IGNOU FREE MEG-008 New Literatures in English Solved Guess Paper 2025

Q1.What role have migrant intellectuals played in the institutionalization of postcolonial theory?

Colonial discourse analysis Those wanting to understand the beginnings and development of postcolonial studies will readily find numerous Introductions, Readers, Companions, monographs, and journal articles offering a variety of definitions and genealogies, advising further reading, and proposing new objects of study. If the scale of publications testifies to the rapid assimilation of a disparate interdisciplinary undertaking within academic curricula, then the range of analytic strategies suggests a volatile and contested discussion. Yet despite a project in which poststructuralists vie with Marxists, culturalists with materialists, textualists with realists, postcolonial criticism has come to be identified as postmodernist in its orientation – an alignment promoted more or less actively by prominent critics in the field. One consequence of this is that there has been a fluid, polysemic, and ambiguous usage of the term “postcolonial” within and beyond specialist circles. The plenitude of signification is such that “postcolonial” can indicate a historical transition, an achieved epoch, a cultural location, a theoretical stance – indeed, in the spirit of mastery favored by Humpty Dumpty in his dealings with language, whatever an author chooses it to mean.2 As a result it is not uncommon to find the term used in connection with any discursive contest against oppression or marginalization – such as feminist or queer or disability studies.

During this time, anticolonialists, notably Frantz Fanon, Albert Memmi, and Aime Cesaire, were denouncing European colonialism with analyses of the role of class, race, national culture and violence in the struggle for national liberation, and in retrospect, can be seen to have begun the postcolonial movement. In her overview of the development of postcolonial theorizing, Parry (2004) notes that foremost postcolonial scholar Edward Said both acknowledged the contributions of poststructuralist theory, Western Marxism, and Anglo-American criticism, and observes that within these theories there is indifference to colonialism as constitutive of metropolitan society and culture. In particular, Said called attention to their failure to recognize the work of anticolonialist critics such as Cesaire and Fanon.

Colonization was no longer seen only as enacted in exotic places, but as central to the very existence and identity of European culture (Cooper, 2005). Taking inspiration from Said’s work, postcolonial studies began in the late 1970s and early 1980s in what was then called ‘colonial discourses analysis’ (Parry, 2004).

Second, Allen argues that the idea of historical progress as a distinctively modern concept, which implies the idea of a necessary, inevitable and unified process, found its clearest expression not only in Kant and Hegel but “even in Marx” (8), particularly in the ways in which he conceptualized the “development of the forces and relations of production, which sows the seeds for communist revolution,” (8), as well as his idea of a “communist utopia”. None of the contemporary Frankfurt School critical theorists makes, according to her, such strong claims as Marx, but rather they understand progress as contingent and always with the possibility of regression (9). However, she claims that Habermas remains stuck in a backwardlooking idea of progress, because he turns to Marx in his early attempt to reconstruct historical materialism.

In Benita Parry’s words, “The postcolonial shift away from historical processes has meant that discursive or ‘epistemic’ violence has tended to take precedence in analysis over the institutional practices of the violent social system of colonialism.

It is no accident that Dipesh Chakrabarty and Robert Young are most prominently and often cited among the various postcolonial theorists on whose work Allen relies. Both Chakrabarty and Young have made the Enlightenment central to their work and have emphasized the colonial dimensions of progress narratives

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Q2. How is language reflective of culture? Cite the views of two African writers on this issue.

No critical issue has influenced so much the theory and practice of African literary studies than the issue of foreign language. Language choice is a moot and miscellaneous arena. Initially confined to the analysis of literature, culture and identity, the choice of English, French or Spanish languages has been proliferated extensively and speedily in the last two decades. The present paper sheds light on the unstable and wobbly position of the colonial language in African literature. This scrutiny explores the origins of the African debate on language choice and identifies its legitimacy. The nub of the study is the demonstration of the ongoing debate while it is hoped to argue that issue betrays a sense of aporia. The study heavily relies on the arguments of Kenya’s gifted author Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Nigeria’s prolific author Chinua Achebe. It also captures some evidences and reasonable arguments from the literary works of contemporary Francophone writers from Algeria to strengthen the different views.

