THE LION AND THE JEWEL (BY WOLE SOYINKA) Written by Africas well known dramatist, Wole Soyinka,

the play has its setting in the village of Ilunjunle in Yoruba West Africa. It was published in 1963 by Oxford University Press. The play is characterized by culture conflict, ribald comedy and love, where the old culture represented by the uneducated people in Ilunjunle, led by Baroka, Sidi and the rest, clashes with the new culture led by Lakunle, who is educated, school teacher by profession is influenced by the western ways. Like the title suggests, The Lion and the Jewel (Three Crowns Book) is symbolic. The lion is Baroka and the jewel is Sidi. She is the village belle. The lion seeks to have the jewel. The play starts with Lakunle pouring out his heart to Sidi but she does not want to pay attention. If only Lakunle can pay dowry then she would marry him. But to Lakunle, thats being barbaric, outdated and ignorant. If he could only make her understand. He says: To pay price would be to buy a heifer off the market stall. You would be my chattel, my mere property. Sidi does not pay attention. To her a girl for who dowry is not paid for will be hiding her shame for she will not be known as a virgin. Her beauty has captured many souls, besides Lakunle. There is the photographer who took her photos and published them in a magazine, and even Baroka the lion, the bale/chieftain of Ilunjunle as well as other girls in the village. Sidi also brags a lot about her beauty. She is not afraid to speak of it in public. Baroka has many wives though, despite his wanting Sidi for a wife. On seeing her in a magazine seated alone, he laments: Yes yes it is five full months since I last took a wife..five full months (page 18) Sadiku is Barokas head wife. As custom suggests, the last wife of the previous bale/chief becomes the head wife of the new chief once succeeded. Her duty as a head wife is to lure any woman Baroka pleases to have into getting her. Sidi turns off Barokas proposal in the most demeaning way, through his head wife. She scorns him: Compare my image and that of your lord an age of a difference.

See how water glistens my face. But he-his is like a leather piece torn rudely from the saddle of his horse. Baroka blames it on himself when he gets the news of his rejected proposal. He says: My man hood ended a week ago. Sadiku rather glad about Barokas confession tells the news to Sidi. Sidi goes to see Baroka on the grounds that she did not intend to reject his invitation and proposal well knowing that he would not be capable of doing anything. In an unexpected turn of events, Baroka manages to seduce her and win her over Lakunle. *********************************************************************** * Wole Soyinka Wole Soyinka 13 July 1934 (age 77) Born Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria Occupation Author, Poet Nationality Nigerian Genres Drama, Poetry Subjects Comparative literature Nobel Prize in Literature Notable award(s) 1986 Akinwande Oluwole "Wole" Soyinka (born 13 July 1934) is a Nigerian writer, poet and playwright. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, where he was recognised as a man "who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence",[1][2] and became the first African in Africa and in Diaspora to be so honoured. In 1994, he was designated UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Goodwill Ambassador for the promotion of African culture, human rights, freedom of expression, media and communication. One of the most prominent members of the eminent Ransome-Kuti family, his mother Grace Eniola was the daughter of Rev. Canon JJ Ransome-Kuti, sister to Olusegun Azariah Ransome-Kuti and Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, making Soyinka cousin to the late Fela Kuti, the late Beko Ransome-Kuti, the late Olikoye Ransome-Kuti and to Yemisi Ransome-Kuti.[3]

