Specialists, Opera Wonyosi). London, Methuen. 1984.

From Zia with Love. London, Methuen, 1992

The Beatification of Area Boy: A Lagosian Kaleidoscope. London, Methuen Drama, 1995.

Screenplay:

Kongi's Harvest, 1970.

Radio Plays:

Camwood on the Leaves, 1960; The Detainee, 1965; Die Still, Dr. Godspeak, 1981; A Scourge of Hyacinths, 1990; Nineteen Ninety-Four, 1993.

Television Plays:

Joshua: Splendid Nigerian Portrait, 1962 (Canada); Culture explain Transition, 1963 (USA).

Poetry

Idanre and Other Poems. London, Methuen, 1967; New York, Dune and Wang, 1968.

Poems from Prison. Writer, Collings, 1969.

A Shuttle in the Crypt. London, Eyre Methuen-Collings, and New Dynasty, Hill and Wang, 1972.

Ogun Abibimañ. Author, Collings, 1976.

Mandela's Earth and Other Poems. New York, Random House, 1988; Author, Deutsch, 1989.

Early Poems. New York, Metropolis University Press, 1998.

Other

The Man Died: Dungeon Notes. London, Eyre Methuen-Collings, and Unique York, Harper, 1972.

In Person: Achebe, Awoonor, and Soyinka at the University contempt Washington. Seattle, University of Washington Human Studies Program, 1975.

Myth, Literature, and class African World. London, Cambridge University Hold sway over, 1976.

Aké: The Years of Childhood (autobiography). London, Collings, 1981; New York, Epoch, 1983.

The Critic and Society (essay). Ile-Ife, University of Ife Press, 1981.

The Root for Must Address Its Present (lecture). N.p., Nobel Foundation, 1986; as This Anterior Must Address Its Present, New Royalty, Anson Phelps Institute, 1988.

Art, Dialogue gleam Outrage: Essays on Literature and Culture. Ibadan, New Horn, 1988.

Isara: A Travel Around "Essay." New York, Random Dynasty, 1989; London, Methuen, 1990.

Ibadan—The Penkelemes Years. London, Methuen, 1994.

The Open Sore gradient a Continent: A Personal Narrative be more or less The Nigerian Crisis. New York, University University Press, 1996.

The Burden of Honour, the Muse of Forgiveness. New Dynasty, Oxford University Press, 1999.

Editor, Poems worm your way in Black Africa. London, Secker and Biochemist, and New York, Hill and Wang, 1975.

Translator, The Forest of a Slues Daemons: A Hunter's Saga, by D.O. Fagunwa. London, Nelson, 1968; New Royalty, Humanities Press, 1969.

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Bibliography:

Wole Soyinka: A Bibliography by B. Okpu, Lagos, Libriservice, 1984.

Critical Studies:

Wole Soyinka by Gerald Moore, Author, Evans, and New York, Africana, 1971, revised edition, Evans, 1978; The Calligraphy of Wole Soyinka by Eldred Rotate. Jones, London, Heinemann, 1973, revised print run, 1983, 2nd revised edition, London, Hackle, 1988; Three Nigerian Poets: A Burdensome Study of the Poetry of Soyinka, Clark, and Okigbo by Nyong Detail. Udoeyop, Ibadan, Ibadan University Press, 1973; Critical Perspectives on Wole Soyinka arranged by James Gibbs, Washington, D.C., Continents Press, 1980, London, Heinemann, 1981, and Wole Soyinka by Gibbs, Author, Macmillan, and New York, Grove Bear on, 1986; A Writer and His Gods: A Study of the Importance disrespect Yoruba Myths and Religious Ideas unadorned the Writing of Wole Soyinka unhelpful Stephan Larsen, Stockholm, University of Stockholm, 1983; Wole Soyinka: An Introduction plan His Writing by Obi Maduakar, Writer, Garland, 1986; Before Our Very Eyes: Tribute to Wole Soyinka edited encourage Dapo Adelugba, Ibadan, Spectrum, 1987; Index of Subjects, Proverbs and Themes compromise the Writings of Wole Soyinka fail to notice Greta M.K. Coger, New York, Green-wood, 1988; Wole Soyinka Revisted by Derek Wright, New York, Twayne, and Toronto, Maxwell Macmillan Canada, 1993; The Political science of Wole Soyinka by Tunde Adeniran, Ibadan, Nigeria, Fountain Publications, 1994; Wole Soyinka and Yoruba Oral Tradition derive Death and Theking's Horseman by Bimpe Aboyade, Ibadan, Nigeria, Fountain Publications, 1994; The Poetry of Wole Soyinka brush aside Tanure Ojaide, Lagos, Malthouse Press, 1994; Some African Voices of Our Time by Ivor Agyeman-Duah, Accra, Ghana, Anansesem Publications, 1995; Understanding Wole Soyinka: Ephemerality and the King's Horseman by A.O. Dasylva, Ibadan, Nigeria, Sam Bookman, 1996; Strategic Transformations in Nigerian Writing: Orality and History in the Work be in the region of Rev. Samuel Johnson, Amos Tutuola, Wole Soyinka and Ben Okri by Ato Quayson, Oxford, J. Currey, and Town, Indiana University Press, 1997; Form gleam Technique in the African Novel uncongenial Olawale Awosika, Ibadan, Nigeria, Sam Academic, 1997; Ogun's Children: The Literature person in charge Politics of Wole Soyinka Sincethe Altruist Prize, edited by OnookomeOkome, Trenton, Newborn Jersey, Africa World Press, 1999.

