Wọlé Ṣóyínká
The plays, the Nobel, the prison years, and the sustained argument in Myth, Literature and the African World that Yoruba cosmology is a body of tragic philosophy and not a folklore to be collected.
advancedhigh·
Loading…
The plays, the Nobel, the prison years, and the sustained argument in Myth, Literature and the African World that Yoruba cosmology is a body of tragic philosophy and not a folklore to be collected.
The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, oríkì, ẹsẹ Ifá, word list headwords, Odù names and citations dey exactly as the corpus record dem, for every language.
Wọlé Ṣóyínká na di first African person wey win Nobel Prize in Literature, wey dem give am for 1986, and na im be di literary thinker wey Yoruba culture produce wey don write pass for long time. Wetin matter for inside dis corpus dey narrow pass im fame. Im do wetin no oda big African writer try: im argue say Yoruba cosmology get complete tragic philosophy inside am, wey person fit compare to Greek own for structure and seriousness, and say person fit use am think instead of to just write about am. Dat argument, wey im explain pass for Myth, Literature and the African World (1976), na di reason why im belong to inside corpus about Yoruba thought instead of to just dey only inside Nigerian writing.
Dem born am as Akinwándé Olúwọlé Babátúndé Ṣóyínká on 13 July 1934 for Abẹ́òkúta . Im papa, Samuel Ayọ̀délé Ṣóyínká, na Anglican pastor and headmaster for St Peter's School; im mama, Grace Eníọlá Ṣóyínká, dey sell market and na activist, and she come from di Ransome-Kuti family . Di house na Christian, people wey go school and wey dey active for politics, and di Abẹ́òkúta women revolt happen around am: im mama dey among Abẹ́òkúta Women's Union and Fúnmiláyọ̀ Ransome-Kuti na im auntie through marriage, wey make Fela Anikulapo-Kuti im cousin. Im memoir Aké: The Years of Childhood (1981) set for inside dat parsonage and na di best single story wey show how Yoruba Christian childhood of dat generation really be, as di òrìṣà world dey present for edge of di compound and dem no completely comot am.
Im go Government College, Ìbàdàn, from 1946 to 1951, come go University College Ìbàdàn from 1952 to 1954, where im study English, Greek and Western history, and afta dat im go University of Leeds from 1954, where im study under di Shakespeare scholar G. Wilson Knight . Di Greek training no be by mistake. Im argument later about Yoruba tragedy come from person wey study Greek tragedy formally, and wey therefore get standard wey clear well well to take compare, no be something wey no dey clear.
Im work for Royal Court Theatre for London as play reader, wey make am dey inside di room during di time wey postwar British theatre produce work pass . Im return come Nigeria for 1960 with Rockefeller research fellowship to study Yoruba drama, and im establish different theatre companies, wey start with di 1960 Masks. Im also join found di National Association of Seadogs, di Pyrates Confraternity, for Ìbàdàn for 1952, wey first start as fraternity of students wey no dey follow crowd, one origin wey di later violent history of Nigerian campus cultism come make complex and wey im don publicly condemn .
Im don teach for Ifẹ̀, Ìbàdàn, Lagos, Cambridge, Sheffield, Yale, Cornell, Harvard, Emory and Nevada.
Ṣóyínká's drama na where dem work di Yoruba material pass. Six plays carry pass for di weight.
The Lion and the Jewel (1959) na comedy about di contest between one village teacher wey hold modernity tight and di ọba Baroka for one young woman, Sidi. Na im play wey dem don perform pass and di one wey people dey misread pass as simple satire against Westernisation. Baroka win, and di play no dey straight support any of di two sides.
A Dance of the Forests (1960) na play wey im write for Nigerian independence and e refuse di celebration. One community call dia ancestors come, dey expect glory, but dem receive two dead people from past reign wey report wickedness and betrayal. As dem present am as di country dey celebrate, e tell di new nation say im past no get any golden age to draw from. Na hostile piece of public commissioning and e remain di sharpest thing wey im write about how nation dey flatter body.
The Road (1965) set among drivers, touts and one church clerk wey dem comot for work wey dem dey call Professor wey dey search for di Word, for road where death na normal everyday thing. Di Yoruba material na di ẹ̀gúngún masquerade and di figure of Murano, one driver wey trap mid-transition between life and death during one ẹ̀gúngún performance, wey remain permanently for inside di passage.
Kongi's Harvest (1965) na political satire about how one dictator take over traditional harvest festival, wey im write before Nigeria first coup and wey predict wetin follow aftawords.
