Soyinka's play, "Kongi's Harvest", is about a dictator who, in his desire to rule forever, usurped traditional authority and engaged in a concatenation of taboo behavior that finally led to his being served with a human head, ... read full comment
Soyinka's play, "Kongi's Harvest", is about a dictator who, in his desire to rule forever, usurped traditional authority and engaged in a concatenation of taboo behavior that finally led to his being served with a human head, instead of a sacred yam.
And the literary merit of this book is what lies within its pages, not what Soyinka says about its meaning or any gossip about his personal relationship and juvenile wildness. Therefore it is not true that those who read the book have to make any reference to what Soyinka thinks. And because Nkrumah is the dictator who wanted to rule forever and therefore usurped traditional authority and was utterly disgraced, "Kongi's Harvest" is as much about him as it is about all African dictators who have ended up in the gutter. And the fact of Soyinka's personal life, association and relationship has nothing to do with his well-articulated hatred for arrant dictators like Nkrumah whose megalomania he clearly exposes well in that classic book.
Please, leave well-trained literary critics and analysts to discuss this play lucidly without the convoluted rambling and disorganized rant you have presented here today.
For example, how can you make these two contradictory statements and be comfortable with them?
"In the end, the totality of Soyinka’s large body of written works, including his thespian output, does not present a coherent, or a unifying, algorithm..."
and
"It goes without saying that his literary works cannot be separated from his social-political activism. There is a direct correlation between his works and his activism."
Doesn't the latter quote represent coherent and unifying algorithm enough? Or is it the case that you regurgitate verbiage without pausing to think about it?
francis kwarteng 8 years ago
Hi SAS,
What's up? Thanks for your input. In Part 8 of this series I wrote the following, which you might want to take a look at again:
"That said, Prof. Biodun Jeyifo, one of Soyinka’s former students, a Harvard Uni ... read full comment
Hi SAS,
What's up? Thanks for your input. In Part 8 of this series I wrote the following, which you might want to take a look at again:
"That said, Prof. Biodun Jeyifo, one of Soyinka’s former students, a Harvard University professor of African literature and comparative literature (Caribbean, Western, and African), and arguably the world’s leading authority on Soyinka and his corpus of literary works, has explicitly dealt with the multiple interpretational controversies surrounding “Kongi Harvest” in his influential text “Wole Soyinka: Politics, Poetics, Postcolonialism.” Among other recognitions and acknowledgments, Prof. Jeyifo’s brilliant text won the American Library Association award (2004) for “Outstanding Academic Texts.” In another related context Cosmos Pieterse and Dennis Duerten, two important writers, also interviewed Soyinka on the exegetical location of “Kongi’s Harvest” in post-colonial African politics, among his other works, and included it in their influential text “African Writers Talking.” Those who want to pin down their twisted ideological and exegetical positions on Soyinka and his play, “Kongi’s Harvest,” will learn a great deal when they consult these works."
And for your information, I cogitate upon every every word, phrase, and phraseology I deploy n my article. Every statement you see is exactly as it should be.
However, You will get the opportunity to understand what the statements you quote mean in the next installment. Just don't rush to conclusion yet.
In the meantime, Jeyifo's award-winning text “Wole Soyinka: Politics, Poetics, Postcolonialism" and "African Writers Talkning" will let you know what Soyinka says about his play.
Please make time for these two books. The fact is, interpretation of the play is as much one's personal opinion as Jeyifo's and the authors of "African Writers Talking." Just think through your hypothesis and see how many African leaders at the time fit that model!
I shall have more to say about Soyinka and his body of works in the next installment.
All errors are mine!
Thanks.
Mahmoud 8 years ago
We really don't mind what colour is the leg that is pressing against our neck, we just want to get rid of it.
We really don't mind what colour is the leg that is pressing against our neck, we just want to get rid of it.
Prof Lungu 8 years ago
We were not going to make a comment here since fictional literature is not our forte, certainly not an interest area for us.
But, we could not resist, with all the pretensions about a book of fictions that is being repres ... read full comment
We were not going to make a comment here since fictional literature is not our forte, certainly not an interest area for us.
But, we could not resist, with all the pretensions about a book of fictions that is being represented as a historical account on this forum today.
