Wole Soyinka
Nigeria
Nigerian writer and winner of the Nobel for Literature in 1986.
Professional Information
Professional Areas:
University
Working primarily in:
United States
Description of Work:
From the website Nobelprize,org:Wole Soyinka was born on 13 July 1934 at Abeokuta, near Ibadan
in western Nigeria. After preparatory university studies in 1954 at
Government College in Ibadan, he continued at the University of Leeds,
where, later, in 1973, he took his doctorate. During the six years
spent in England, he was a dramaturgist at the Royal Court Theatre in
London 1958-1959. In 1960, he was awarded a Rockefeller bursary and
returned to Nigeria to study African drama. At the same time, he taught
drama and literature at various universities in Ibadan, Lagos, and Ife,
where, since 1975, he has been professor of comparative literature. In
1960, he founded the theatre group, "The 1960 Masks" and in 1964, the
"Orisun Theatre Company", in which he has produced his own plays and
taken part as actor. He has periodically been visiting professor at the
universities of Cambridge, Sheffield, and Yale.
During the civil war in Nigeria, Soyinka appealed in an article
for cease-fire. For this he was arrested in 1967, accused of
conspiring with the Biafra rebels, and was held as a political
prisoner for 22 months untill 1969. Soyinka has published about
20 works: drama, novels and poetry. He writes in English and his
literary language is marked by great scope and richness of
words.
As dramatist, Soyinka has been influenced by, among others, the
Irish writer, J.M. Synge, but links up with the traditional
popular African theatre with its combination of dance, music, and
action. He bases his writing on the mythology of his own
tribe-the Yoruba-with Ogun, the god of iron and war, at the
centre. He wrote his first plays during his time in London,
The Swamp Dwellers and
The Lion and the Jewel (a
light comedy), which were performed at Ibadan in 1958 and 1959
and were published in 1963. Later, satirical comedies are
The
Trial of Brother Jero (performed in 1960, publ. 1963) with
its sequel,
Jero's Metamorphosis (performed 1974, publ.
1973),
A Dance of the Forests (performed 1960, publ.1963),
Kongi's Harvest (performed 1965, publ. 1967) and
Madmen
and Specialists (performed 1970, publ. 1971). Among Soyinka's
serious philosophic plays are (apart from "
The Swamp
Dwellers")
The Strong Breed (performed 1966, publ.
1963),
The Road ( 1965) and
Death and the King's
Horseman (performed 1976, publ. 1975). In
The Bacchae of
Euripides (1973), he has rewritten the Bacchae for the
African stage and in
Opera Wonyosi (performed 1977, publ.
1981), bases himself on John Gay's
Beggar's Opera and
Brecht's
The Threepenny Opera. Soyinka's latest dramatic
works are
A Play of Giants (1984) and
Requiem for a
Futurologist (1985).
Soyinka has written two novels,
The Interpreters (1965),
narratively, a complicated work which has been compared to
Joyce's and
Faulkner's, in which
six Nigerian intellectuals discuss and interpret their African
experiences, and
Season of Anomy (1973) which is based on
the writer's thoughts during his imprisonment and confronts the
Orpheus and Euridice myth with the mythology of the Yoruba.
Purely autobiographical are
The Man Died: Prison Notes
(1972) and the account of his childhood,
Aké ( 1981),
in which the parents' warmth and interest in their son are
prominent. Literary essays are collected in, among others,
Myth, Literature and the African World (1975).
Soyinka's poems, which show a close connection to his plays, are
collected in
Idanre, and Other Poems (1967),
Poems from
Prison (1969),
A Shuttle in the Crypt (1972) the long
poem
Ogun Abibiman (1976) and
Mandela's Earth and Other
Poems (1988).
Biographical Information
Wole Soyinka
(At a Glance)
Place of Origin: Nigeria
From the Nobel Prize Comittee website:Wole Soyinka was born on 13 July 1934 at Abeokuta, near Ibadan
in western Nigeria. After preparatory university studies in 1954 at
Government College in Ibadan, he continued at the University of Leeds,
where, later, in 1973, he took his doctorate. During the six years
spent in England, he was a dramaturgist at the Royal Court Theatre in
London 1958-1959. In 1960, he was awarded a Rockefeller bursary and
returned to Nigeria to study African drama. At the same time, he taught
drama and literature at various universities in Ibadan, Lagos, and Ife,
where, since 1975, he has been professor of comparative literature. In
1960, he founded the theatre group, "The 1960 Masks" and in 1964, the
"Orisun Theatre Company", in which he has produced his own plays and
taken part as actor. He has periodically been visiting professor at the
universities of Cambridge, Sheffield, and Yale.
During the civil war in Nigeria, Soyinka appealed in an article
for cease-fire. For this he was arrested in 1967, accused of
conspiring with the Biafra rebels, and was held as a political
prisoner for 22 months untill 1969. Soyinka has published about
20 works: drama, novels and poetry. He writes in English and his
literary language is marked by great scope and richness of
words.
As dramatist, Soyinka has been influenced by, among others, the
Irish writer, J.M. Synge, but links up with the traditional
popular African theatre with its combination of dance, music, and
action. He bases his writing on the mythology of his own
tribe-the Yoruba-with Ogun, the god of iron and war, at the
centre. He wrote his first plays during his time in London,
The Swamp Dwellers and
The Lion and the Jewel (a
light comedy), which were performed at Ibadan in 1958 and 1959
and were published in 1963. Later, satirical comedies are
The
Trial of Brother Jero (performed in 1960, publ. 1963) with
its sequel,
Jero's Metamorphosis (performed 1974, publ.
1973),
A Dance of the Forests (performed 1960, publ.1963),
Kongi's Harvest (performed 1965, publ. 1967) and
Madmen
and Specialists (performed 1970, publ. 1971). Among Soyinka's
serious philosophic plays are (apart from "
The Swamp
Dwellers")
The Strong Breed (performed 1966, publ.
1963),
The Road ( 1965) and
Death and the King's
Horseman (performed 1976, publ. 1975). In
The Bacchae of
Euripides (1973), he has rewritten the Bacchae for the
African stage and in
Opera Wonyosi (performed 1977, publ.
1981), bases himself on John Gay's
Beggar's Opera and
Brecht's
The Threepenny Opera. Soyinka's latest dramatic
works are
A Play of Giants (1984) and
Requiem for a
Futurologist (1985).
Soyinka has written two novels,
The Interpreters (1965),
narratively, a complicated work which has been compared to
Joyce's and
Faulkner's, in which
six Nigerian intellectuals discuss and interpret their African
experiences, and
Season of Anomy (1973) which is based on
the writer's thoughts during his imprisonment and confronts the
Orpheus and Euridice myth with the mythology of the Yoruba.
Purely autobiographical are
The Man Died: Prison Notes
(1972) and the account of his childhood,
Aké ( 1981),
in which the parents' warmth and interest in their son are
prominent. Literary essays are collected in, among others,
Myth, Literature and the African World (1975).
Soyinka's poems, which show a close connection to his plays, are
collected in
Idanre, and Other Poems (1967),
Poems from
Prison (1969),
A Shuttle in the Crypt (1972) the long
poem
Ogun Abibiman (1976) and
Mandela's Earth and Other
Poems (1988).