In the wake of African independence and the ongoing debate on the language question, Ngugi wa Thiong’o has emerged as a leading advocate of indigenous languages in African literature. In this chapter I examine Ngugi’s decision to write in Gikuyu and the range of criticisms his advocacy of mother tongue has engendered. I describe Ngugi’s multilingual network model of translation, and discuss how it might represent a solution to the tensions between monolingualism and multilingualism in post-colonial Africa. I argue that Ngugi’s use of Gikuyu must be seen not as a threat to national unity, but rather as an authentic expression of African identity reflecting its cultural and linguistic diversity. Writing in Gikuyu can be seen as one of several.

This Chapter seeks to problematize the blunt characterization of African international legal scholarship as either weak (‘contributionist’) or strong (‘critical’) by reading it through African literature. Returning to founding moments of these two disciplines (the ‘African Conference on the Rule of Law’ in Lagos (1961) and the ‘African Writers Conference’ in Makarere (1962)), it will consider how the evolving debates amongst African writers about the ‘decolonisation’ of the novel in English might be used to re-read this ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ division in international legal scholarship.

Proverbs are significant tools of conversation among Igbo people and Africans in particular. Among African writers, proverbs play major roles in their literary works and it gives a touch of African uniqueness, authenticity, and identity. Through the use of proverbs, the writers project their culture, tradition, views and perceptions of their indigenous communities in spite of their communicating in a language alien to them. The use of proverbs in literary works does not just occur by chance nor are their efficacy to be compromised. They are natural linguistic tools loaded with sacred meanings, and with roles both in the literary works as vehicles of culture projection and the immediate communities as paraphernalia of oratorical ingenuity.

Q3. In what ways does Canada’s history and geography complement its literature’?

Canadian Literature is actually a literature originally written by Canadians. These Canadian writers contributed greatly in shaping of Canada through ample records of explorers and pioneers, the collective record provided in the journals of discoverers, in the memoirs of master-builders and in the pages of political and constitutional history. Still the chronicle of Canada is not complete and if it were complete it could produce industry, commerce, democratic government, Church, education, art, and literature, because this great body Canada, was gradually articulating into a great nation.

Canadian literature is also impressed by Canada’s national, economical, social and political contexts. The British, French and Aboriginal were the chief cultures of Canadian literature. The Canadian literature is split into two major divisions: English and French. After the “Announcement of Implementation of Policy of Multiculturalism within Bilingual Framework,” by Prime Minister Trudeau in 1971, Canada turned into a sweet home for readers and writers.

Most of the critics have raised the themes of nationalism and region in Canadian literature. These authors portrayed Canada ‘as (1) a physical desert, (2) a cultural wasteland and (3) a raw land of investment opportunity and resource extraction.’ In the beginning, they were motivated to write on different societies but with the passage of time, they rejected writing on romantic adventures of the frozen North and concentrated to enhance the culture and society of Canada by writing particularly for it.

The Canadian authors were not uniform in their thoughts on geography, social experience, first nation’s cultures, immigration patterns, and proximity to Europe, Asia and the USA, but, they shared many equal perspectives to their representations of nature, civility, and human interaction at home or abroad also. Not only this, they have identified language and formal strategies, theories of knowledge and meaning, ethics, politics, psychology of race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, identity and environment. Now, Canadian literature is not restricted to certain topics in writings but, its perspective has now amalgamated much new concerns in its literature.

These Canadian writers give value to the effects of climate and geography on the life and work of their people. They are greatly influenced by its each turn and Canada’s rough mountains, roaring rivers, and unkind winters contrasting sharply with its rich valleys, peaceful lakes and kind summers.

The frontier life is also a part of Canada’s basic experience that can be found ever in the literature of this nation. Some of the writers have taken themes from the steady march westward across Canada and some have traced drama in continuing battles to win a living on the sea. The other writers have greatly concerned the ever-present frontier to the north, the constant challenge to expand a foothold in the Arctic. For them, new lands are not the only frontier but they feel people facing exciting challenges in the outposts of the experience.