READ: "...the literary merit of this book is what lies within its pages, not what Soyinka says about its meaning or any gossip about his personal relationship and juvenile wildness..".
WE SAY: Why not, if the writer himself intended to expound upon the dimensions of a character in his own book?
In what age did "literary merit" become "historical merit", Dr SAS?
When did a work of fiction become factual, with just one permissible, irreversible, interpretation allowed?
Must we descend into the "Birth of the Nation" Neverland and pretend D. W. Griffith, his Confederate Ku Klux Klan and their supporters actually saved America from Blacks; that the screening of that movie, created from the ignoble "Clansman" pamphlet, is the real deal because the screening occurred in the White House, at the feet President Woodrow Wilson who resisted womens' suffrage until he realized he n .
need them for the grear war?
How low must the Confederate Danquah-Busia cohort descend into explaining the "fact" at bottom of an unimportant work of fiction?
Goodness grief!
Fantasy literature!!!!
We are out!!!!!!!!!!!
Prof Lungu 8 years ago
....book of fiction....
//
...because the screening occurred in the White House, at the feet President Woodrow Wilson who resisted womens' suffrage until he realized he needed them for the great war?
See?
Slip-ups ... read full comment
....book of fiction....
//
...because the screening occurred in the White House, at the feet President Woodrow Wilson who resisted womens' suffrage until he realized he needed them for the great war?
See?
Slip-ups!
Not much of an interest in this item!
Done, for real!!!!!!!!!!!
Prof Lungu 8 years ago
....book of fiction....
//
...because the screening occurred in the White House, at the feet President Woodrow Wilson who resisted womens' suffrage until he realized he needed them for the great war?
See?
Slip-ups ... read full comment
....book of fiction....
//
...because the screening occurred in the White House, at the feet President Woodrow Wilson who resisted womens' suffrage until he realized he needed them for the great war?
See?
Slip-ups!
Not much of an interest in this item!
Done, for real!!!!!!!!!!!
smart prof 8 years ago
In ghana and nigeria the intelligence of an educated person is measured by his ability to write in the english language this article in question is full of english bullshit not needed in africa whatwe need is thinkers who c ... read full comment
In ghana and nigeria the intelligence of an educated person is measured by his ability to write in the english language this article in question is full of english bullshit not needed in africa whatwe need is thinkers who can make impact on solving our problems
Abra Kuma 8 years ago
To smart prof:
Whether vernacular or an accepted official "tongue" of a once-colonized sovereign state, language remains the most effective method of communication among humans; therefore, the more accurately we can relay ... read full comment
To smart prof:
Whether vernacular or an accepted official "tongue" of a once-colonized sovereign state, language remains the most effective method of communication among humans; therefore, the more accurately we can relay our needs to a listener or reader, the greater certainty there is that those needs may be met. In other words, effective communication is imperative to solving Ghana's many problems. Let us continue to improve our communication skills in whichever language we use.
To Prof. Lungu:
Since no profession or occupation is of less value than the other, inasmuch as they all serve their purpose in a given time or place, which makes the world go round, literature also enhances our traditional and cultural legacies - even the art of fictional literature.Hence, let us continue to promote all our positive legacies!
To Francis Kwarteng:
Interesting read! It certainly demonstrates that Professor Wole Soyinka may be operating in a "Survival of the Fittest" mode; a feature that seemingly guarantees personal success in a material world of "Dog-eat-dog." In 1965, however, Ghanaian culture and mindset hardly accommodated such aggressive and opportunistic traits in our social order which primarily prescribed advancing the welfare of the extended family, the village,the region, the country, and the continent as a whole. Perhaps if asked, Soyinka might have said it was precisely that lack of aggressive and opportunistic element which caused Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's ouster.When Ghanaians see danger, they hesitate to react immediately. As per one of your previous write-ups, Lee Quan Yiu's regime policy was(to put it crudely) to cut down any enemy before he/she jeopardizes national development.
As for "Kongi's Harvest," unless the playwright says otherwise, let us accept it within the classification that Soyinka introduced this work: a fictional drama - no more, no less!
