VIII Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2016

Abstract

In recent times, the autobiography has become a form of literary expression through which writers address various issues concerning their identity as well as socio-political and cultural realities in society. For African intellectuals, the urgency of pre- and post-independence realities that confronted in different countries on the continent makes it imperative for them to deploy their life narratives beyond the traditional ends which autobiographical works are generally expected to address. It is in this light this study probes into Wole Soyinka’s autobiographical writings The Man Died (1972), You Must Set Forth at Dawn (2006), Isara: A Voyage Around Essay (1989), Ake: The Years of Childhood (1981) not only as an introduction of Wole Soyinka’s personality and life but also this research deeply concerned how Soyinka constructed his autobiographies as national historical books in parallel to his individual development focusing on political authority, religion, missionary and commercial life pre-post independence in Nigeria which is sometimes impossible to reach the true stories in official historical records under military governments.

Key words: colonialism, autobiography, Nigeria, political authority, missionary, religion and commercial life

Aннотация

В данной статье рассматривается предполагается рассмотретрение. исследование зондов на воле Шойинки автобиографические сочинения человек умер (1972), необходимо, изложенных на рассвете (2006), Isara: путешествие вокруг эссе (1989), годы детства " (1981) не только как введение Воле Шойинки личности и жизни, но также это исследование глубоко обеспокоен тем, как Шойинка строит свои мемуары в качестве национальных исторических книг параллельно его индивидуального развития с упором на политическую власть, религия, миссионерской и торговой жизни до и после обретения независимости в Нигерии, которые иногда невозможно достичь истинной истории в официальных исторических документах под военные правительства.

Начало формы

Конец формы

Wole Soyinka’s Autobiographies as National History

To understand the national history should people only read history books? Isn’t it possible to understand the historical background from the autobiographical works. In this respect, the autobiographical works of Wole Soyinka give us unique example.

Autobiographical writing is a study which highlights the unique experiences and thoughts of the author in the process of individuation. In other words, it has been described as “retrospective prose narrative written by a real person concerning his own existence, where the focus is his individual life, in particular the story of his personality” (Lejeune, 1989, p.4). Until the 1950s, autobiography writing was generally underestimated by historians as a literary genre both as a method and a historical source. According to Popkin and Frontier, until the second half of the 20^th century, it was thought that “personal involvement undermined the authority of scholarship and that the personal timeframe of autobiography did not correspond to collective time favored in historical studies” (Popkin, Frontier, 1996, p. 726-29). However, after the 1950s, considering autobiography as a literary genre, the method of the historians had changed and new perspectives on autobiography writing were developed. As a result of these changes towards autobiography, studies that based on personal life and experience had given a respectable occupation to historians. In the 1980s, French historian Pierre Nora, considering autobiography as a significant part of the historical researches to understand the background of historical events at the stage of history had done a lot of autobiography researches for her later works. According to Nora, “writing about themselves, historians (writers) create a new genre, for a new age of historical consciousness” (Popkin, Ego, p. 1140). According to Nora, it is a kind of urgency to “encourage and promote autobiographical reflection as part of a larger effort to re-vision the process of the production of historical knowledge” (Popkin, Ego, p.1141). From this point of view, it can be said there is a great deal of connection between history and literature. And history always assumes a central role in the autobiography as the genre takes on the past of both the individual and others related to him in one way or another as well as the community itself.

It is possible to say that the relationship between history and literature has continued to be a source of debate from Plato to Nietzsche to the present day, and from these arguments it seeks to find a more comfortable way of dealing with both concepts for a better understanding of the dynamics of human existence. Aristotle in his Poetics “distinguished between history as the study of events that had actually occurred and poetry [literature] as the imagination of possible events” (Spargo, 2000: 3). In this respect, it can be said that history is the inextricable part of literature in every segment of it. From this point, keeping this fact as a reality in mind, this study will focus on the history in Wole Soyinka’s autobiographies not just in terms of Soyinka’s life and events in his life but also related to the history of Nigeria. According to French writer and journalist Schlumberger “a simple reader of memoirs and correspondence can display more insight than a specialist deep in his files” (Jalons, p. 164). On this goal, Nigerian writer and intellectual Soyinka’s autobiographies pose a very important role in understanding the history of Nigeria as well as the author’s own-life.

