Bøger af Wole Soyinka

Wole Soyinka's Nobel Prize-winning debut novel tells the story of a group of friends facing political corruption and cultural uncertainty in post-independence Nigeria. A transformative work in its time, The Interpreters is a classic piece of modern literature.Friends since high school, the five young men at the heart of The Interpreters have returned to Lagos after studying abroad and are about to embark on very different careers.As they navigate wild parties, affairs of the heart, philosophical debates, and professional dilemmas, they struggle to reconcile the cultural traditions and Western influences that have shaped them - and that still divide their country.In The Interpreters, Soyinka deftly weaves memories of the past through scenes of the present as the friends move toward an uncertain future. The result is a vividly realised fictional world rendered in prose that pivots easily from satire to tragedy and manages to be both wildly funny and soaringly poetic.'No other writer has Soyinka's unique positioning in the political and cultural life of his nation.' Ben Okri 'Wole Soyinka is a Nigerian icon.' Guardian 'Elaborately, strikingly and indeed often beautifully written.' The Times

«Una vez que has oído una voz como la suya, no vuelves a ver las cosas del mismo modo.' Toni MorrisonCrónicas desde el país de la gente más feliz de la Tierra es una divertida y amarga sátira política sobre la corrupción en forma de novela de misterio. En una Nigeria imaginaria, pero muy parecida a la real, un grupo de pícaros, predicadores, emprendedores y políticos se ve inmerso en una trama sobre tráfico de miembros humanos robados de un hospital. Y el médico que desvela ese turbio negocio se lo cuenta a su íntimo amigo, el hombre de moda en el país, que está a punto de incorporarse a un puesto importante en las Naciones Unidas. Pero alguien parece dispuesto a defender el secreto, y pronto queda claro que el enemigo es poderoso, y puede estar en cualquier lado. A la vez festín narrativo, historia de intriga y denuncia mordaz de la corrupción, esta novela, la primera de Soyinka en casi cincuenta años, es también un llamamiento conmovedor a movilizarse contra el abuso de poder. «De manera incuestionable, el autor más versátil y probablemente el mejor de África.' The New York Times Book Review ENGLISH DESCRIPTION The first Black winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature gives us a tour de force, his first novel in nearly half a century: a savagely satiric, gleefully irreverent, rollicking fictional meditation on how power and greed can corrupt the soul of a nation. 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.

One long poem and an eclectic mix of short poems from the Nobel Prize-winning Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and polemical essayist Wole Soyinka.Wole Soyinka is one of Africa's outstanding writers. He is already well known in the United States as a playwright; two of his plays, The Trials of Brother Jero and Kongi's Harvest, were produced off-Broadway in New York. A number of his plays and a novel have been published but so far only a handful of his poems have appeared in anthologies and journals. This collection consists of a long poem and a number of shorter ones. Idanre, the long one, was written especially for the Commonwealth (British) Arts Festival (1965) and is a creation myth of Ogun, the Yoruba God of Iron. The other poems range from a meditation on the news of the October Massacres in Northern Nigeria (1966) to a wry lament "To My First White Hairs" and the love poem "Psalm."

Written in 1971, Madmen and Specialists is one of Soyinka's most excoriating portrayals of abusers and abused in the new Nigeria ushered in by Biafra and the civil war of 1967-70. Set in the "surgery" of a doctor, the play is populated by mendicants and the "insane," all fodder for "experimentation" by a shape-shifting doctor whose experiments may be more sinister than they at first appear.

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 deter-mined 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 corrup-tion. 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.

An intimate reflection on culture and tradition, creativity and power, that draws on a lifetime's commitment to aesthetic encounter

Based on real events that took place in Oyo, the ancient Yoruba city of Nigeria, in 1946, Nobel Prize-winner Wole Soyinka's play tells how Simon Pilkings, a well-meaning District Officer, intervenes to prevent the ritual suicide of the Yoruba chief, Elesin. This Student Edition includes a full introduction, commentary and questions for study.

Based on events that took place in Oyo, Nigeria in 1946, Wole Soyinka's play intertwines the lives of Elesin Oba, the king's chief horseman; his son, Olunde, now studying medicine in England; and Simon Pilkings, the colonial district officer.

A naked satire on the rule of General Abacha in Nigeria, the play chronicles the debauched rule of General Basha Bash who takes power in a coup and exchanges his general's uniform for a robe and crown re-christening himself King Babu.

Confusion and fear permeate society where the brutality and injustice of military rule is parodied by life inside prison. "From Zia With Love" is based on events in Nigeria in the early 1980s. "A Scourge of Hyacinths", written for radio, presents variations on the same theme.

This is a collection of four plays from the winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize for Literature. Wole Soyinka's work often features in GCSE and A level texts, as well as being studied at university level. She looks at African tradition by often using dance and music in her work.

"Unquestionably Africa's most versatile writer and arguably one of her finest" (New York Times Book Review)

Seeks to understand how the Africa's history is entwined with the histories of others, while exploring Africa's truest assets: "its humanity, the quality and valuation of its own existence, and modes of managing its environment - both physical and intangible (which includes the spiritual)".

This collection includes the work of both established and new poets from the four corners of Africa. The majority of poems were originally written in English but there are translations from Swahili, Yoruba, Portugese and French.

A wholly fresh interpretation of the timeless play by a Nobel Prize-winning author.

The plays included in this volume are: "Death and the King's Horseman" by Wole Soyinka; "Anowa" by Ama Ata Aidoo; "The Chattering and the Song" by Femo Osofisan; "The Rise and SHine of Comrade Fiasco" by Andrew Whalley; "Woza Albert!" by Percy Mtwa, et al; and "The Other War" by Alemseged Tesfai.

Set in Nigeria, amid the scenes of everyday racketeering and general disquiet, the police try to clear the area of undesirables, as a traditional wedding between two illustrious and ambitious families is about to take place. This play is by Nobel Prize-winner Wole Soyinka.

"Madman and Specialists" examines the way in which war exposes and clarifies human conduct; "Opera Woynosi" is adpated from Gay's "The Beggar's Opera" and is a fierce assault on totalitarianism; and four other Wole Soyinka plays are included in this volume.

Wole Soyinka won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986. In this volume the plays are all concerned with the spiritual and the social; with belief and ritual as integrating forces for social cohesion. Whether considering the corruption of urban life or the power of superstition.

The ironic development and consequences of `progress' may be traced through both the themes and the tone of the works in this volume of Wole Soyinka's plays. Contains: The Lion and the Jewel, Kongi's Harvest, The Trials of Brother Jero, Jero's Metamorphosis, Madmen and Specialists.

Set in the Yoruba village of Ilunjinle, this is one of the popular plays by Africa's major dramatist, Wole Soyinka. The theme of this play is how the lion hunts the Jewel. The main characters of this play are Sidi (the Jewel), 'a true village belle' and Baroka (the Lion), the crafty Bale of the village, Lakunle, the young teacher, and more.