Biography of professor wole soyinka

Novels

The Interpreters. London, Deutsch, 1965; Advanced York, Macmillan, 1970.

Season of Anomy. London, Collings, 1973; New Dynasty, Third Press, 1974.

Plays

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

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

The Invention (produced London, 1959).

A Dance of honourableness Forests (produced Lagos, 1960). City, London, and New York, Town University Press, 1963.

The Trials flawless Brother Jero (produced Ibadan, 1960; Cambridge, 1965; London, 1966; In mint condition York, 1967). Included in Three Plays, 1963; in Five Plays, 1964.

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

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

Three Plays. Ibadan, Mbari, 1963; little Three Short Plays, London, Town University Press, 1969.

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

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

Kongi's Harvest (produced Ibadan, 1964; New Dynasty, 1968). Ibadan, London, and Spanking York, Oxford University Press, 1967.

Five Plays: A Dance of ethics Forests, The Lion and integrity Jewel, The Swamp Dwellers, Say publicly Trials of Brother Jero, Position Strong Breed. Ibadan, London, celebrated New York, Oxford University Prise open, 1964.

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

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

Rites grow mouldy the Harmattan Solstice (produced City, 1966).

Madmen and Specialists (produced Port, Connecticut, and New York, 1970; revised version, also director: get about Ibadan, 1971). London, Methuen, 1971; New York, Hill and Wang, 1972.

The Jero Plays: The Trials of Brother Jero, and Jero's Metamorphosis. London, Eyre Methuen, 1973.

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

The Bacchae: A Communion Rite, version of the play by Dramatist (produced London, 1973). London, Lake Methuen, 1973; New York, Norton, 1974.

Collected Plays: A Dance bring into play the Forests, The Swamp Dwellers, The Strong Breed, The Secondrate, The Bacchae. London and Advanced York, Oxford University Press, 1973.

Collected Plays:The Lion and the Masterwork, Kongi's Harvest, The Trials neat as a new pin Brother Jero, Jero's Metamorphosis, Madmen and Specialists. London and Advanced York, Oxford University Press, 1974.

Camwood on the Leaves, and A while ago the Blackout: Two Short Plays. New York, Third Press, 1974.

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

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

Golden Accord (produced Louisville, 1980).

Priority Projects (revue; produced on Nigeria tour, 1982).

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

A Play disregard Giants (also director: produced Another Haven, Connecticut, 1984). London, Methuen, 1984.

Six Plays (includes The Trials of Brother Jero, Jero's Change, Camwood on the Leaves, Eliminate and the King's Horseman, Madmen and Specialists, Opera Wonyosi). Author, Methuen. 1984.

From Zia with Love. London, Methuen, 1992

The Beatification make known 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: A African Portrait, 1962 (Canada); Culture embankment Transition, 1963 (USA).

Poetry

Idanre and Alternative Poems. London, Methuen, 1967; Additional York, Hill and Wang, 1968.

Poems from Prison. London, Collings, 1969.

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

Ogun Abibimañ. London, Collings, 1976.

Mandela's Earth tell Other Poems. New York, Hit and miss House, 1988; London, Deutsch, 1989.

Early Poems. New York, Oxford Asylum Press, 1998.

Other

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

In Person: Achebe, Awoonor, and Soyinka go bad the University of Washington. Metropolis, University of Washington African Studies Program, 1975.

Myth, Literature, and illustriousness African World. London, Cambridge Tradition Press, 1976.

Aké: The Years get on to Childhood (autobiography). London, Collings, 1981; New York, Vintage, 1983.

The Commentator and Society (essay). Ile-Ife, Campus of Ife Press, 1981.

The Erstwhile Must Address Its Present (lecture). N.p., Nobel Foundation, 1986; bring in This Past Must Address Secure Present, New York, Anson Phelps Institute, 1988.

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

Isara: Swell Voyage Around "Essay." New Royalty, Random House, 1989; London, Methuen, 1990.

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

The Open Sore of spruce Continent: A Personal Narrative appropriate The Nigerian Crisis. New Royalty, Oxford University Press, 1996.

The Link of Memory, the Muse curst Forgiveness. New York, Oxford Introduction Press, 1999.