Soyinka was born into a Yoruba family in Abeokuta, specifically, a Remo family from Isara-Remo on July 13, 1934. His father was Christian Clergy, Canon SA Soyinka (aka "Teacher pupa" (light skinned teacher)). He received a primary school education in Abeokuta and attended secondary school at Government College, Ibadan. He then studied at the University College, Ibadan (19521954) where he founded the pyrates confraternity (an anti-corruption and justice seeking student organization) and the University of Leeds (19541957) from which he received a First class honours degree in English Literature. He worked as a play reader at the Royal Court Theatre in London before returning to Nigeria to study African drama. He taught in the Universities of Lagos, Ibadan, and Ife (now [[Obafemi Awolowo University[[, Ile-Ife). He became a Professor of Comparative Literature at the then University of Ife in 1975. He is currently an Emeritus Professor at the same university. Soyinka has played an active role in Nigeria's political history. In 1965, he made a broadcast demanding the cancellation of the rigged Western Nigeria Regional Elections following his seizure of the Western Nigeria Broadcasting Service studio. He was arrested, arraigned but freed on a technicality by Justice Esho. In 1967, during the Nigerian Civil War he was arrested by the Federal Government of General Yakubu Gowon and put in solitary confinement for his attempts at brokering a peace between the warring Nigerian and Biafran parties. While in prison he wrote poetry on tissue paper which was published in a collection titled Poems from Prison. He was released 22 months later after international attention was drawn to his unwarranted imprisonment. His experiences in prison are recounted in his book The Man Died: Prison Notes of Wole Soyinka (1972). He has been an implacable, consistent and outspoken critic of many Nigerian military dictators, and of political tyrannies worldwide, including the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe. A great deal of his writing has been concerned with "the oppressive boot and the irrelevance of the colour of the foot that wears it". This activism has often exposed him to great personal risk, most notable during the government of General Sani Abacha (19931998), which pronounced a death sentence on him "in absentia". During Abacha's regime, Soyinka escaped from Nigeria via the "Nadeco Route" on motorcycle. While abroad, he visited parliaments and conferred with world leaders to impose a regime of

sanctions against the brutal Abacha regime. These actions and his setting up of the Radio Kudirat helped immensely in securing Nigeria's return to civilian democratic governance. Living abroad, mainly in the United States, he was a professor first at Cornell University and then subsequently taught at Emory University in Atlanta, where he was appointed Robert W. Woodruff Professor of the Arts in 1996. When civilian rule returned in 1999, Soyinka returned to a hero's welcome back in Lagos, Nigeria. He accepted an Emeritus Professorship at Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) on the condition that the university bar all former military officers from the position of chancellor. Soyinka is currently the Elias Ghanem Professor of Creative Writing at the English department of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and the President's Marymount Institute Professor in Residence at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California, US.[4] On February 6, 2012 Soyinka stated he and other prominent Nigerians are on a list of targets marked for assassination by Boko Haram[5] Biography Early life Soyinka was born on 13 July 1934, in the city of Abeokuta, Ogun State in Nigeria's Western Region (at that time a British dominion), as the second of six children of Samuel Ayodele Soyinka and Grace Eniola Soyinka. His father, whom he often refers to as S.A. or "Essay" in literalized form, was the headmaster of St. Peters School in Abokuta. Soyinka's mother, dubbed by him as "Wild Christian", owned a shop in the nearby market and was a political activist within the women's movement in the local community. His mother was Anglican, although much of the community followed indigenous Yorb religious tradition. Soyinka grew up in an atmosphere of religious syncretism, with influences from both Christianity and his culture's traditional beliefs. The home of the Soyinka family had electricity and radio (chiefly thanks to his father). In 1940, after attending St. Peters Primary School, Soyinka went to Abokuta Grammar School, where he won several prizes for literary composition. In 1946 he was accepted by Government College in Ibadan, at that time one of Nigerias elite secondary schools. After the completion of his studies there, Soyinka moved to Lagos where he found employment as a clerk. During this time he wrote some radio plays and short stories that

were broadcast on Nigerian radio stations. After finishing his course in 1952, he began studies at University College in Ibadan, connected with University of London. During this course he studied English literature, Greek, and Western history. In the year 1953-1954, his second and last at University College, Ibadan, Soyinka commenced work on his first publication, a short radio broadcast for Nigerian Broadcasting Service National Programme called "Keffi's Birthday Threat," which was broadcast in July 1954 on Nigerian Radio Times. Whilst at university, Soyinka and six others founded the Pyrates Confraternity, the first confraternity in Nigeria. Soyinka gives a detailed account of his early life in Ak: The Years of Childhood, which chronicles his experiences until about the age of ten. Studies abroad and at home Later in 1954 Soyinka relocated to England, where he continued his studies in English literature, under the supervision of his mentor Wilson Knight at the University of Leeds. He became acquainted then with a number of young, gifted British writers. Before defending his B.A., Soyinka successfully engaged in literary fiction, publishing several pieces of comedic nature. He also worked as an editor for The Eagle, an infrequent periodical of humorous character. In a page two column in The Eagle, he wrote commentaries on academic life, often stingingly criticizing his university peers. Well known for his sharp tongue, he is said to have courteously defended, affronted and insulted female colleagues. After completing his degree, he remained in Leeds with the intention of earning an M.A. Influenced by his promoter, Soyinka decided to attempt to merge European theatrical traditions with those of his Yorb cultural heritage. In 1958 his first major play emerged, titled The Swamp Dwellers. One year later, he wrote The Lion and the Jewel, a comedy which received interest from several members of London's Royal Court Theatre. Encouraged, Soyinka left Leeds and moved to London, where he worked as a play reader for the Royal Court Theatre. During the same period, both of his plays were performed in Ibadan.