It is also helpful to remember that, writers, when confronted with questions that clearly indicate a misrepresentation of their work and that therefore they are unprepared for specific interviewer questions posed,authors sometimes unwittingly back themselves against a wall with utterances they later regret but are loathe to retract for wont of appearing weak before an admiring audience. Soyinka is human. We love and respect him for his achievements. May his accolades find approval among our ancestors!
Thanks.
Prof Lungu 8 years ago
Abra Kuma,
Your: "... literature also enhances our traditional and cultural legacies - even the art of fictional literature...."
WE SAY: We agree!
We respect the works, recognizing the individual merits of each (fict ... read full comment
Abra Kuma,
Your: "... literature also enhances our traditional and cultural legacies - even the art of fictional literature...."
WE SAY: We agree!
We respect the works, recognizing the individual merits of each (fiction and non-fiction), to national and personal development.
So, we must not elevate a work of fiction as history, either through conjecture, personal antagonism toward another, a leader (or by superstitious beliefs).
Thanks a million for your comment to ours.
Greetings!
francis kwarteng 8 years ago
Dear Abra Kuma,
Good day.
You have made a very powerful statement and I thank you for that.
I mean the statement about Soyinka. Very insightful.
You statement about Lee Kuan Yew is even more powerful. Thank you ... read full comment
Dear Abra Kuma,
Good day.
You have made a very powerful statement and I thank you for that.
I mean the statement about Soyinka. Very insightful.
You statement about Lee Kuan Yew is even more powerful. Thank you once again.
Please have a great weekend!
Thanks.
EDUARDO DOMINGO 8 years ago
I RESPECT PROF. WOLE SOYINKA ALOT BUT THIS ABOUT KWAME NKRUMAH I KNOW MUCH ABOUT IT! AT THE TIME THE GOOD PROF WROTE THE PLAY KONGI HARVEST , HE HIMSELF WAS AN AGENT OF THE CIA, I REPEAT AN AGENT OF THE CIA. HE RETRACED HIS S ... read full comment
I RESPECT PROF. WOLE SOYINKA ALOT BUT THIS ABOUT KWAME NKRUMAH I KNOW MUCH ABOUT IT! AT THE TIME THE GOOD PROF WROTE THE PLAY KONGI HARVEST , HE HIMSELF WAS AN AGENT OF THE CIA, I REPEAT AN AGENT OF THE CIA. HE RETRACED HIS STEPS , BECAUSE HE IS A VERY INTELLIGENT MAN AND A PAN AFRICANIST , BUT SOME HOW LIKE GHADAFI HE GOT DRAFTED , HE IS ALIVE FOR HIS SMARTNESS WHILE GHADAFI DINED WITH THE DEVIL AND NEVER SURVIVED IT!
MARCUS AMPADU 8 years ago
For all his all encompassing insights on political and social psychologies, and his amazing thespian prowess, I wished Soyinka engaged in narratives that are essentially futuristic for Africa, so that the whole continent wou ... read full comment
For all his all encompassing insights on political and social psychologies, and his amazing thespian prowess, I wished Soyinka engaged in narratives that are essentially futuristic for Africa, so that the whole continent would have inklings on their possible, probable & preferable futures.
It is time the conversations shift to our futures.
MARCUS AMPADU 8 years ago
Fortunately, Soyinka is still living; bibliophiles in Ghana could invite the Nobel Prize winner to give a talk on his writings, including Kongi's Harvest. Q & A on Kongi's Harvest could involve finding out whether Kongi was ... read full comment
Fortunately, Soyinka is still living; bibliophiles in Ghana could invite the Nobel Prize winner to give a talk on his writings, including Kongi's Harvest. Q & A on Kongi's Harvest could involve finding out whether Kongi was an autocratic.
I would ask him to talk about the future of Africa, From 2015 to 2025.
francis kwarteng 8 years ago
Marcus,
Read my response to SAS (the 16th comment). Fortunately Soyinka has answered that question already. Read the citations I have given SAS to read.
All errors are mine!
Thanks.
Marcus,
Read my response to SAS (the 16th comment). Fortunately Soyinka has answered that question already. Read the citations I have given SAS to read.
All errors are mine!
Thanks.
francis kwarteng 8 years ago
Hello SAS,
Good day.
What is up?