Editor, Poems of Swart Africa. London, Secker and Biochemist, and New York, Hill folk tale Wang, 1975.

Translator, The Forest show consideration for a Thousand Daemons: A Hunter's Saga, by D.O. Fagunwa. Writer, Nelson, 1968; New York, Letters Press, 1969.

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Bibliography:

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

Critical Studies:

Wole Soyinka by Gerald Moore, London, Evans, and Creative York, Africana, 1971, revised recalcitrance, Evans, 1978; The Writing illustrate Wole Soyinka by Eldred Jones, London, Heinemann, 1973, revised edition, 1983, 2nd revised path, London, Curry, 1988; Three African Poets: A Critical Study clasp the Poetry of Soyinka, Politico, and Okigbo by Nyong Document. Udoeyop, Ibadan, Ibadan University Resilience, 1973; Critical Perspectives on Wole Soyinka edited by James Chemist, Washington, D.C., Three Continents Contain, 1980, London, Heinemann, 1981, obtain Wole Soyinka by Gibbs, Author, Macmillan, and New York, Woodlet Press, 1986; A Writer build up His Gods: A Study break into the Importance of Yoruba Learning and Religious Ideas in integrity Writing of Wole Soyinka via Stephan Larsen, Stockholm, University cataclysm Stockholm, 1983; Wole Soyinka: Phony Introduction to His Writing rough Obi Maduakar, London, Garland, 1986; Before Our Very Eyes: Celebration to Wole Soyinka edited dampen Dapo Adelugba, Ibadan, Spectrum, 1987; Index of Subjects, Proverbs submit Themes in the Writings fall foul of Wole Soyinka by Greta M.K. Coger, New York, Green-wood, 1988; Wole Soyinka Revisted by Derek Wright, New York, Twayne, distinguished Toronto, Maxwell Macmillan Canada, 1993; The Politics of Wole Soyinka by Tunde Adeniran, Ibadan, Nigeria, Fountain Publications, 1994; Wole Soyinka and Yoruba Oral Tradition access Death and Theking's Horseman next to Bimpe Aboyade, Ibadan, Nigeria, Well 2 Publications, 1994; The Poetry carry-on Wole Soyinka by Tanure Ojaide, Lagos, Malthouse Press, 1994; Some African Voices of Our Time by Ivor Agyeman-Duah, Accra, Ghana, Anansesem Publications, 1995; Understanding Wole Soyinka: Death and the King's Horseman by A.O. Dasylva, City, Nigeria, Sam Bookman, 1996; Strategic Transformations in Nigerian Writing: Orality and History in the Gratuitous of Rev. Samuel Johnson, Prophet Tutuola, Wole Soyinka and Alp Okri by Ato Quayson, Town, J. Currey, and Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1997; Form playing field Technique in the African Novel by Olawale Awosika, Ibadan, Nigeria, Sam Bookman, 1997; Ogun's Children: The Literature and Politics clutch Wole Soyinka Sincethe Nobel Prize, edited by OnookomeOkome, Trenton, Newborn Jersey, Africa World Press, 1999.

Theatrical Activities:

Director: Plays—by Brecht, Chekhov, Politician, Easmon, Eseoghene, Ogunyemi, Shakespeare, Playwright, and his own works; L'Espace et la Magie, Paris, 1972; The Biko Inquest by Jon Blair and Norman Fenton, Ile-Ife, 1978, and New York, 1980. Actor: Plays—Igwezu in The Swampland Dwellers, London, 1958; Obaneji fairy story Forest Father in A Drain of the Forests, Lagos mount Ibadan, 1960; Dauda Touray mop the floor with Dear Parent and Ogre near R. Sarif Easmon, Ibadan, 1961; in The Republican, Lagos, 1963; Film—Kongi's Harvest, 1970; Radio—Konu entertain The Detainee, 1965.

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Early in his career, Wole Soyinka produced two novels which liquefy several of the Nobel laureate's key themes. Both The Interpreters and Season of Anomy branch of learning on the tensions and contradictions of post-colonial Nigerian society. They explore the social and civic consequences of the uncomfortable coexistence of African and Western Denizen values within a single broadening framework. Soyinka's characters try extinguish affect various temporary (and regularly unsatisfying) resolutions in their lives, and to reconcile past ploy present, tradition to modernity, regional life to global economies.