The world of public intellectuals appears to be a unique one in the sense that they have to deal with a lot of challenges imposed on them by their roles in society and at the same time maintain a public image which complements their personality as individuals interested in the progress of society. In this respect, this research seeks to examine the intellectual writer Wole Soyinka’s autobiographical works analyzing his making of historiography in related to questions such as political authority, religion, missionary and commercial life in Nigeria as exemplified in his autobiographical works such as The Man Died (1972), You Must Set Forth at Dawn (2006), Isara: A Voyage Around Essay (1989), Ake: The Years of Childhood (1981). In other words, this research examines how Soyinka as a public intellectual portrays political authority, religion, missionary and commercial life in Nigeria with his individual development dealing with the complexities of pre and post-colonial periods of the author’s home country Nigeria.

In literary world, there have been a lot of studies and publications dealing with life writing in general. But the importance of Soyinka’s autobiographies stem from almost the uniqueness and worthiness of them as historical sources in terms of showing the socio-economic, political and cultural reality of mostly Nigeria and in some extent the whole African continent besides introducing his own personal history to us. However, it is favorable at this stage to define one more time the scope and limitations of this thesis as it is not feasible to take on every dimension of autobiographies of Soyinka that can be imagined as far as the issues at stake are concerned. In this respect, this study examines the autobiographies of Wole Soyinka related to political authority, religion, missionary and commercial life in Nigeria in parallel to his individual development.

It is not possible that any single text can completely capture the life of Wole Soyinka who has had a very eventful life both as a writer, playwright, novelist and a public intellectual. So considering the fact that it is very difficult to take only one of his autobiographical works and analyze it related to question political authority, religion, missionary and commercial life in Nigeria in parallel to his individual development which is the focus of this research paper. Because of possible limitation just focusing on only one writing of him, this study focuses on four autobiographical works of Wole Soyinka including The Man Died (1972), You Must Set Forth at Dawn (2006), Isara: A Voyage Around Essay (1989), Ake: The Years of Childhood (1981).

Intellectual writer and novelist Wole Soyinka was born on 13 July, 1934 in the town of Isara in Nigeria. His father name is Samuel Ayodele whom Soyinka calls as “‘Essay’” or “‘S.A’” in his autobiographies is the manager of St. Peter's collage in Abeokuta. His mother’s name is Grace Eniola Soyinka whom he calls as “‘Wild Christian’”, is a merchant. Soyinka’s life, in particular, is showed in great details. While his father Essay represents a figure of authority, his mother Wild Christian represents “fostered an atmosphere of exotic disarray and spontaneity, often inviting an array of boarders or strays to room with her children” (Ankenbrandt, Spicer, 2010). In Aké: The Years of Childhood, Soyinka beside his own tells about his mother’s ambition to help the poor and his husband’s supportive approach to her action to take care of the poor “yet, at night, sufficient space was created on the floor where a mat was spread to sleep a constantly varying assortment of children- sometimes as many as twelve- there being no more avid a collector of strays than Wild Christian, tacitly aided by her husband” (Soyinka, 1989, p.79). Living a cultural garden “his environment was one of constant duality: that of both Nigerian and British perspectives, of both traditional and Christian religious practices” (Ankenbrandt, Spicer, 2010). Soyinka’s parents and relatives being actively engaged with social and governmental issues had inescapable effects on Wole Soyinka’s life. That’s why his starting point in politics and activism cannot be separated with his relationship with his parents and aunt Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, who was admired as a political actor both in the town and country who kindled the famous Egba women's riots and gave a way to change the ruler of the country in 1945. Wole Soyinka is a huge supporter of justice. He believes justice to be the first condition of humanity. Soyinka’s first involvement in activisms for justice begins in the late 1930s, when Nigerian women led by his aunt Funmilayo Ransom Kuti, gathered and gave a voice against unjust tax system and dethroned the lord of Abeokuta.