Oh yes, I forgot to mention that I have closely read and studied nearly all of Soyinka's works (his interviews, speeches, public lectures, and what have you).
I am also familiar w ... read full comment
Hello SAS,
Good day.
What is up?
Oh yes, I forgot to mention that I have closely read and studied nearly all of Soyinka's works (his interviews, speeches, public lectures, and what have you).
I am also familiar with the contents of 99.9% of the texts I cite in this book. Especially those of his works that he wrote and published while I lived in America, I got them the same day or a few days they were published.
I am fortunate to know a one or two persons who deal with some of his publishers and who review his writings.
That said, I personally agree with Adewale Maja-Paerce's devastating review of "You Must Set Forth At Dawn" because I read the book myself just after it was published.
For instance, Maja-Pearce's reference of Soy1nka wanting to steal an Ife bronze head in Brazil is not gossip. Soyinka surgically describes this himself in "You Must Set Forth At Dawn." Maja-Pearce merely paraphrased Soyinka.
In fact, there is more to Soyinka's life (intellectual, literary, and political) than you can find in all his political memoirs (apart from Ake).
Finally, I have another well-connected literary friend here in the states (let me keep his identity anonymous) who is close to the Soyinka family, a very close friend of Soyinka's medical doctor son (a writer himself), who directs me to which sources and who to contact if I want to learn more about Soyinka. This friend of mine is also Yoruba and friends with other literary giants such as Ben Okri. He keeps me abreast of the happenings in African literature, particularly Nigerian.
There is more we will learn as time goes on. I say this because I don't restrict my knowledge to what writers write about, I go beyond their writings to learn more about them and to read more literary works about them and their works. A writer's work in and of itself does not say much!
All errors are mine (including typos, etc).
Have a great weekend!
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 8 years ago
I don't think you really understood what I said in my first post.
It is enough to say that nothing you have stated here has anything to do with "Kongi's Harvest" and Kwame Nkrumah as its butt and trope.
You may re-read ... read full comment
I don't think you really understood what I said in my first post.
It is enough to say that nothing you have stated here has anything to do with "Kongi's Harvest" and Kwame Nkrumah as its butt and trope.
You may re-read the thrust of my argument and respond pointedly to the core issues I have raised. And stop going off tangent all the time.
I have no doubt that you are well-read in Literature, probably more than me although I hold a Masters degree in the subject and have taught it in the university of Cape Coast together with Prof. Naana Opoku Agyemang. However, the schemata of literary criticism and analyses has nothing to do with an author after he has written his book. Where are you going to find Shakespeare to interpret what he means by his books? When you read the Bible, do you ask the Apostle Paul to interpret his writings for you? And where the law is scripted, do the courts have to go back to the legislature to ask for the meaning of laws from the legislators?
So your knowledge of Soyinka and what he says about his work has nothing to do with the meaning of Soyinka's work, which could be interpreted in several ways.
Prof. Lungu has stated truthfully that literature is not his forte. He has been honest to us here, since his confession sheds some light on his extreme dunderheadedness. But I don't know how to deal with your case, seeing that you are quite well-read in literature but remain clueless as to what to do with it.
For example, what is your opinion of the trope in "Kongi's Harvest"? If your answer makes a reference to a dictator, then find the meaning of a dictator and question yourself whether Nkrumah fits into the definition. If he does, show how and proceed to argue that Kongi's Harvest is also about his rule, just as it might also be about Iddi Amin, or any other dictator . If he does not fit into the meaning of a dictator, show why and state why the book is not about him. Approach all that with an open mind, and you have your forte too as a man of letters. And your entire essay can rely on this simple structure for its focus and coherence. And you may not have to rely on somebody else's opinion of what Soyinka wrote.
And your analysis will be tight without any convoluted reference to Soyinka or all those other critics of his work, and it will definitely not matter whatever relationships Wole Soyinka or Francis Kwarteng formed, or any other of Soyinka's works you have read.
And that is how literature relates to legal analyses; it introduces one to the fundamental criticism of the corpus of legal matter. People like Lungu have not honed their critical skills by recourse to the study of literature, hence their illiterate language, thinking and posturing here.
The question as to whether or not a person is learned, civilized or cultured lies in his knowledge of literature, nothing else.