Madmen and Specialists (1970), wey im write afta dem release am from prison, na im bleakest work, one play about doctor wey learn cannibalism as philosophy during war. Na direct product of di civil war and di twenty-two months.
Death and the King's Horseman (1975) na di central text. Dem build am on top real event: di ritual suicide of Elésin Ọba, di Aláàfin horseman, wey Ọ̀yọ́ custom require say make im follow di king die, and how di British district officer for Ọ̀yọ́ stop am for 1946, wey make di horseman son take im papa place. Ṣóyínká insist for im author note say di play no be about clash of cultures and say to read am dat way dey make am ordinary. Di failure na Elésin own: im hesitate, and di metaphysical damage na to di Yoruba cosmos, no be to relationship between Britain and Africa. Di colonial officer na just catalytic accident, no be di antagonist. Na hard reading to hold onto for performance and most productions dey lose am.
Im also write The Interpreters (1965) and Season of Anomy (1973) as novels, di memoirs Aké, Ìsarà, Ìbàdàn: The Penkelemes Years and You Must Set Forth at Dawn (2006), and substantial poetry wey include Idanre and Other Poems (1967) and A Shuttle in the Crypt (1972) . For 2021, afta almost fifty years without novel, im publish Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth .
For August 1967, during di civil war, dem arrest Ṣóyínká and hold am for twenty-two months, wey im spend plenty of dat time for solitary confinement for Kaduna, and dem release am for October 1969 . Di reason wey dem state na say im meet Biafran leaders and try broker ceasefire; im write article wey call for ceasefire and arms embargo on both sides. Dem no try am for court.
Dem no give am writing materials, so na on top cigarette packet and toilet paper im take write. The prison memoir The Man Died: Prison Notes (1972) na the result of that experience, and na inside am the line wey dey follow am till today dey, say the man inside person dey die for everybody wey keep quiet when wicked government dey rule. A Shuttle in the Crypt na the poetry collection wey im write for that same period.
The detention change everything wey happen after. E move am permanently from writer wey dey write about politics go writer wey dey do politics, and na there the public role wey im dey play for over fifty years now start.
Im go voluntary exile for 1971 come back for 1975. Under Sani Abacha, im run comot Nigeria for 1994 on top motorcycle cross Bénin border, campaign for abroad against the military government, and for 1997 the Abacha government charge am with treason in absentia; the charge drop after Abacha die for 1998 . Im dey among the people wey show face pass for the international campaign around June 12.
Im na person wey dey always criticize Nigerian governments, whether military or civilian, including governments wey im support enter office. Im destroy im United States permanent residency card for 2016 after the American presidential election, as im be don talk say im go do . Im don criticize some aspects of both Buhari and Tinúbú administrations open-open, and people for Nigeria don also criticize am for positions wey im take on some particular elections, especially the way dem conduct the 2023 election, where some youth movement see wetin im talk as defence for the ruling class. Im don answer all these criticisms directly and well-well. The disagreement clear and e dey for public record.
Dem award am the Nobel Prize in Literature for 1986, as the first African laureate . The Swedish Academy citation describe am as writer wey dey use wide cultural perspective and poetic style take build the drama of human life .
Na this book matter pass for any collection of Yoruba thought, and plenty times people dey bring the argument down to something wey weak pass wetin im actually talk.
Myth, Literature and the African World (Cambridge University Press, 1976) gather the lectures wey im give for Cambridge for 1973 and 1974 . The main essay inside, "The Fourth Stage", na earlier time im write am for 1969, and na im account of Yoruba tragedy.
The argument go like this:
Yoruba cosmology talk say no be two, but four areas of existence dey: the world of people wey dey alive, the world of ancestors, the world of children wey dem never born, and the transition gulf wey separate dem and still join dem together. That fourth area, the deep gulf of transition, na where the tragic action dey happen. No be place, but na condition of passage, and to cross am dey dangerous and e need strong will.
The event wey start everything na how the first primal being break scatter into plenty òrìṣà, and the separation wey happen between gods and humans after that. Ògún na the one wey cross the gulf. Im clear the path with iron, and join gods and humans back through strong will wey im show when everything wan scatter. Therefore, Ògún na the first actor and the patron of tragic art, and na im still be the god wey drink scatter for battle come kill im own people. Creativity and destruction na the same power inside am, no be two different character wey just happen to dey with am.