The geographical position of Canada in the world intensely affects many Canadian writers. French Canadians always feel themselves surrounded by their Englishspeaking neighbours. So, they feel a kind of insecurity and have made an unwavering effort to defend their own culture and institutions. And surprisingly, English Canadians do not have a similar feeling of being surrounded by the people and culture of the United States and terrified of them.

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Q4. What is the role of women’s writing in newly emerging literatures?

The role of women in literature crosses many broad spectrums in works of the past and present. Women are often portrayed as weak and feeble individuals that submit to the situations around them, but in many cases women are shown to be strong, independent individuals. This is a common theme that has appeared many times in literature. Across all literature, there is a common element that causes the suffering and pain of women. This catalyst, the thing that initiates the suffering of women, is essentially always in the form of a man. These themes can be clearly seen in the short stories Chopin’s “The Story Of An hour”, Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, and Hurston’s “Sweat”. These pieces of literature strongly portray how women are seen in instances…show more content…

This is seen in literature across all spectrums from fiction to poems, and even songs.

Throughout all of these pieces of literature a man is used as a tool to set out the events for things that happen later in every one of these stories. This same trend can be seen in many of the works of artist today such as Taylor Swift. “And you call me up again just to break me like a promise / So casually cruel in the name of being honest”( Swift). This is yet another example of how a man can tragically break the spirit and heart of a woman unknowingly. This tool is only used though so authors can begin to unravel the true purpose of literature, and the purpose of their literature focuses on why these women are in so much pain and why they won’t leave or try to escape their situation and what keeps them trapped there. The author builds the catalyst so they can focus on their true goal of writing about what occurs during the reaction, this is the true purpose of authors literature, and in this case, the purpose of the literature is to tunnel deep into the female heart and mine out its troubles, its problems, and everything that makes it tick. All of these authors are focusing on the affliction of the female heart. The authors write these women in instances of weakness so they can take a reader through the process of all the things they had to overcome to emerge stronger and more empowered on the other side of their situation,or tragically takes a reader through the events that lead to the main characters not being able to hold on any longer and what lead to their ultimate.

Author Stewart Justman discusses the honor of the three male characters in his essay, “The Reeve’s Tale and the Honor of Men.” This analysis appears to evolve from the insult the pilgrim Reeve receives after The Miller’s Tale, causing, “…males whose obsession with their own repute, and corresponding dread of derision, reduce the ‘noble’ value of honor to an absurd and violent mania” (21). This leaves Malyne and Symkyn’s wife the recipients of this violence. One might say that Justman continues with the previous essays by Plummer and Woods even though they discuss money, honor is closely related to the overall shaming of Symkyn after his daughter and wife are sexually assaulted.

Chopin challenges the gender roles expectations imposed on married women during the nineteenth century in her novel, “The Awakening.” The main protagonist, Edna, initially symbolizes the conventional woman; she is married to Leonce Pontellier and they have two children. Later, at Grand Isle, she experiences dissatisfaction with her life and marriage. Edna experiences a stirring in her soul that exposes contradictions between her natural self and “gendered” self. She wants to break free from social norms that bind her to motherhood, and this is her natural self in conflict with her “gendered” identity. To be free, however, is not always an easy choice to pursue. The research paper discusses.

Q5. What was the social and political nature of societies in prehistoric Kenya’?

It is known that human history in Kenya dates back millions of years, because it is there that some of the earliest fossilized remains of hominids have been discovered. Among the best-known finds are those by anthropologist Richard

Leakey and the Rift Valley areas of Kenya and of Tanzania (especially at Olduvai

Gorge) and along the Kagera River in Uganda. During the Mesolithic period (thence to c. 10,000 BCE), new stone-tool-making techniques evolved, and the use of fire was mastered. Spreading to other parts of East Africa, in the Neolithi.