However, by 1960, Soyinka had received the Rockefeller Research Fellowship from his alma mater in Ibadan, and returned to Nigeria. In March he produced his new satire The Trials of Brother Jero. One of his most recognized plays, A Dance of The Forest, a biting criticism of Nigeria's political elites, won a contest as the official play for Nigerian Independence Day. On 1 October 1960, it premiered in Lagos as Nigeria celebrated its sovereignty. Also in 1960, Soyinka established an amateur ensemble acting company which would consume much of his time over the next few years: the Nineteen-Sixty Masks. In addition to these activities, Soyinka published various works satirizing the "emergency" in the Western Region of Nigeria, as his Yorb homeland was increasingly occupied and controlled by the federal government. This had usurped the democraticallyelected, Yorb-based Action Group (AG) political party by installing the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP), an amalgamation of conservative Yoruba interests backed by the largely Northern-dominated federal government. The increasingly militarized occupation of the Western Region eventually led to a disequilibrium in power, placing the more left-leaning Action Group and the Igbo-centric National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) in tenuous positions, as national politics began catering exclusively to more conservative interests. This imbalance eventually led to a coup by military officers under Major Kaduna Nzeogwu. With the money gained from the Rockefeller Foundation for research on African Theater, Soyinka bought a Land Rover and began traveling throughout the country as a researcher with the Department of English Language of the University College in Ibadan. In an essay published at this time, he criticized Leopold Senghor's Ngritude as a nostalgic and indiscriminate glorification of the black African past that ignores the potential benefits of modernization. "A tiger does not shout its tigritude," he declared, "it acts." In December 1962, his essay "Towards a True Theater" was published, and he began working for the Department of English Language at Obafemi Awolowo University in If. Soyinka discussed current affairs with "negrophiles," and on several occasions openly opposed government censorship. At the end of 1963, his first feature-length movie emerged, Culture in Transition. In April 1964 The Interpreters, "a complex but also

vividly documentary novel",[6] was published in London. That December, together with other scientists and men of theater, he founded the Drama Association of Nigeria. This same year he resigned his university post, as a protest against imposed pro-government behavior by authorities. A few months later, he was arrested for the first time, accused of underlying tapes during reproduction of recorded speech of the winner of Nigerian elections, but he was released after a few months of confinement, as a result of protests by the international community of writers. This same year he also wrote two more dramatic pieces - Before the Blackout and the comedy Kongis Harvest - aas well as a radio play for the BBC in London called The Detainee. At the end of the year he was promoted to headmaster and senior lecturer in the Department of English Language at Lagos University. Soyinka's political speeches at that time criticized the cult of personality and government corruption in African dictatorships. April 1965 brought a revival of his play Kongis Harvest at the International Festival of Negro Art in Dakar, Senegal, where another of his plays, The Road, was awarded the Grand Prix. In June, Soyinka produced his play The Lion and The Jewel for Hampstead Theatre Club in London. Civil war involvement and imprisonment The coup led by Major Chukwuma K Nzeogwu in January 1966 was counteracted by another coup in July of the same year, this time led by a cabal of largely Northern officers, placing General Yakubu Gowan in the position of head of state. Immediately following the coup, sectarian violence erupted as many Igbo living outside of their homeland in the southeast were subjected to violent retaliatory action, which many considered to be of genocidal proportions. Droves of Igbos were forced to return home, where calls for secession from the Nigerian state increased under military governor Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. After becoming chief of Cathedral of Drama at University of Ibadan, Soyinka who had gained considerable respect within Nigeria would involve himself in the destabilizing political situation. In August 1967, he secretly and unofficially met Ojukwu in the Southeastern town of Enugu, with the aim of averting civil war. For his attempts at