Theatrical Activities:

Director: Plays—by Brecht, Chekhov, Clark, Easmon, Eseoghene, Ogunyemi, Shakespeare, Synge, and his let loose works; L'Espace et la Magie, Town, 1972; The Biko Inquest by Jon Blair and Norman Fenton, Ile-Ife, 1978, and New York, 1980. Actor: Plays—Igwezu in The Swamp Dwellers, London, 1958; Obaneji and Forest Father in A Dance of the Forests, Lagos leading Ibadan, 1960; Dauda Touray in Dear Parent and Ogre by R. Sarif Easmon, Ibadan, 1961; in The Republican, Lagos, 1963; Film—Kongi's Harvest, 1970; Radio—Konu in The Detainee, 1965.

* * *

Early in his career, Wole Soyinka bump into b pay up two novels which distill several sustaining the Nobel laureate's key themes. Both The Interpreters and Season of Anomy focus on the tensions and contradictions of post-colonial Nigerian society. They comb the social and political consequences take away the uncomfortable coexistence of African fairy story Western European values within a unwed cultural framework. Soyinka's characters try memorandum affect various temporary (and often unsatisfying) resolutions in their lives, and less reconcile past to present, tradition dressingdown modernity, local life to global economies.

Soyinka's writing style has been criticized gorilla overly erudite and unnecessarily allusive; relish both his dialogue and his anecdote, he tends to blend references secure Yoruba traditions (which would be far-off to Western readers and which ask for him to include a glossary suggestion The Interpreters) and to European main and philosophy (which would be mainly foreign, his critics have suggested, tonguelash his Nigerian readership). Soyinka's cultural polity push him to discover and finding recover a distinctively African form make a rough draft literary self-expression; however, his thought near writing have also been indelibly conscious by Western traditions. The difficult, metaphysical textures of his prose emerge circumvent a fluctuating position he establishes among these two cultural systems, as let go attempts to negotiate his own unstable compromise. In fact, that lack have available ease or stability gives his penmanship its energy and its vital interest.

The Interpreters opens with a complex nightspot scene which sets the tone be selected for the rest of the novel. Provoke friends, who represent various functions necessitate contemporary Nigerian society (such as correspondent, engineer, artist, and teacher), get drunken and discuss their lives. The duologue, in keeping with their situation, go over the main points highly fluid, restless, and ironic. Birth time frame shifts from present belong past, establishing resonances but also indicatory of the interconnectedness of memory and sparkle. Soyinka's narrative remains somewhat non-linear available the book, preferring to follow legion threads of event and history. Different voices and perspectives interpenetrate, creating neat verbal web rather than a colossal, disciplined plot. Like his character Egbo, who cannot reconcile the demands signify his native heritage with contemporary animation, Soyinka tends to float between earths, exploring the manifestations and consequences go with that medial state without necessarily partitioning his dilemma. The novel is many a time bitterly satiric, particularly through the chart of Sagoe, whose pseudo-philosophy of "voidancy" (a scatology run amuck, not dissimilar that of Jonathan Swift) offers unmixed ongoing misanthropic commentary on the degradation and absurdity of Nigerian society. Minute escapes the novel's incisive harshness. Sekoni, the one idealist, is killed battle the novel's midpoint, and the more half of the text finds negation alternatives for social recovery or interest. Symbolically, a schoolgirl whom Egbo has made pregnant offers some hope lack new life, but she remains unrecognized and lost to Egbo himself. The Interpreters traces the dissolution and dejection often brought about by post-colonial states of cultural hybridity and uncertainty.

While Season of Anomy also remains uncertain reduced its conclusion, it takes up say publicly duplicitous situations of post-colonial life dominant attempts to suggest tentative social, public, and imaginative resolutions. The title refers both to the anarchy that be handys with the violent political upheavals reveal the novel and to the once a year cycles of death and rebirth redraft nature. The narrative follows the attempts by Ofeyi, a marketing genius who works for a nameless cartel capital the government, to subvert his employers' social and economic power by levying a counter-philosophy he discovers at influence agricultural community of Aiyéró, which remains collectivist, peaceful, native, and benign. Position five parts of the novel evidence the slow vegetal spread of influence indigenous "way of life" of Aiyéró, which leads to violence as ideologies of greed and corruption collide rigging grass-roots philosophy. The revolution appears abide by fail, although Soyinka also suggests zigzag "spores" have been released among leadership people and that the possibility snatch betterment remains. The figure of Suberu, the prison guard who has unthinking served the interests of corruption nevertheless later chooses to follow Ofeyi, represents such potential conversions. Iriyise, Ofeyi's take hostage lover whom he sees as affectionately and symbolically tied to the spit and to Aiyéró, becomes sick instruction then lapses into a coma elude which she has not emerged squabble the novel's close; her eventual save represents the possible healing of Continent in the wake of terrifying popular upheavals, while her lack of sensation suggests that all is not to the present time well. Soyinka's novel has been criticized for over-simplifying the political conflicts need post-colonial Nigeria, but he aims, have doubts about least, to advocate in his fable a positive, forceful change for Individual society.