(Tanzania), Uganda, and Kenya in East Africa between 1961 and 1963, and Malaŵi and Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) in the south in 1964. White residents of Southern Rhodesia, however, declared their own independence in defiance of

London and the UN. The Republic of among the Kikuyu people of Kenya. The Mau Mau (origin of the name is uncertain) advocated violent resistance to British domination in Kenya; the movement was especially associated with the ritual oaths employed by leaders of the Kikuyu Central Association to promote unity in the independence movement.

In Kenya, for example, the British government refused to grant the 20,000 European settlers in the “white highlands” any kind of direct political power over the mass of tribal Blacks who constituted the colony’s overwhelming majority. In British West Africa the passage from direct colonial government.

Ogaden, French Somaliland, and northern Kenya. The Somalian government strongly supported the Kenyan Somali community’s aim of self-determination (and union with Somalia); when this failed in the spring of 1963, after a commission of inquiry endorsed Somali aspirations, Somalia broke off diplomatic relations with Britain, and a Somali guerrilla war.

Victory over opposition from Kenya by gaining the British government’s approval for an extension of the Central Railway Line from Tabora to Mwanza (1928). His attitude toward European settlers was determined by their potential contribution to the country’s economy.

Relations with both Uganda and Kenya contributed to the collapse of the East African Community in 1977, which had been established 10 years earlier to foster economic development between the three countries.

Industrial Revolution, in modern history, the process of change from an agrarian and handicraft economy to one dominated

by industry and machine manufacturing. These technological changes introduced novel ways of working and living and fundamentally transformed society. This process began in Britain in the 18th century and from there spread to other parts of the world. Although used earlier by French writers, the term Industrial Revolution was first popularized by the English economic historian Arnold

Toynbee (1852–83) to describe Britain’s economic development from 1760 to 1840. Since Toynbee’s time the term has been more broadly applied as a process of economic transformation than as a period of time in a particular setting. This explains why some areas, such as China and India, did not begin their first industrial revolutions until the 20th century, while others, such as the United States and western Europe, began undergoing “second” industrial revolutions by the late 19th century.

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Q6. What is the nature and function of literature in society?

Oral literature is the repository of the critical knowledge, philosophy, and wisdom for non-literate societies. This literature through narrative, poetry, song, dance, myths and fables, and texts for religious rituals provides a portrait of the meaning of life as experienced by the society at its particular time and place with its unique existential challenges. It encapsulates the traditional knowledge, beliefs and values about the environment and the nature of the society itself. It arises in response to the universal aesthetic impulse to provide narratives that explains the nature of life and describes human responses to challenges. This literature portrays how one is to live a moral life and explains the nature of one’s relationships to divinity. It thus retains the society’s knowledge to be passed on to succeeding generations. It contains the history of the society and its experiences. In various forms this oral literature portrays the society’s belief systems that makes sense of life. It provides a guide to human behavior and how to live one’s life. With the arrival of literacy, the core of this literature and its art rapidly disappears.

It is also the repository of artistic expression in a society. Its beauty resonates across cultural frontiers . As such this literature is a response to the universal human instinct to find balance, harmony, and beauty in the world and the need to understand pain, suffering, and evil. It explains the causes of human suffering, justifies them, and suggests ways of mediation and the healing of suffering. Oral literature also functions to fulfill the need for religious belief and spiritual fulfillment necessary for human existence. This universal human realm, peopled by spiritual beings and their personalities, is revealed through stories, tales, songs, myths, legends, prayers, and ritual texts. Such literature recounts the work of the gods, explains how the world and human existence came about, and reveals the nature of human frailty. Oral literature serves to communicate ideas, emotions, beliefs and appreciation of life. This literature defines, interprets, and elaborates on the society’s vision of reality and the dangers in the world. It deals with the human adventure and achievements against odds. Through the texts of the society’s rituals and ceremonies the ecological elements that are critical to the society’s livelihood are portrayed and their functions sanctified.

Oral literature is also a form of entertainment and fosters feelings of solidarity with others who have had similar experiences. In sum, oral literature may encompass many genres of linguistic expression and may perform many different functions for the society.