It can be said that “Soyinka’s household was at once an intellectual and communal haven in Aké and a stimulating and engaging childhood environment” (Kreisler, Harry., 1998) when we look at its functionality such as holding up meetings about the social and political issues with the prominent people of the town. While all these meetings are being held by Essay at home Wild Christian is the most supportive partner of Essay. In Aké: The Years of Childhood, Soyinka gives an example of his father’s meetings: “one day the bookseller, Fowokan the junior headmaster of the primary school, the catechist and one other of Essay’s cronies followed him home from church service… Their voices had long preceded them into the house, they were all hotly wrapped in the debate, talking all at once and refusing to yield a point. It went on right through bottles of warm beer and soft drinks, exhausted Wild Christian’s stock of chin-chin and sweet biscuits and carried over into lunch” (Soyinka, 1989, p.19) and then he continues to tell how much both Wild Christian and Essay were pleased by the action that they took as a couple in their society saying “Wild Christian enjoyed the role played by the Headmaster’s house as the intellectual watering-hole of Aké and its environs” (Soyinka, 1989, p.19). In the last quotation, Soyinka’s description of his home as ‘“watering-hole’” is important and a good example to understand his potent genius in vocabulary use.

Wole Soyinka’s intelligence and curiosity and both parents eagerly active involvement in social and political reality of Nigeria made also himself deeply involved in a kind of political and social activities in his early life. In this regard, Soyinka’s first autobiographical book The Man Died: Prison Notes can be an indicator of how Wole Soyinka was deeply involved with the political and social issues of his country. When we looked at Wole Soyinka’s four books The Man Died (1972), You Must Set Forth at Dawn (2006), Isara: A Voyage Around Essay (1989), Ake: The Years of Childhood (1981) as an exception the book Isara: A Voyage Around Essay, the rest three books deal with the life experiences of Wole Soyinka himself. In his first autobiographical book The Man Died, he tells about his prison experiences which he faced after the political crisis of the 1960s. In Ake: The Years of Childhood, he narrates the first eleven years of his life “growing up in a parsonage and learning the basics of life in an environment full of inspiring events and paradoxes imposed by a blend of tradition and modernity” (Jendele, 2008). In a way, it also reflects how the African people are getting used to modernity in their lands and how women are mobilizing against the tax oppression of the government on women. Wole Soyinka in his book Isara: A Voyage around Essay, tells about the experiences of his father and socio-politic structure both in Nigeria and partly in the world. “After all, the period covered here actively no more than fifteen years, and its significance for me is that it represents the period when a pattern of their lives was set –for better or worse–under the compelling impact of the major events in their times, both local and global, the uneasy love-hate relationship with the colonial presence, and its own ambiguous attitudes to the Western – educated elite of the Nigerian protectorate” (Soyinka, 1990, p. v). And in his latest bibliographic work You Must Set Forth at Dawn he tells about his imprisonment and exile including political events both in his country and in the world as well. Although The Man Died and You Must Set Forth at Dawn has some similarities in content the main difference between two is that You Must Set Forth at Dawn gives us more comprehensive material for the discussion of Soyinka’s personality and his making of an identity as a public intellectual in a postcolonial environment.

Looking at all published autobiographical works of Wole Soyinka, it is clear that all of them were published in Nigerian postcolonial time. But considering the content of each book The Man Died and You Must Set Forth at Dawn cover the postcolonial socio-political environment; arising turmoil in Nigeria, imprisonment of Soyinka himself and his exile. The autobiographical work of Soyinka Ake: The Years of Childhood, takes interest to the colonial socio-political environment of Nigeria as the book Isara: A Voyage around Essay did, including Soyinka’s childhood memoirs related to political and social environment of his time. When someone looks at these autobiographical works of him he may wonder why Wole Soyinka’s first published autobiographical work The Man Died did not cover the childhood memoirs of Wole Soyinka first but his later published work Ake: The Years of Childhood which was published almost ten tears after the book The Man Died did. The answer for this was not explicitly put into words by Wole Soyinka but what we know about him is how he settled down to write his first autobiographical work The Man Died from him; “between the lines of Paul Radin’s Primitive Religion and my own Idanre are scribbled fragments of plays, poems, a novel and portions of the prison notes which make up this book” (Soyinka, 1994, p. xxvii) and what kind of difficulties he faced during his first autobiographical book has been made clear by his words:

“This book has taken many forms and shapes. The question of what to include, what suspend, what totally erase, all influence by problems of expediency, of my continuing capacity to affect events in my country, of effecting the revolutionary changes to which I have become more than ever dedicated, consideration even of my own safety, a reluctance to break the last restraints on a regime whose knowledge of guilt compels it to remain by force in discredited power…. all these have changed the format, title, conception of this book at least a dozen times” (Soyinka, 1994, p. 12).

