Wole Soyinka: At 90, still an African literary icon for the ages

Back in 1986, at the pinnacle of his triumph as the first black man to be conferred the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist Wole Soyinka typically found the words to paint the most insightful picture of how our worlds collide.

"It was inevitable that the Nordic world and the African, especially that part of it which constitutes the Yoruba world, should meet at the crossroads of Sweden. That I am the agent of such a symbolic encounter is due very simply to the fact that my creative muse is Ogun, the god of creativity and destruction, of the lyric and metallurgy," Soyinka said in that famous acceptance speech.

"This deity anticipated your scientist Alfred Nobel at the very beginning of time by clearing a path through primordial chaos, dynamiting his way through the core of Earth to open a route for his fellow deities who sought to be reunited with us, mortals."

As is his wont, Soyinka effortlessly intertwined mythology, creativity, and Alfred Nobel's legacy, emphasising the transformative power of literature and its role in breaking barriers of culture, thought, and geography.

Soyinka turned 90 on July 13, making it a celebration of not just the master and his oeuvre but also a moment to recapture everything he stands for as an African and world treasure.

The activities planned in Africa and elsewhere over the weekend include special screenings of films on the life and works of the literary giant, book exhibitions, and cultural performances.

Born Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka in 1934 in Abeokuta, southwestern Nigeria, Soyinka's works and activism have often resonated with people not only in his native Nigeria but also throughout Africa.

After attending St Peter's Primary School in Abeokuta, Soyinka attended the Government College and University College Ibadan, which was then affiliated to the University of London, and studied in Leeds in the UK for a master's degree.

His career blossomed while he was in the UK, with some of his early plays immediately making a mark.

Some of the more famous works of his glorious career include The Swamp Dwellers, The Lion and the Jewel, Kongi's Harvest, Trials of Bothers Jero, Death and The Kings Horseman, Season of Anomy, The Interpreters, Ake: The Years of Childhood, The Man Died, and his memoir Ibadan: The Penkelemesi Years.

Strong convictions

When he became the first African to win the literature Nobel 38 years ago, Soyinka attended the presentation ceremony in traditional Nigerian attire. It was a statement that went beyond representing his country.

His speech referred to the evil of colonialism and how blacks in South Africa's apartheid era were blatantly and repeatedly discriminated against for decades.

Soyinka's involvement in politics wasn't mere rhetoric; it would often get him into trouble.

In 1965, Soyinka had been arrested and charged with forcing a radio announcer to play a recorded tape containing accusations of electoral malpractice in place of a speech by the then premier of Nigeria's western region.

Soyinka wriggled out of the charges on technical grounds, but that was just the beginning of his brush with the authorities.

He would fall foul of them again about two years later when he secretly met the governor of the Nigerian eastern region in Enugu to avert the country's civil war.

This time around, he was detained for 22 months and denied access to books and writing materials throughout the period.

He wrote The Man Died as a memoir detailing his imprisonment.

"In retrospect, The Man Died illuminates what has distinguished all Soyinka’s plays and poems: a passionate belief in justice and moral concern nothing can subvert," states an article by Peter Thomas in the journal Books Abroad, the earlier avatar of World Literature Today, in 1974.

"Long after his persecutors have found their proper place as footnotes in the history books, this man's works will stand as witness to the unconquerable spirit that outfaces all their kind...In his own words, he has become an 'anjonu' (spirit) returned from the grave."

Rebel without a pause

Soyinka would escape a similar fate in the aftermath of the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election. This time, he fled Nigeria with other pro-democracy activists, including the West African nation's current President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

As Thomas wrote five decades ago, Soyinka remains relevant in the literary and real worlds. The younger generation of writers in Nigeria sees him as a sage figure whose personality and depth of knowledge transcend writing and politics.

"There is a reason Soyinka is probably the most famous Nigerian in the world," Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, the 2016 Nigeria Prize for Literature winner, tells TRT Afrika.

"I saw him last October and asked him how, at this age, he still has the energy to engage in political debates even with online trolls. He expressed no desire to stop. One has to marvel at the energy he invests in his pursuits," he says.

Immortalising the legend

Kola Tubosun, the Nigerian linguist and writer, sees Soyinka as a pioneer. "So, if we are looking at impact, just the fact of him being a pioneer opened many doors for African creatives," he explains.

Tubosun is releasing a film titled Ebrohimie Road Soyinka to commemorate the 90th birth anniversary of the great man.

Another film slated for release is The Man Died, a fictionalised adaptation of stories from Soyinka's prison memoirs by Awam Amkpa, a drama professor, actor and director.

Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo III, the monarch of the Alake of Egbaland, has declared July 13 Wole Soyinka Day in his native Abeokuta. The latter has also urged the federal government to declare it a national celebration.

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