Literature allows a person to step back in time and learn about life on Earth from the ones who walked before us. We can gather a better understanding of culture and have a greater appreciation of them. We learn through the ways history is recorded, in the forms of manuscripts and through speech itself.

 Q7. What are Ngugi’s views about the role of writer in society’?

In this excerpt, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o makes the call to African writers to begin writing literature in their own languages, and to make sure that literature is connected to their people’s revolutionary struggles for liberation from their (neo)colonial contexts. Echoing Fanon, he claims that this amalgam makes writers most dangerous to colonial powers, when they begin to speak to the people rather than trying to gain cultural creedence in the colonizer’s language of a European tongue.

Broken into nine sections, he discusses the power of writing in African languages and the crippling nature of continuing to write in Euro-American languages (call this Afro-European literature, not African literature) while trying to decolonize through a mixture of personal memoir and theoretical treatise:

To discuss African literature, we need to understand the dual context of imperialism and resistance to imperialism, decolonization and self-determination. Ngugi puts language at the center of this contentious collision: “The choice of language and the use to which language is put is central to a people’s definition of themselves in relation to the natural and social environment, indeed in relation to the entire universe…writers who should have been mapping paths out of that linguistic encirclement [by colonialism] of their continent also came to be defined and to define themselves in terms of the language of imperialist imposition. Even at their most radical and pro-African position in their sentiments and articulation of problems they still took it as axiomatic that the renaissance of African cultures lay in the languages of Europe” (4-5).

II: He gives a personal example of this dynamic, which is reminiscent of Fanon’s critique of the early stage of the native intellectual. Ngugi refers to the 1962 African writers conference at Makerere University College in Kampala, Uganda: “A Conference of African Writers of English Expression.” Excluding writers who wrote in African tongues, it proceeded to discuss questions of what African literature is or could be, while accepting that it must be in English.  This cruel poisonous paradox is summed up this way: “The bullet was the means of the physical subjugation. Language was the means of the spiritual subjugation” (9).

III: Ngugi discusses his early childhood experience of language education. He contrasts his village lessons via stories in his native tongue, Gikuyu, wherein language was magical and powerful and musical. Then he speaks of school, wherein he was forced to learn English and witness as English was used to sort students into a pyramid hierarchy. No matter how smart you were, you didn’t continue if you couldn’t use English well. At the same time, you were banned from using your own language.

IV: This is Ngugi’s theoretical section on the “relationship of language to human experience, human culture, and the human perception of reality” (13). He first divides language into a “dual character: it is both a means of communication and a carrier of culture” (13). As communication, he divides it into 3 aspects: 1.”language of real life,” following Marx to denote basic relationships of labor and cooperation that form a community; 2. Speech – “imitates the language of real life…as a system of verbal signposts” (13-14)…speech is to humans-humans as the hand is to humans-nature in the language of real life; 3. Writing – “Imitates the spoken…representation of sounds with visual symbols.” (14). Ngugi notes that, in most societies, the written and the spoken are the same. They are in harmony. As such, Ngugi notes, language forms the “basis and process of evolving culture” (14). “Language as culture is the collective memory bank of a people’s experience in history. Culture is almost indistinguishable from the language that makes possible its genesis, growth, banking, articulation and indeed its transmission from one generation to the next” (15). Ngugi splits language-as-culture into three aspects: 1. Product of a particular history; 2. “Image-forming agent in the mind of a child” 3. Culture mediates through language in its spoken and written aspects.

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Q8. In what way does John Thompson represent the colonial point of view’?

John is a British administrator and Margery’s husband, as well as Karanja’s employer in the present timeline of the story. John primarily exists for the author to explore arguments in favor of British imperialism. After John meets two thoroughly Westernized African students at Oxford, he becomes convinced of the great moral cause of colonialism, viewing it as a modernizing and purifying force upon a savage, primitive world, inspiring him and his wife to move to East Africa to participate in colonization. In this manner, John is the antithesis of Kihika, his moral opponent, believing that the moral argument favors colonialism and not revolution. However, despite John’s moralism, he proves to be a ruthless overseer, even causing the deaths of eleven prisoners in a detention camp that he oversees, suggesting that there can be nothing moral about colonialism. When news of the deaths makes international headlines, John is publicly excoriated and demoted to working a menial job in Githima. Like many of the male characters, John projects an image of power but is actually weak and indecisive. After the Kenyans win their independence, John’s defeat is complete and he becomes utterly disillusioned with his life, colonialism’s great purpose, and even his wife, before they both leave Kenya for good. Although Karanja fawns over John Thompson, John himself hardly takes any notice of Karanja.