From this thing, Ṣóyínká bring out tragic hero wey totally different from the Greek one. The Yoruba tragic hero no be say external authority dey punish am for pride; na person wey enter the transition gulf on behalf of the community, dem scatter im body inside there, and im suffering dey renew the community. The chorus no be just commentator, na the community wey their survival dey at risk. Music, no be text, na the primary medium, because wetin dem dey express no be just speech, but the condition of the abyss itself.
Im then compare this idea with wetin Nietzsche talk about Dionysian and Apollonian for The Birth of Tragedy, wey im use and still argue against. The way e resemble Dionysos clear, and im agree with that; the differences wey im insist on na say the scattering of Ògún body na passage instead of ecstatic dissolution, say will na the main power instead of intoxication, and say the Yoruba universe no put Apollonian order against Dionysian chaos because e no separate dem like that.
The remaining part of the book na strong argument against two positions. The first one na the European claim, wey Hegel show and wey still remain for modern anthropology according to Ṣóyínká's reading, say Africa no get metaphysical tradition, say na only custom dem get. The second one na Negritude, and im objection to am na say because e accept the European terms of comparison and just turn dem upside down, e don agree with the foundation of the European idea. The famous statement wey people dey quote pass, say tiger no dey announce say im na tiger before im jump catch meat, na for 1962 conference im talk am about this matter. Leopold Senghor and other Negritude writers argue against im reading, and the debate between anglophone and francophone African literary thinkers na big matter for the 1960s and 1970s.
Scholars for Yoruba studies divide on top this matter, and e good make person explain the division well because the two sides get strong point.
Supporters, wey include plenty scholars wey dey work on Yoruba aesthetics and drama, hold say wetin Ṣóyínká do na something wey structurally necessary. As im read òrìṣà material as philosophy instead of just ordinary data, im comot am from the ethnographic box wey colonial and missionary writing put am, and im do this thing at the level of theory, no be just protest.
Critics get two distinct objection. The first one, wey scholars wey dey closer to the Ifá tradition raise, be say Ṣóyínká's Ògún na substantially im own construction, say the Ògún of the ẹsẹ Ifá and of the cult liturgy na different figure wey no philosophically tidy reach like that, and say Ṣóyínká don produce modernist literary theology using Yoruba materials instead of to give account of wetin the tradition hold. The second one, wey Marxist and materialist critics including Biodun Jeyifo and Chinweizu raise, be say the mythopoeic reading dey depoliticise and mystify matters, and say how Ṣóyínká's style hard reach na class position on im own. Jeyifo critique na the one wey sustain pass and e dey respectful; Chinweizu own, inside Toward the Decolonization of African Literature (1980), na polemical one and e accuse Ṣóyínká of Euromodernist obscurity.
A third and quieter objection come from practitioners, say babaláwo no dey do tragedy and dem no go recognize that description, and say the four-area cosmology as Ṣóyínká state am na one systematisation wey person no go see inside the corpus for that form.
This corpus no settle the argument. Wetin person fit talk be say the four-area scheme, the abyss of transition, and the reading of Ògún as the god of the tragic will na Ṣóyínká's formulation, say dem get root inside Yoruba material but dem no be transcript of am, and say make dem cite am as im own interpretation instead of how the tradition dey describe itself. Readers suppose see im Ògún and the Ògún of the cult files inside this corpus as things wey relate but still dey distinct.
D. O. Fágúnwà and the Yoruba-language novel, Amos Tutùọlá, Níyì Òsúndáre, Fẹ́mi Òṣófisan, Akínwùnmí Ìṣọ̀lá, Adébáyọ̀ Fálétí, and the generation from Teju Cole to Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀.
Wándé Abímbọ́lá and the transcription of the Ifá corpus, Bọlájí Ìdòwú and diffused monotheism, J. Ọmọ́ṣadé Awólàlú, Jacob Olúpọ̀nà, Ṣóphì Olúwọlé, Ṣégun Gbádégẹṣin, Kọ́lá Abímbọ́lá and Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí.
The orisa of iron, war, hunting and the road, the massacre at Ire and its variants, Soyinka's reading of Ogun as the Yoruba tragic principle, and the occupational cult that now includes drivers and mechanics.
Character as the whole content of Yoruba ethics, iwa pele and iwa rere, the identity of character with beauty, patience as the source of character, and an ethical system grounded in consequence and community rather than divine command.
A comprehensive scholarly account of Wọlé Ṣóyinká, examining his life, theatrical corpus, theoretical engagement with Yorùbá cosmology, political imprisonment, archival records, and major critical debates.
A method note explaining what kind of evidence exists for Yoruba figures from the earliest traditions to 1900, why the oldest names cannot be treated as documented biography, and how this section marks the difference.