A Play of Giants is a savage satire on some of the best-known dictators of our time (including Idi Amin); it brings together a group of dictatorial African leaders at bay in an embassy in New York attempting to make decisions together.
Beyond Aesthetics is a passionate discussion of the role of identity, tradition, and originality in making , collecting, and exhibiting African art today. Soyinka considers objects that have stirred controversy, and he decries dogmatic efforts – whether colonial or religious – to suppress Africa’s artistic traditions. By turns poetic, provocative and humorous, Soyinka affirms the power of collecting to reclaim tradition. He urges African artists, filmmakers, collectors, and curators to engage with their aesthetic mand cultural histories.
In an imaginary Nigeria, a cunning entrepreneur is selling body parts stolen from Dr. Menka’s hospital for use in ritualistic practices. Dr. Menka shares the grisly news with his oldest college friend, bon viveur, star engineer, and Yoruba royal, Duyole Pitan-Payne. The life of every party, Duyole is about to assume a prestigious post at the United Nations in New York, but it now seems that someone is determined that he not make it there. And neither Dr. Menka nor Duyole knows why, or how close the enemy is, or how powerful.
Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth is at once a literary hoot, a crafty whodunit, and a scathing indictment of political and social corruption. It is a stirring call to arms against the abuse of power from one of our fiercest political activists, who also happens to be a global literary giant.
In an imaginary Nigeria, a cunning entrepreneur is selling body parts stolen from Dr. Menka’s hospital for use in ritualistic practices. Dr. Menka shares the grisly news with his oldest college friend, bon viveur, star engineer, and Yoruba royal, Duyole Pitan-Payne. The life of every party, Duyole is about to assume a prestigious post at the United Nations in New York, but it now seems that someone is determined that he not make it there. And neither Dr. Menka nor Duyole knows why, or how close the enemy is, or how powerful.
Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth is at once a literary hoot, a crafty whodunit, and a scathing indictment of political and social corruption. It is a stirring call to arms against the abuse of power from one of our fiercest political activists, who also happens to be a global literary giant.
The tussle between Power and office is historically notorious, even banal, and the comeuppance for the later, Office, is well deserved if it becomes negligent and irresponsible, thus opening itself to legitimate challenge from any source, even seemly powerless
A follow-up to the earlier volume, Soyinka is just as cutting and acerbic, as he takes on his bêtes noire in ‘The Republic of Liars’; and as usual, he pulls no punches.
“Basic education, sometimes known as Home Upbringing matters, and nurturing remains a dedicated undertaking. Internet accessibility is no substitute. Like the lyrics of that ancient Lagosian song ‘Eko gb’ole o gb’ole’, the Internet accommodates robbers and indolent in equal, non-discriminating measures. The fact however remains that facts do remain facts, and one incontestable fact is that at no time did WS make any pronouncement, public or private, that invited any of these posturing mutants to come and “play with him”, least of all on a bicycle that even he has never considered his, only borrowed for a term, liable to be reclaimed or relinquished by either contracting party.” Taken somewhat aback by the unexpectedly viral response which accompanied his decision to keep his promise to destroy his American Green Card, if Donald Trump was elected president, Soyinka – with the help of a few other contributors to this volume – takes on his trolls – online as well as off.
This compilation contains three lectures delivered by Professor Wole Soyinka on recent developments in the Nigerian polity which call for well-informed critical analysis. And, true to the very nature of the great writer, these essays are nothing short of intelligence, eloquence and profundity.
The Nigerian state is bedevilled by various scourges: the constant thirst for – and abuse of – power by governments and individuals alike, is posing a great threat to freedom more than ever before in the country; Religion is in a perpetual supremacy contest with Nationhood; and ‘Rituals’ – the latest being the Nigerian Centenary Celebration – have come to be very effective in concealing the reality of decay going on around. And where is the average Nigerian in all these? Obscured and the so-called heroes among them? They have been dismissed and shouted into anonymity by the very ones who are supposed to lend them their voices.
“While our own ‘dear native land’ must claim credit from inspiring the sub-series The Republic of Liars within the general series of interventions… There are challengers and even-champions – elsewhere, seeking to wrest the laurel of lies from our own inspirational nation.
Within these pages, I present my chastening paracletes and their industry – from the world of sophisticates of modern intellection.”
These hilarious and vicious two plays examine the corruption of Nigerian society through a study of the rise and fall of one of its self-made charismatic preachers.
BOXED CASE SERIES OF THE CLASSIC TITLES – AKE, IBADAN, ISARA AND THE MAN DIED BY THE NOBEL LAURETE WOLE SOYINKA. A COLLECTOR’S ITEM.
You Must Set Forth at Dawn is an intimate chronicle of his thrilling public life, a meditation on justice and tyranny, and a mesmerizing testament to a ravaged yet hopeful land.
