Opinion: Why Wole Soyinka’s interview is disappointing

by Ainehi Edoro

wole-soyinkaWhile I laud Soyinka’s intention to clear up the controversies surrounding his relationship with Achebe, many of his comments have too much of an airing-the-dirty-laundry feel about them….

On Saturday, Soyinka gave a rather revealing account of his relationship with Achebe and his sense of Achebe’s work within the context of the African literary tradition. It was in the form an interview done by Sahara Reporters, who as we all know are very skilled at making interviewees respond to controversial questions. I find the interview to be a strange document.

First of all, I find it odd that the first substantial set of reflections that Soyinka shares about Achebe after his death should take the form of an interview that, for all its aspiration to honesty, comes across as bitter and smug. On the eve of Achebe’s funeral the world should be poring over the most beautiful eulogy ever written in the history of African writing, written by none other than the great African wordsmith, Soyinka, and not feasting on one-sided accounts of stale quarrels. Do I really need to know that Achebe busted Soyinka’s balls for imagining that getting the nobel prize made him “the Asiwaju (Leader) of African literature?” Yes, I do. But perhaps at a much later time and in a different context.  While I laud Soyinka’s intention to clear up the controversies surrounding his relationship with Achebe, many of his comments have too much of an airing-the-dirty-laundry feel about them and seem a tad out-of-place in the days leading up to Achebe’s funeral on the 23rd.

There were many uncomfortable moments in the interview like when Soyinka passionately denounces claims that Achebe is the father of African literature. Such claims may not be entirely valid from a literary historical perspective, but the vehemence with which Soyinka dismisses them was quite unnecessary. In my opinion, there is certainly nothing “embarrassing” and “ridiculous” about imagining even if for a moment that Achebe’s work marks the beginning of something great in African literature.

But the most unsettling of Soyinka’s statements was his response when asked about Achebe’s memoir, There Was a Country. He says:  ”[There Was a Country] is however a book I wish he had never written – that is, not in the way it was. There are statements in that work that I wish he had never made?” How can you say, after a man’s death, that a book that clearly meant so much to him ought not to have been written? What does that even mean?

Imagine for a moment that Soyinka had written a review (no matter how critical) of Achebe’s book while he was alive. It would have been excellent publicity for the book, but most importantly, it would have opened up a wonderful (perhaps difficult) conversation between him and Achebe and certainly among us. Instead seven months after the book is published, two months after the author has passed away, he makes this weird comment that will most likely devolve into a social media sound-byte.

As Achebe’s funeral draws close, Soyinka’s responses to Sahara Reporters should have been limited to a series of uplifting anecdotes of his time with Achebe, heartwarming stories that would deepen our fondness for a man who gave us so much. If Soyinka feels so strongly about refuting controversies, dissing haters, giving us the dish on African literary spats, and lecturing the world on literary fan-etiquette, he should write another memoir.

————————-

Read this article on BrittlePaper.com

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

Comments (12)

  1. Wole Soyinka is so jealous of Chinua Achebe. thanks writer for putting this article together- you just echoed my feelings and impression. Soyinka’s remarks are so revealing. His comments towards Achebe clearly betray tinges of envy in very veiled forms..only d truly discerning can observe and decipher those..WOLE SOYINKA: YOU ARE A SHAME! HE IS SO UPSET HE HAS NOT BEEN REFERRED TO AS EVEN THE FATHER OF OGUN LITERATURE!! Weakling!

  2. I like the writer’s unbiased analysis

  3. I think literature is one humanistic field of discourse that provides us d opportunity to allow critical n dissenting views no matter how robust, profound and deadly such opinions might be in d enterprise of literary discourse. Both Achebe n soyinka belongs to a very Lucky generation in d annals of political,academic n social history of d nigerian nation, yet their youthful exuberance n uncommon intellectual n imaginactive energy is able to set d part for wat we refer today as African literature. Personally, l do nt think soyinka statement recently on there was a country is nt a mistake, neither is d book itself a monumental mistake as many here have taken d horse whip against d renown emeritus professor in dt direction. Rather, Achebe’s book is one of the most controversial, autobiographical masterpiece about d nigerian civil war whose content, form and style will continue to generate dissenting views. And in this regard, soyinka views Strictly remain as it provide us another forum to evaluate d book in d light of truth as soyinka is a member of dt generation dt experience d war. It a mistake to call there was a country a mistake, or reduce it to a tribal or ethnic sensational text of socio-historical discourse. I believe in terms of form, content n style d book has great literary merits, as well as it flaws. Let us manage our flaws here.

  4. By Owolabi Opeyemi.
    @Anaehi Editor

    You this lazy lot,I am still confounded by your betraying reasoning and illogical logic. Is this short piece what you consider enough to feed the reading of the intellectualy grounded audience? Do you think you can just throw any cabbage at us like you have done? You failed to bring out the loopholes within the ideological disposition of Wole Soyinka and/or your grounds of disagreement with him
    Achebe. You took not even the shortest of time to juxtapose his reasoning,but only for your to betray emotion by dabbling into into its appeal. Crap it and throw this to dogs!!!

  5. “Do not speak ill of the dead” blah blah blah. I. Don’t see anything wrong in what Soyinka said. You know he’ll speak his mind on whatever he talks about. That’s Wole Soyinka for you! If you had paid attention, you’ll have seen that he paid his respects to the literary icon but the truth must be said. I deeply respect Chinua Achebe however, I also think he shouldn’t have published “there was a country”. It was a totally “bitter” piece. Can’t be compared to his amazing earlier works like “things fall apart”. For those of you who can’t make coments without being tribalistic, I’ll suggest an education in what it means to be tolerant. Don’t be so narrow minded. Whether you like it or not We are a county!

  6. for me i think the writer is stupid i dont have much but why should achebe be called the ”father of literature”? Do you know what it means to bag that? Even wiston churchil whos book sold ten times achebes own is not called such so because a man dies we should start lying rubish infact soyinka never said anything wrong i see nothing wrong in interview so mr writer why dont you think of better things to write

  7. i suport d writter! Soyinka shuld hav shwn some respect. Jealosy is nt gud

  8. this article just proved soyinka right. narrow mindedness. english language is very hard for some nigerians.

  9. @Boma, “Soyinka has been nursing a “Fetus” of envy” as you put it, perhaps. Is that reason enough for you to travel the narrow minded tribal path? I think you are the least mind to determine who is man enough to make pointers. SMH!

  10. You lazy intellectual African Scum, Did you read the full text of the interview before penning this embarrassing opinion? Wole Soyinka's interview is disappointing to you because you did not read it. It is very obvious all you did was read the prologue/introduction.

  11. It si certain that Soyinka has been nursing a “Fetus” of envy. After how many months after publishing, after how many months after his death. At least Achibe was man enough to tell us what happened. Yoruba’s, they are always be betrayers and backbiters no matter their level of education, its always in them

    1. U r a fool 4 bringin we d yorubas in2 ds, wat u dd s falacy of generalise conclusn we yorubas r wise nd grt ppl we r nt prejudice lik u.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

cool good eh love2 cute confused notgood numb disgusting fail