"Onim nwoma" literally means "He/She knows literature" and "A man of Letters' is "A Man of Literature".
Prof Lungu 8 years ago
When we say literature is not our forte, you need to understand our attributes with respect to other fields of study and endeavor to appreciate what exactly "literature is not our forte" means.
You do not have a clue!
... read full comment
When we say literature is not our forte, you need to understand our attributes with respect to other fields of study and endeavor to appreciate what exactly "literature is not our forte" means.
You do not have a clue!
And so, we will say that our "uncritical" mind tells us Soyinka's is still a work of fiction. Character traits are fictional and can apply to any number of similar situations, from the village Napoleon, to the Napoleon on the fancy world stage.
In your mind you are of the class of ""Onim nwoma". The degree alone does not make you one
So, we must tell you today, Attorney Dr. Samuel Adjei Sarfo:
Baku sani ba kome ba!
Anata ga koto o'shirimasen!
Wonim hwee!
You know nothing!
Greetings.
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 8 years ago
And what may your forte be in any other area, seeing that you have nothing in your head at any time T?
Interestingly, you mention none. Hence WE(eed) must tell you today, faceless Prof. Lungu, you have naught:
Baku sani ... read full comment
And what may your forte be in any other area, seeing that you have nothing in your head at any time T?
Interestingly, you mention none. Hence WE(eed) must tell you today, faceless Prof. Lungu, you have naught:
Baku sani ba kome ba!
Anata ga koto o'shirimasen!
Wonnim hwee!
You know nothing!
Maybe you specialize in WEED, being a bald-headed rastafarian psychopath.
Greetings
francis kwarteng 8 years ago
Hi SAS,
Please make time to read those two references I gave you and come back.
Literary criticism and literary theories contribute to how a piece of literature should be understood. Soyinka himself has contributed to ... read full comment
Hi SAS,
Please make time to read those two references I gave you and come back.
Literary criticism and literary theories contribute to how a piece of literature should be understood. Soyinka himself has contributed to how his plays, etc., should be understood from the point of view of literary criticism and literary theory.
Several influential literary theorists from around the world have done the same to his works. Yet teaching literature is quite a different matter.
I can teach any of Soyinka's though I do not have a degree/certificate in literature of English. In relative terms, there is much seriousness in discussing a piece of literature through literary criticism than in teaching (though in many instances they overlap).
For instance, I have taken one or two classes (one in post-colonial studies (literature, etc) and another English class where we read tons of books (US Civil rights, political activism, etc) and my professors were surprised about the depth and insight I brought to the study of those literatures.
I had an upper edge because I have read some literary criticism works on some them which they never knew about. Plus I also took time to study the writers (whose works we studied) outside their works which we studied in class. I still communicate with some of these professors today!
The question is, did those professors take literary criticism courses (literary theory) when they studied literature in school? If so, why were they surprised about the depth and insight which I brought to the study of the books recommended for the class?
This is also how Shakespeare, Homer (Odyssey, Iliad), and several others have been studied. You can go ahead and read about Shakespeare the controversies surrounding the authorship question.
That is even irrelevant to my thesis. What I am saying saying is literary criticism (literary theory) has revealed the sources on which he relied on for his corpus of literary works.
Let me cite an example: Shakespeare's "Othello" was based on Leo Africanus' "A Geographic History of Africa" and Cinthio's "Hecatommithi" and "A Moorish Captain." I have read both works and "Othelo." Cinthia's real name was Giovanni Battista Giraldi.
The question, since Africanus' book was about Africa and there were many thousands of men living in Africa when he wrote his book, will it be correct to claim that Othelo was representative of the Africanus' typical "African" because all the African about which Africanus' wrote were of the same height, dated and married the same woman, ate the same food, had the same tastes and preferences, were born and died the same day, the same complexion, etc.
In other words, are we saying Shakespeare's conceptualization of the thespian charactorlogy of Othelo was undifferentiated in terms of the diversity of African men?
What Shakespeare did was merely to the Othelo characer was to apprpriate some of the characterological generalities of Africaus' "A Geographic History of Africa" and incorporate them into the Othelo character.
This is why one stands a better chance of grasping the full dimension of the Othelo character by reading Cinthio's "A Moorish Captain" and "A Geographic History of Africa." There was a point in America when publishers republsihed "Othelo" in America with all references to Othelo's Africanness and Africanity removed.