The elision of empire in E P Thompson’s work has had important implications for the emergence of Social History. In his focus on culture Thompson did not merely enlarge the historian’s lens to rescue the lower orders as agents, so enabling further enlargement in the future. Instead his use of culture placed another veil in front of History, another layer on the ‘palimpest of history’ making it in some ways more difficult to incorporate empire, non-metropolitan subjects and race and gender perspectives into future historical analysis.

The Economic and Political Weekly, published from Mumbai, is an Indian institution which enjoys a global reputation for excellence in independent scholarship and critical inquiry. First published in 1949 as the Economic Weekly and since 1966 as the Economic and Political Weekly, EPW, as the journal is popularly known, occupies a special place in the intellectual history of independent India. For more than five decades EPW has remained a unique forum that week after week has brought together academics, researchers, policy makers, independent thinkers, members of non-governmental organisations and political activists for debates straddling economics, politics, sociology, culture, the environment and numerous other disciplines.

Q9. Why is Nigeria an “artificial creation”?

Nigeria as it is today, is still an artificial creation. It has always been a figment of imagination. Our founding fathers never inculcated in us the ideals of the nation called Nigeria. Our allegiance was not to the nation but to our different nationalities that make up this country called Nigeria. Nigeria as a nation was secondary in our thoughts.

The constitution aided in making us pay more allegiance to the federating units than to the nation called Nigeria. The constitution created barriers against national patriotism through such creations as the federal character. Merit was thrown overboard. Since merit is no longer necessary to attain positions in the centre Nigerians no longer paid allegiance to the nation since the nation discriminates against them. The resultant effect is corruption, maladministration and underdevelopment. Nigerians no longer thought of what they can do for the nation but what they can get from the nation. No nation can develop in an environment where meritocracy has been thrown overboard. There will be no loyalty, commitment and service to such a nation. Those who are eminently qualified and the doors have been shut against them may turn out to hunt the nation in the form of various crimes – robbery, kidnapping, cultism and terrorism.

At the federal level, recruitment into the civil service and the security agencies are based on federal character. Promotions too are not based on merit nor on the years of service but on the detestable federal character.

The concept of state of origin has not helped issues. A child born in a particular state, grew up there, has never been to his roots outside the state of residence is made to claim the state of his roots and not the state he was born. Aside his parent, the child has no attachment to the state of his roots yet he is not wanted in the state of his birth. He imbibes new vocabulary of “indigene” and non “indigene” concept. He is not wanted in the state of his birth where his parent pay tax neither can he fully associate himself with the state of his parent. The child finds himself in a dilemma. Where does his allegiance lie? In the state of birth where he is a stranger or in the state of his roots which he barely knows.

In the United States, the child is taught right from infancy to be patriotic. He feels loved, protected and accepted by the state. He faces no discrimination as a result of the state he was born. He grows up to honour the flag and if possible sacrifice for the nation. This is possible because the nation has made him feel wanted. The reverse is the case here in Nigeria. If the leaders of tomorrow are discriminated against right from infancy, what then does the future hold for this country.

One would have thought that the last civil war would have been enough sacrifice for the nation to be more united but rather the nation is falling apart by the day. In a war that there was “no conqueror, no vanquished”, what we observe today is that the war is still going on in our minds. How can the wounds of the soul be healed when the flesh is still being assaulted on a daily basis? How can there be freedom to the soul when our lips are padlocked in the environment we live in.

