Death and the King's Horseman

This is a definate must read. Written as a poetic play, Soyinka captures the Yoruba experience during the British occupation of Nigeria. It captures their perception of their colonizers, their religious ideologies in sharp contrast with that of the British, their political stance including about Yoruba persons who worked for the British at the time(hence, the mimic men/women) and their trauma and lamentations regarding the slave trade. The title refers to a specific issue that main protagonists will struggle with, leading to the Yoruba/British clash of religious and political ideologies. The result unveils the hypocracy of forced-conversion and explores issues of (in)humanity, suicide and freedom by examining each group's relationship with their leaders, their understanding of the divine God(s) and destiny. This book is one of the texts used in African literature classes.

In this play Soyinka gives such roundness to his characters that it is hard for some to decipher their goodness or "badness" as characters. The play is a story of the western colonizers' failure to recognize African culture as substantial. The play deals with the Yoruba religion and a specific ritual that is thwarted by an ignorant colonizer who does so for reasons traced back to ethnocentricity and racism. The man who is deemed to kill himself is pitied by the westerners and this shows their hippocrisy. By demanding that suicide was immoral and could not be a spiritual endeavor they denied the status of one of the most important men to grace Western Civilization with their presence: Jesus Christ. Christ gave himself away the same way that the character in this play does and did so for spiritual reasons that transcended himself. THe play gives great insight into African culture and builds with intensity to a hugely climatic ending that is rewarding for the reader to experience.

At a university seminar in the US recently, Prof. Soyinka was asked to respond to charges by certain critics that his writing wasn't 'African' enough. He responded, saying "The people who say these things, I refer to as neo-Tarzanists, people whose Africa is the Africa of Tarzan, swinging from tree to tree. That's not my Africa", he said, to a standing, thunderous ovation. It is difficult to imagine a writer in English today with a wider grasp of the language. Some of his work is unbelievable - metaphor, irony, the supernatural, interwoven with tragedy, lyricism, and language. Top-draw.

This play is a must read for anyone seeking the truth about race relations around the world. Especially between African people and europeans. I think the author's account of how the europeans tried to rob the Africans of what little pride, religion and culture they still had left spoke of the horrible genocide that existed then and continues now. It's also most disheartening to know that African people can't even have their freedom in death.

I read this book in 1996, and I still remember almost every detail because it was so stirring, so moving. It is about pride and obligations and how the two shape one's role in society. It made me review my own definitions of these two things, my own life in different societies. I'm delighted to have read this book and will be reading it many times over.