It took literary critics like Dr. Ivan Van Sertima to challenge to have those excised references to Othelo's African features, etc., restored. Scholars merely had to cite Cinthio and Africanus to make their case.
And they won. So you can see how literary criticism works. It was not the literary merit of the "Othelo" tragedy per se that finally won the debate. It was the sources Shakespeare relied on for the tragedy that won the debate.
Ivan Sertima was a literary critic and helped the Nobel Committe select/nominate individuals for the Nobel Prize in Literature. I have read every single one of his scholarly works. But probably even more important that what I have been saying all along, one has also to read Stalnely Lane-Pool's "The Story of the Moors In Spain," one of the authoritative sources (19th century) on the Moors, their culture, etc., and Sertimah's "The Golden Age of the Moor" to inderstand Shakespeare, Othelo, and the Moor.
Thus reading just "Othelo" will just not be enough. On the other hand, Cinthio's "Hecamommithi" gave Shakespeare the plot structure of "Othelo." What I am in effect saying is this, that one cannot grasp the full character dimension of "Kongi's Harvest," the play's trope I mean, without understanding the full complexity of post-colonial African politics, leadership personalities, and what have you. This is why I have given you two texts to help you acquaint yourself with what Soyinka himself has to say about about the Kongi character. In other words, what he may have had in mind when he developed the Kongi character.
Thus you can't intepret "Kongi's Harvest" without understanding postcolonial African leadership and politics (immediately after many African countries gained independence)! Do you, for instance, have any clue which African leaders (Nkrumah's conteporaries) fit several components of the trope of "Kongi's Harvest"? Read the two volumes I gave you and you will understand what Soyinka has to say.
I will then give you more citations on literary criticism (litearry theories, etc) as they pertain to Soyinka's literary works.
That said, we don't have to go into Shakespeare's allusions to Biblical quotations, etc., Greco-Roman history and what have you. We can also go into Homer, Sophocles, etc., to learn what literary criticism has unraveled about their writings. You will be surprised the things you will learn about Homer's "Iliad" or "Odyssey" via archeology, literary criticism, etc., which you might not learn in either book.
One doctoral student wrote a doctoral dissertation on Homer's works that changed everything we knew about Homer and his works. I can't seem to recall the name or the title of his disseration. I can always remember and let you know at the appropriate. Literary criticism is such a powerful tool. And there are writers from all over the place who have used the tool to explore the writings of Soyinka. Soyinka himself has agreed with most of the conclusions drawn by these literary critics.
The more important point is, unlike Shakespeare who is dead, Soyinka is alive to clarify some of the conundrums for us. This is what he has done in the two books I gave you (there are more). As for Shakespeare, there is more probably known about him and his works today than he was alive.
There is a strong argument being made that Shakespeare never existed (a group of Oxford University professord has written extensively on this question for God know how long; there are others in America, Australia, Canada and across Europe who have reasearching this question) or acted as an editor for a group of writers who wrote the works attributed to him (as there are those who claim Nkrumah's assistant wrote his books, or Professor Abramham.
There is even school of thought that says a Cameroonian mathematician wrote the mathematics part of Nkrumah's "Consciencism."
And there is still another influential South African intellectual, politician, and writer who has written that Nkrumah thoroughly discussed the contents of "Consciecism: Philosophy and Ideology for Decolonization" before the book was even written and published.
You can find information on the latter in my series "Some Source Materials By And About Kwame Nkrumah." The South African's writings are kept at the University of London.
There is more to talk about this but let me end it here. If I don't, I will end up writing a book about Kongi's Harvest, literary criticism, etc.
And as for Paul, you need to acquaint yourself with Biblical archeology, Josephus (first-century Roman-Jewish scholar, hagiographer), historian, Greco-Roman history and literature, Biblical criticism (lower criticism, higher criticism, historical criticism, Dead Sea Scrolls,and religious scholars (see Aslan's book "Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth") tell us more about Paul. This should be a topic for another day. There are probably more secular writings on Paul than on Jesus, though I see this claim as a moot question. So we can always question Paul outsife his canonized Pauline writings.
