WOLE SOYINKA

Introduction

Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka, known as Wole Soyinka, born in 1934, is a Nigerian

playwright, poet and essayist. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first

African to be honored in that category. The culture and language of the Yoruba is the basis for

much of Soyinka's writing. Soyinka was born into a Yoruba family in Abeokuta in Western

Nigeria. His father, Samuel Ayodele Soyinka, was the headmaster of St. Peter's Primary School.

As a child, Wole Soyinka lived as an Anglican Christian. He enjoyed participating in Anglican

services and singing in the church choir and associated himself with the Yoruba deity associated

with war, iron and poetry. Soyinka was vocal about his dislike of Nigerian politics, and was

willing to put it all on the line to fight oppression and tyranny. During the Nigerian Civil War in

the 1960's, he was arrested and incarcerated for twenty-two months as a result of an article he

wrote demanding a cease-fire.

Educational Background

He joined St Peters School thereafter moved to Abeokuta Grammar School where he won a

scholarship to the colony’s premier secondary school the Government College in Ibadan from

1938 to 1943. At this point he enjoyed writing stories, acting in school plays and excelled in his

studies. He graduated at the age of 16 in the Government College and moved to the capital Lagos

to work in an Uncle’s pharmacy for two years before joining university. He began writing plays

for radio during this period. He left Africa for the first time after winning a scholarship in the

University of Leeds in England in 1954. He received a B.A honors in English Literature in 1959.
He wrote plays drawing on his Yoruba heritage as he was studying for his master’s degree. He

wrote ‘The Swamp Dwellers’ and ‘The Lion and the Jewel’ a story of a floppish school teacher

and an old African chief competing for a young village woman, which were both staged in

London. He later joined the theatres literary staff where he was able to watch rehearsals.

WOLE SOYINKA’S PHILOSOPHY

Wole Soyinka was nationally known as a controversial literary activist. He was considered to be

quite eccentric and condemnatory in his remarks about those in the government.

There are five quotes that Wole Soyinka is well known for in his philosophy. They include:

 One’s own self-worth is tied to the community to which one belongs, which is intimately

connected to humanity in general.

 What happens in Darfur becomes an assault on my own community and on me as an

individual that’s what the human family is all about.

 I don’t know any other way to live but to wake up every day armed with my convictions,

not yielding them to the thread of danger and to the force of people who might despise

me.

 For me, justice is the prime condition of humanity.

 The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.

The tradition of dramatic theory linking ritual and drama extends from the origin of western

dramatic theory in Aristotle's Poetics to nearly all modern dramatic criticism in English, and has

manifested a unique concern with discussing dramatic import in terms of audience affect.

Soyinka’s Nigeria is a society in transition, that attempts to create a new nation out of a variety

of rich, tribal cultures and a legacy of European colonization. His philosophies greatly

contributed to these creations.

He maintains that an artist is “the recorder of the mores and experience of his society and the

voice of vision in his own time.” Wole Soyinka bridges the distance between these two cultures

in his works by infusing Western dramatic forms with elements of traditional Yoruban

performance, such as masking, dance, and drums.

Literary Philosophy

Soyinka’s literary philosophy is brought out in two essay collections: Myth, Literature, and the

African World, published in 1976, and Art, Dialogue, and Outrage, published in 1990. The

first collection defines literature as social vision, or rather what Soyinka calls “the

decongealment of the imaginative function by past or present reality.”

 He asserts in the essays that critics must approach African literature on its own terms rather than

measuring it by standards developed in western cultures. Wole Soyinka argues that no single

African writer can speak for “the Africans” He urges western readers to listen to the great variety

of African voices recording African life. 

He established the “Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa” with a cash value of

US$20,000. This prize, which is awarded every two years, aims at honoring people whose talents

have had a positive impact on society.

He is among the African intellectuals who contribute greatly to the economic and political

debate in their countries. He helps nurture young minds at the same time supporting the less

privileged, and intervening in crisis situation to prevent conflict.

In 2008, he urged militants in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region to “replace their armed militancy

with intellectual militancy in their struggle for justice, good economic governance and equity in

their country.

 Wole Sonyika’s philosophy concerning Freedom

he says ‘’ The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.’’

How this philosophy is applied and affects in the real world

A case study:

In a government with just one presiding party is an example of people who know not

what freedom is. In Political Parties the republic of Kenya was described in early 1979

as "a one-party state that is not without threats to its stability". For a long time, this held

true, but there have been some significant changes, especially since the early 1990s.

Kenya has been, since its independence from the United Kingdom, a country with a

capitalist-oriented economy, a stable political system.

 This demonstrated the lack of freedom, the one-party system ensured that whatever

decision was made was absolute and final and those who even dared defy or oppose the

said and passed directions or laws were punished and even some prosecuted for defiance.
 Hence there was no criticism of any form whatsoever and that was the threat on the

nation’s freedom. But this action would soon have consequences

 Several members of FORD were arrested in November 1991 prior to a pro-democracy

rally, which despite having been banned by the government took place. The arrests

caused the international community to react strongly with outrage and, more importantly,

withdrawing of financial funds. On 26 November 1991 the West discontinued bilateral

aid to Kenya.

 These events later led to the legalization of opposition parties in December 1991. In a

way this enabled Moi and KANU to control the legislative process by having seized the

initiative for reform towards a multi-party system. Primarily because of international

pressure, but due to domestic pressure as well, president Moi agreed to reforming the

party system. Hence after Kenya’s political system took a turn for the better the country

began to see a change there was a balance in difference of opinions the was opposition

and those who formed the government of the time.

 It is clear that Wole’s philosophy; The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of

criticism is a true statement in itself in relation to our society.

 Conclusion

 Wole Soyinka is an inspiration to many to who expressed himself through art and

literature. ‘Writing became a therapy. I was reconstructing my own existence. It was also

an act of defiance.’ This encourages us to follow our passions and dreams, to stand up for

what is right in the society in order to make a change.

References

July, R. (1981). The Artist's Credo: The Political Philosophy of Wole Soyinka. The Journal of Modern
African Studies, 19(3), 477-498.