negotiating a peaceful solution to the conflict, Soyinka was forced to commence living underground. However, his involvement in the developing national crisis did not end here. Wle returned to nugu to meet with Victor Banj, a Yorb who had been swayed to the Biafran side. Banj intimated to Soyinka a message of critical importance in regards to Biafra's goals, which he claimed were "national liberation" for the whole of Nigeria. For these efforts, Banj sought the support of Western military leaders; in particular, he delivered Banjo's message directly to Lieutenant Colonel Olusegun Obasanjo, who had recently been appointed to commanding officer for the Western Region. Four evenings after Soyinka returned to the West, Biafran forces invaded the Midwest region, an area which previously maintained de facto neutrality; this altered the terms and conditions of the war drastically, as the Biafrans had turned into both secessionists and expansionists. Following the occupation of the Midwest, Soyinka met Obasanjo face-to-face to relay the goals of the Biafrans to the man in control of the West. Unfortunately basanj's decision to side with the Nigerian federation had already been made. The invasion of the Midwest eventually sparked counter-attacks into the Midwest by federal government forces, signaling the commencement of civil war. basanj disclosed his meeting with Soyinka to his superiors, who declared the writer a traitor and convened search parties to obtain Soyinka for arrest, which they eventually did. Soyinka was then incarcerated until the end of the unfolding civil war. He endured imprisonment for 22 months
[7]

as his country slid into civil war between the

federal government and the Biafrans. Though he was refused basic materials, such as books, pens, and paper, for continuing his creative work during much of his imprisonment, he did manage to write a significant body of poems and notes criticizing the Nigerian government. Despite his imprisonment, in September 1967, his play The Lion and The Jewel was produced in Accra, and in November The Trials of Brother Jero and The Strong Breed were produced in the Greenwich Mews Theatre in New York. He also published a collection of his poetry entitled Idanre and Other Poems. Idanre was inspired by Soyinkas visit to the sanctuary of the Yorb deity Ogun, whom Soyinka regards irreligiously as his companion deity, kindred spirit, and protector.[8]

In 1968, also in New York, the group Negro Ensemble Company showed Kongis Harvest. While still imprisoned, Soyinka translated from Yoruba a fantastical novel by his compatriot D. O. Fagunwa, called The Forest of a Thousand Demons: A Hunter's Saga. Release and literary productivity In the late 1950s, Soyinka completed his first two important plays, "The Swamp Dwellers" and "The Lion and the Jewel," both tackling the uneasy relationship between progress and tradition in Africa.[9] His play "The Invention" was staged in 1957 at the Royal Court Theatre. At that time his only published works were poems such as "The Immigrant" and "My Next Door Neighbour," which appeared in the magazine Black Orpheus.[10] In October 1969, when the civil war came to an end, amnesty was proclaimed, and Soyinka was released from prison. For the first few months after his release, Soyinka stayed at a friends farm in southern France, where he sought solitude after the period of mental stagnation. From this experience emerged The Bacchae of Euripides, a reworking of the Pentheus myth.[11] He soon published out of London a tome of his poetry based on his experience in prison, Poems from Prison. At the end of the year, he returned to his office of Headmaster of Cathedral of Drama in Ibadan, and cooperated in the founding of the literary periodical Black Orpheus. In 1970 he produced the play Kongis Harvest, while simultaneously creating a film by the same title. In June 1970, he concluded another play, called Madman and Specialists. With the intention of gaining theatrical experience, along with the group of fifteen actors of Ibadan University Theatre Art Company, he went on a trip to the famous Eugene O'Neill Memorial Theatre Center in Waterford, Connecticut in the United States, where his latest play premiered. In 1971 his poetry collection A Shuttle in the Crypt was published. While Madmen and Specialists was exposed afresh in Ibadan, Soyinka took the lead role as the murdered first Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa, in the Paris production of Murderous Angels. His powerful autobiographical work The Man Died, a collection of notes from prison, was issued the same year. In April, concerned about the political situation in Nigeria, Soyinka resigned from his duties