Soyinka's calligraphy style has been criticized variety overly erudite and unnecessarily allusive; in both his dialogue crucial his narration, he tends get in touch with blend references to Yoruba cypher (which would be inaccessible familiar with Western readers and which want him to include a gloss in The Interpreters) and run into European art and philosophy (which would be largely foreign, diadem critics have suggested, to empress Nigerian readership). Soyinka's cultural statecraft push him to discover viewpoint to recover a distinctively Continent form of literary self-expression; notwithstanding, his thought and writing imitate also been indelibly informed indifference Western traditions. The difficult, unpractical textures of his prose present from a fluctuating position pacify establishes between these two broadening systems, as he attempts hitch negotiate his own uneasy compound. In fact, that lack manipulate ease or stability gives cap writing its energy and take the edge off vital interest.

The Interpreters opens deal a complex nightclub scene which sets the tone for nobility rest of the novel. Offend friends, who represent various functions in contemporary Nigerian society (such as journalist, engineer, artist, other teacher), get drunk and talk over their lives. The dialogue, hobble keeping with their situation, report highly fluid, restless, and dry. The time frame shifts disseminate present to past, establishing practical but also suggesting the connection of memory and action. Soyinka's narrative remains somewhat non-linear during the whole of the book, preferring to pull multiple threads of event post history. Various voices and perspectives interpenetrate, creating a verbal network rather than a monolithic, tractable fearless plot. Like his character Egbo, who cannot reconcile the importunity of his native heritage change contemporary life, Soyinka tends yearning float between worlds, exploring nobility manifestations and consequences of turn medial state without necessarily partitioning his dilemma. The novel enquiry often bitterly satiric, particularly check the character of Sagoe, whose pseudo-philosophy of "voidancy" (a scatology run amuck, not unlike delay of Jonathan Swift) offers operate ongoing misanthropic commentary on birth corruption and absurdity of Nigerien society. Little escapes the novel's incisive harshness. Sekoni, the pooled idealist, is killed at grandeur novel's midpoint, and the in no time at all half of the text finds no alternatives for social restoration or happiness. Symbolically, a scholar whom Egbo has made expressive offers some hope for in mint condition life, but she remains unknown and lost to Egbo child. The Interpreters traces the breaking up and despair often brought in respect of by post-colonial states of national hybridity and uncertainty.

While Season jump at Anomy also remains uncertain enviable its conclusion, it takes with it the duplicitous situations of post-colonial life and attempts to urge tentative social, political, and innovative resolutions. The title refers both to the anarchy that attains with the violent political upheavals in the novel and distribute the yearly cycles of have killed and rebirth in nature. Ethics narrative follows the attempts timorous Ofeyi, a marketing genius who works for a nameless coalition controlling the government, to ruin his employers' social and budgetary power by introducing a counter-philosophy he discovers at the arcadian community of Aiyéró, which psychotherapy collectivist, peaceful, native, and trademark. The five parts of birth novel trace the slow vegetative spread of the indigenous "way of life" of Aiyéró, which leads to violence as ideologies of greed and corruption smack into with grass-roots philosophy. The upheaval appears to fail, although Soyinka also suggests that "spores" receive been released among the dynasty and that the possibility slap betterment remains. The figure be in the region of Suberu, the prison guard who has thoughtlessly served the interests of corruption but later chooses to follow Ofeyi, represents much potential conversions. Iriyise, Ofeyi's abducted lover whom he sees whilst intimately and symbolically tied simulate the land and to Aiyéró, becomes sick and then lapses into a coma from which she has not emerged simulated the novel's close; her furthest rescue represents the possible healthful of Africa in the rise of terrifying social upheavals, time her lack of consciousness suggests that all is not all the more well. Soyinka's novel has back number criticized for over-simplifying the governmental conflicts in post-colonial Nigeria, on the contrary he aims, at least, open to the elements advocate in his fiction simple positive, forceful change for Human society.