As it is understood from the words of Wole Soyinka, the time he picked up the pen to write his works Nigeria was not stable both politically and socially as he stated but although all these blurred atmosphere Soyinka has attributed a great part of his writings to critique of the tyrannical postcolonial leadership in Nigeria and the prolongation of their throne by harsh actions. And in one of his speech he makes it clear why he hasn’t kept his silence against the persecution of the postcolonial tyranny “the man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny” (Maya, 2002).

It is interesting that the name of the book The Man Died, Wole Soyinka said, comes to his mind in a morning while he was still searching for a name for his book. Referring to outcome headline he says “I was struck by phrasing. It sounded weird, yet familiar. Its familiarity was that of the ending to a moral tale, doggerel” (Soyinka, 1994, p. 13). In a way, it also shows how much Wole Soyinka was deeply involved in his writings day and night. As we mentioned before that Soyinka’s involvement of political activities brings so much inescapable trouble to him as it happened in the Nigerian Civil War in 1967. He was imprisoned by General Yakubu Gowon Government being accused as a traitor for his taking action in brokering a peace between the belligerent sides. The accusations of betrayal and collaboration with the enemy which brought on Wole Soyinka by the government resulted in his 22 months imprisonment in a high security prison in Nigeria. But reality is that when Wole Soyinka set off to establish a peace settlement between two sides to cease civil war in Nigeria, he was also looking for the answer to the question that he had in his mind “How do these Gowon types think they can build a nation on a successful genocide? Or Ojukwu on the emotional reaction to genocide?” (Soyinka, 1994, p. 179). According to Soyinka, the way of Gowon government such as slaughtering opposites of military regime such as Ojukwu supporters is unacceptable and inhuman. And he also criticizes Ojukwu’s emotional approach to massacres of Gowon regime such as declaring a war of independence against Gowon regime in Nigeria, closing their eyes about what possible results would be for both two sides and country as well. Soyinka believes that all these harsh attempts of two sides would not solve the real problem and would bring nothing than much bloodshed unless mutual trust was not fore-grounded.

From all these realities to look into a foremost intellectual and writer Soyinka’s life with its ups and downs can be said to be as an interesting area of research for many researchers and history writers.

Bibliography

Soyinka, W. (1989).Ake; the years of childhood (1st ed., Vol. 1). New York: Vintage.

Soyinka, W. (1990).Isara; A voyage around Essay (1st ed., Vol. 1). London: Methuen, Michelin House.

Soyinka, W. (1994).The Man Died; prison notes of Wole Soyinka (1st ed., Vol. 1). London: Vintage.

Soyinka, W. (2007).You Must Set Forth at Dawn (1st ed., Vol. 1). Random House.

Lejeune, P., &Eakin, P. (1989).On autobiography. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Popkin, J. (1996). Ego-Histoire and Beyond: Contemporary French Historian-Autobiographers. French Historical Studies,19, 726-729. Retrieved April 10, 2014, from http://fhs.dukejournals.org/search?author1=&fulltext=Ego-histoire and Beyond&pubdate_year=&volume=&firstpage=&submit=yes

Spargo, T. (2000).Reading the past: Literature and history (p. 3).Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave. The Way To Walk Freedom. (1940, January 1). Decision Of a Nation.

Popkin, Jeremy D. “Ego-Histoire and Beyond: Contemporary French Historian-Autobiographers.” French Historical Studies, Vol. 19, No. 4, Special Issue: Biography

(Autumn, 1996), 1139-67.

“Jalons.” OEuvres de Jean Schlumberger, Vol. 6 of 7 vols. Paris: Gallimard, 1958. 99-176.

Ankenbrandt,& Spicer. (2010, September 23). Wole Soyinka's Aké: The Years of Childhood. Retrieved December 20, 2014, from http://soyinkaake.blogspot.com/2010/09/historical-context.html

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