With the theme ‘Freedom and the Word’, renowned literary eggheads gathered in Lagos last week to discuss Wole Soyinka at 80 and Freedom and Nation Building. It was part of activities for this year’s edition of the Lagos Book and Art Festival as put together by the Committee for Relevent Art. Edozie Udeze reports
The essence of every coloquium is to highlight a theme and bring it into life in the consciousness of the public. This was what the erudile professors and literary eggheads who gathered last weekend at the Freedom Square, Lagos, were able to do to some select works of Professor Wole Soyinka. It was the occasion of the 16th edition of the Lagos Book and Art Festival (LABAF) organised by the Committee for Relevent Art (CORA)
Even though the overall theme of the festival was Freedom and the word, the discussion around Soyinka’s works was anchored on Freedom and Nation Building, using The Man Died, Ake, Ibadan, Isara, You Must Set Forth at Dawn, Penkelemesi and so on, to get the ball rolling. Handled by Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi, the idea was to see how Soyinka has been able to use his works to set the necessary agenda for the society. In a society where many things have gone wrong, where the leadership of the country is often foolhardy, where the people themselves, even the so-called champions of the cause of the common man keep silence in time of oppression and massive corruption, what then is the role of the writer in all these? How has Soyinka used his works to tackle these issues and reached out to the people as an activist?
Professor Biodun Jeyifo who gave the keynote address noted that the likes of Soyinka are rare in the literary firmament of the world. He drew attention to the era of King Richard II in England who was so wicked and avaricious that William Shakespeare did not spare him in some of his poems and plays. So also is Soyinka whom he said has come for his own generation and the generation to come with abundance of visionary and revoluntionary works to set the tone for possible changes.
“To relate what Soyinka is to Nigeria is to make poignant reference to what Shakespeare did in the era of King Richard II. In a land of abundance, a place where wealth is available to make the people happy, there is plenty of poverty, sadness ad agony. In England, Richard II was besotted with expensive lifestyle like most of the Nigerian leaders of today. The leaders are obviously insensitive to the suffereings of the people. This is what we face today in Nigeria. The common understanding here today is that leadership does not care about the people, about how to use the necessary elements of governance to distribute the wealth of the land equitably.”
In his works, Soyinka follows in the same sequence in his style of writing, attacking issues, lampooning leaders for their inability to make the country better. “So we have so many Richard II in Nigeria and this is why Soyinka has refused to relent. The two WS lived in worlds filled with inequalities and bad leadership. Now we have in addition bad leadership, total looting of what belongs to the people. This was what Shakespeare tackled in his best quintessential artistic ideas and expressions. Therefore the works of Soyinka are deeply embedded in their intents on politics. He deals with the nation and its dispossessions”.
In Dance of the Forests, Jeyifo noted, Soyinka drew attention to the early signs of fault starts and mistakes in the nationhood. The play which was premiered in 1960 to usher in the independence of Nigeria from the shackles of the British overlords. The play is full of injustices of all kinds. “Here, truly, Soyinka talks about the dispossessed. The work is more explicit as it clamours for change, a proper stage for change.The state of the dispossessed is always clear in all his works.”
With reference to The Man Died, Season of Anomie and more, his radical activism came fully to the fore. In his memoirs he did not even spare the enemies of the people. Using both social, political and religious undertones, Soyinka pointed out the ills. In Trials of Brother Jero and others he foresaw the revoluntionary approach of men of God towards hoodwinking the people. However, in all these, Soyinka puts himself into his works. He uses himself to projest his stories and present the ideas before him. “This was why he deliberately broke away from the conservative forces to become a revolutionary, an activist just to face and deal with bad leaders in a society peopled by reactionary forces. When Soyinka became involved in the June 12, 1993 protests to right the wrong against M.K.O Abiola, he did so as a revolutionary, someone touched by the problems of the society. All these are what he brings to bear in all his works. Today, there is no African writer as powerful as he is in the way he implores his revoluntionary ideas to better the welfare of the people. This is why he is seen as a rampaging social crusader, who uses metaphors to externalise his ideas. He sees this as a monstrous society, with deep moral and social decadence where political forces are at work.”