Recently, the Abia State government dismissed thousands of workers who are in her service but come from the neighbouring state of Imo. Some of these dismissed workers are married to Abia men. Now where do they belong? Is it the state of their spouse or the state of their parents? In other climes, an individual becomes the citizen of a place if she is married to an indigene of that country. Not in Nigeria! The worst for these dismissed workers of Abia State, their years of service and sacrifice to Abia were not taken into consideration as no gratuity nor pension were paid the dismissed workers. How can a people who pass through this injustice be united and patriotic when the system itself is injustice personified.

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Q10. Are there any common themes or motifs in these seven plays by Soyinka?

Wole Soyinka, in full Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka, (born July 13, 1934, Abeokuta, Nigeria), Nigerian playwright and political activist who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986. He sometimes wrote of modern West Africa in a satirical style, but his serious intent and his belief in the evils inherent in the exercise of power were usually evident in his work as well.

A member of the Yoruba people, Soyinka attended Government College and University College in Ibadan before graduating in 1958 with a degree in English from the University of Leeds in England. Upon his return to Nigeria, he founded an acting company and wrote his first important play, A Dance of the Forests (produced 1960; published 1963), for the Nigerian independence celebrations. The play satirizes the fledgling nation by stripping it of romantic legend and by showing that the present is no more a golden age than was the past.

He wrote several plays in a lighter vein, making fun of pompous, Westernized schoolteachers in The Lion and the Jewel (first performed in Ibadan, 1959; published 1963) and mocking the clever preachers of upstart prayer-churches who grow fat on the credulity of their parishioners in The Trials of Brother Jero (performed 1960; published 1963) and Jero’s Metamorphosis (1973). But his more serious plays, such as The Strong Breed (1963), Kongi’s Harvest (opened the first Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, 1966; published 1967), The Road (1965), From Zia, with Love (1992), and even the parody King Baabu (performed 2001; published 2002), reveal his disregard for African authoritarian leadership and his disillusionment with Nigerian society as a whole.

Other notable plays included Madmen and Specialists (performed 1970; published 1971), Death and the King’s Horseman (1975), and The Beatification of Area Boy (1995). In these and Soyinka’s other dramas, Western elements are skillfully fused with subject matter and dramatic techniques deeply rooted in Yoruba folklore and religion. Symbolism, flashback, and ingenious plotting contribute to a rich dramatic structure. His best works exhibit humour and fine poetic style as well as a gift for irony and satire and for accurately matching the language of his complex characters to their social position and moral qualities.

From 1960 to 1964 Soyinka was coeditor of Black Orpheus, an important literary journal. From 1960 onward he taught literature and drama and headed theatre groups at various Nigerian universities, including those of Ibadan, Ife, and Lagos. After winning the Nobel Prize, he also was sought after as a lecturer, and many of his lectures were published—notably the Reith Lectures of 2004, as Climate of Fear (2004).

Wole Soyinka

Though he considered himself primarily a playwright, Soyinka also wrote the novels The Interpreters (1965), Season of Anomy (1973), and Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth (2021), the latter of which drew particular praise for its satirical take on corruption in Nigeria. His several volumes of poetry included Idanre, and Other Poems (1967) and Poems from Prison (1969; republished as A Shuttle in the Crypt, 1972), published together as Early Poems (1998); Mandela’s Earth and Other Poems (1988); and Samarkand and Other Markets I Have Known (2002). His verse is characterized by a precise command of language and a mastery of lyric, dramatic, and meditative poetic forms. He wrote a good deal of Poems from Prison while he was jailed in 1967–69 for speaking out against the war brought on by the attempted secession of Biafra from Nigeria. The Man Died (1972) is his prose account of his arrest and 22-month imprisonment. Soyinka’s principal critical work is Myth, Literature, and the African World (1976), a collection of essays in which he examines the role of the artist in the light of Yoruba mythology and symbolism. Art, Dialogue, and Outrage (1988) is a work on similar themes of art, culture, and society. He continued to address Africa’s ills and Western responsibility in The Open Sore of a Continent (1996) and The Burden of Memory, the Muse of Forgiveness (1999).

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