There are going to be a lot of typos and grammatical mistakes because I will not bother to proofread it.
Thanks, and have a great weekend.
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 8 years ago
I did not read your answer because it is a digression, not a discussion.
Thanks though.
I did not read your answer because it is a digression, not a discussion.
Soyinka's play, "Kongi's Harvest", is about a dictator who, in his desire to rule forever, usurped traditional authority and engaged in a concatenation of taboo behavior that finally led to his being served with a human head, ...
read full comment
Hi SAS,
What's up? Thanks for your input. In Part 8 of this series I wrote the following, which you might want to take a look at again:
"That said, Prof. Biodun Jeyifo, one of Soyinka’s former students, a Harvard Uni ...
read full comment
We really don't mind what colour is the leg that is pressing against our neck, we just want to get rid of it.
We were not going to make a comment here since fictional literature is not our forte, certainly not an interest area for us.
But, we could not resist, with all the pretensions about a book of fictions that is being repres ...
read full comment
....book of fiction....
//
...because the screening occurred in the White House, at the feet President Woodrow Wilson who resisted womens' suffrage until he realized he needed them for the great war?
See?
Slip-ups ...
read full comment
....book of fiction....
//
...because the screening occurred in the White House, at the feet President Woodrow Wilson who resisted womens' suffrage until he realized he needed them for the great war?
See?
Slip-ups ...
read full comment
In ghana and nigeria the intelligence of an educated person is measured by his ability to write in the english language this article in question is full of english bullshit not needed in africa whatwe need is thinkers who c ...
read full comment
To smart prof:
Whether vernacular or an accepted official "tongue" of a once-colonized sovereign state, language remains the most effective method of communication among humans; therefore, the more accurately we can relay ...
read full comment
Abra Kuma,
Your: "... literature also enhances our traditional and cultural legacies - even the art of fictional literature...."
WE SAY: We agree!
We respect the works, recognizing the individual merits of each (fict ...
read full comment
Dear Abra Kuma,
Good day.
You have made a very powerful statement and I thank you for that.
I mean the statement about Soyinka. Very insightful.
You statement about Lee Kuan Yew is even more powerful. Thank you ...
read full comment
I RESPECT PROF. WOLE SOYINKA ALOT BUT THIS ABOUT KWAME NKRUMAH I KNOW MUCH ABOUT IT! AT THE TIME THE GOOD PROF WROTE THE PLAY KONGI HARVEST , HE HIMSELF WAS AN AGENT OF THE CIA, I REPEAT AN AGENT OF THE CIA. HE RETRACED HIS S ...
read full comment
For all his all encompassing insights on political and social psychologies, and his amazing thespian prowess, I wished Soyinka engaged in narratives that are essentially futuristic for Africa, so that the whole continent wou ...
read full comment
Fortunately, Soyinka is still living; bibliophiles in Ghana could invite the Nobel Prize winner to give a talk on his writings, including Kongi's Harvest. Q & A on Kongi's Harvest could involve finding out whether Kongi was ...
read full comment
Marcus,
Read my response to SAS (the 16th comment). Fortunately Soyinka has answered that question already. Read the citations I have given SAS to read.
All errors are mine!
Thanks.
Hello SAS,
Good day.
What is up?
Oh yes, I forgot to mention that I have closely read and studied nearly all of Soyinka's works (his interviews, speeches, public lectures, and what have you).
I am also familiar w ...
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I don't think you really understood what I said in my first post.
It is enough to say that nothing you have stated here has anything to do with "Kongi's Harvest" and Kwame Nkrumah as its butt and trope.
You may re-read ...
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When we say literature is not our forte, you need to understand our attributes with respect to other fields of study and endeavor to appreciate what exactly "literature is not our forte" means.
You do not have a clue!
...
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And what may your forte be in any other area, seeing that you have nothing in your head at any time T?
Interestingly, you mention none. Hence WE(eed) must tell you today, faceless Prof. Lungu, you have naught:
Baku sani ...
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Hi SAS,
Please make time to read those two references I gave you and come back.
Literary criticism and literary theories contribute to how a piece of literature should be understood. Soyinka himself has contributed to ...
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I did not read your answer because it is a digression, not a discussion.
Thanks though.