When King Henry IV became the leader of England, things became better, the English people smiled and the economy became more bouyant. Jeyifo infers that this is what Soinka wishes to happen in Nigeria. “When you compare the two leaders in England and then come home to see the irony of leadership in Nigeria, you then see why as a writer, Soyinka wants this era of eldorado to come now. He continues to search for good leaders and seek ways to actualise this in all his works. As a popular writer, the dispossessed must have a say, they should be given back what belongs to them”.
In his own contribution, Professor Ropo Sekoni concurred with Jeyifo that Soyinka creates himself as one of the characters in most of his works. “He may not really make other protagonists in his works, but then to situate himself in them for proper effect. In his Pekelemesi years in Ibadan, Soyinka uses a character to project highly positive ideas. Even though he did not join any political party, he uses the involvement of those in them to champion his ideas for total change. Therefore in Ake, Isara, Ibadan and You Must Set Forth at Dawn, you see a revoluntionary anarchist, but with redemptive reformism”.
Sekoni particularly made reference to the role Soyinka ascribed to women in Ake where he projects them as truly diplomatic and good leaders. He did this so well and ethusiastically, even in his story on Ogboni where he discovers that the place of women as leaders cannot be overlooked. In all, he agrees that as a writer, Soyinka is an activist with unbridled revoluntionary mind, a mind ever determined to ask for change for the good of all.
For Profesor Mabel of the University of Abuja, Soyinka could only display his innocence as a boy child in Ake. There, he was untainted by the society and gradually he began to be involved in the affairs of the people with his works. According to her, “In Isara, he is now in the world of the grown-ups, asking for justice. You see him concerned for justice. He does not run away from fights. A vivid recount of women’s role in politics comes out clear here. The role of women in Egbaland in the choice of who leads them becomes Soyinka’s total portrayal of women.
If the women could unseat the Egba monarch, if they could speak with one voice in such an organised manner, Soyinka is saying that women have a lot to offer to the society. “At that point, he was a young man fully prepared to ask for change in his community. This is why he was more interested in teacher-education through his own father who was equally a teacher. And so in traversing all genres of literature, you see Soyinka involved in social, political and moral issues of the people. The Pekelemesi years shows and epitomises the strength of character in him. To him, freedom becomes a symbol, Nigeria becomes an unfinished business.”
Describing him as a moving dramatist , Mabel said, “Soyinka believes strongly that the human mind and psyche has to be free. This is why his works try to make life meaningful for the people. He is more guided by the sentiments of his time, of the people around him both now and forever,” she said.
In his comments, Kunle Ajibade observed that Soyinka has chosen to live for humanity, for the common people, for a better society. “He is a moving tank of ideas; ideas that do not in any way go obsolete but remain relevant for all time to come. Soyinka’s life is for people to realise who they are and what must be done to have a concerted change in the society.”
In his opening remarks, Ogunbiyi commended CORA for the outing and noted that this is the time to draw attention to serious literary issues to make the society change. “Whether it is the Port Harcourt Book fair or LABAF, we need to keep books alive in the society and in the lives of the people themselves. Biodun Jeyifo has written series of articles on the complexity of Soyinka’s works. We are today to listen to him and to learn more on the redical aspects of Soyinka, not only as a writer but as someone who brings himself into what he writes.”
Ogunbiyi who is also a literatti reminded the gathering that Soyinka uses his deep Yoruba cultural values to shape his works, projecting the people for total effect. “Yes, indeed is a deep political activist who situates his works within the context of the people, the society, the leadership and sustains the interest of readers to follow him all through. This is why his works are of stupendous quality which often gives his literary productions some level of complexity”.
The discussion was part of series of activitists to give vent to the freedom of the word, in honour of Wole Soyinka at 80. It was to truly see how the man as a writer has fared in his numerous works to effectively touch humanity. It showed that Soyinka even at 80 years of age has not slowed down, has not relented in his quest for an ideal society for all peoples of the world.