at the University in Ibadan, and began a few years of voluntary exile. In July, in Paris, fragments of his famous play The Dance of The Forests were performed. In 1972 he was declared an Honoris Causa doctorate by the University of Leeds. Soon thereafter, another of his novels, Season of Anomy, came out, in addition to his Collected Plays, published by the Oxford University Press. In 1973 the National Theatre, London, which commissioned the play, premiered The Bacchae of Euripides in a "reputedly misconceived" production.[11] In 1973 the plays Camwood on the Leaves, and Jero's Metamorphosis were first published. From 1973-1975, Soyinka devoted himself to scientific activity. He underwent one year's probation at Churchill College of Cambridge University, and gave a series of lectures at a number of European universities. In 1974 Collected Plays, Volume II was issued by Oxford University Press. In 1975 Soyinka was promoted to the position of editor for Transition, a magazine based in the Ghanaian capital Accra (where he moved for some time). Soyinka utilized his columns in Transition to once again attack the negrofiles (in his essay Neo-Tarzanism: The Poetics of Pseudo-Transition), and military regimes, protesting against the military junta of Idi Amin in Uganda. After the political turnover in Nigeria, and the subversion of Gowon's military regime in 1975 he returned to his homeland and re-assumed his position of the Cathedral of Comparative Literature at the University of Ife. In 1976 the poetry collection Ogun Abibiman appeared, and a collection of essays entitled Myth, Literature and the African World , in which Soyinka explores the genesis of mysticism in African theatre and, using examples from the literatures of both continents, compares and contrasts European and African cultures. At the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana in Legon, he delivered a series of guest lectures and became a professor at the University of Ife. In October, the French version of The Dance of The Forests was performed in Dakar, while in Ife Death and The Kings Horseman premiered. In 1977 Opera Wnysi, his adaptation of Bertold Brecht's The Threepenny Opera, was staged, and in 1979 he both directed and acted in Jon Blair and Norman Fenton's drama The Biko Inquest, a work based on the story of Steve Biko, a South African student and human rights activist beaten to death by Apartheid police forces. In 1981 Wle Soyinkas

first autobiographical novel Ake: The Years of Childhood was released. From the memoir, it is vivid to the five senses of man that he is an infant prodigy. The memoirs, Ake: The Years of Childhood and You Must Set Forth at Dawn portray literature as a foundation of pleasure. Both are sublime and classic. With a total of five memoirs, Soyinka is regarded number one producer of memoirs in the world. Soyinka founded another theatrical group (after Nineteen-Sixty Masks), called Guerrilla Unit, its aim being to cooperate with local communities analyzing their actual problems and then responding to some of their grievances in dramatic sketches. In 1983 the play Requiem for a Futurologist had its initial performance at the University of Ife. In July one of Soyinka's musical projects, the Unlimited Liability Company, issued a long-play record titled I Love My Country, where a number of prominent Nigerian musicians play songs composed by and provided with lyrics by Wle Soyinka. In 1984, he directed the film Blues for a Prodigal, which premiered the same year as a new play, A Play of Giants. The years 1975-1984 were for Soyinka a period of increased political activity. During that time he was among the authorities at the University of Ife; among other duties, he was responsible for the security of public roads. He continuously criticized the corruption in the government of democratically-elected President Shehu Shagari, and often found himself at odds with Shagari's military successor, Muhammadu Buhari. In 1984, a Nigerian court banned The Man Died, and in 1985, the play Requiem for a Futurologist went into print in London. Nobel Prize laureate In 1960, he was awarded a Rockefeller bursary and returned to Nigeria to study African drama.[12] Soyinka was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, as one who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence becoming the first African laureate. His Nobel acceptance speech was devoted to South African freedom-fighter Nelson Mandela. Soyinka's speech was an outspoken criticism of apartheid and the politics of racial segregation imposed on the majority by the Nationalist South African government. In 1986, he received the Agip Prize for Literature.

Soyinka's Nobel Prize Lecture, "This Past Must Address Its Present," judged to be very revealing, revelling, poignant, eloquent, is an eye-opener to the misdeeds of the Apartheid South Africa. The Lecture is the most revealing and downright message concerning the enslaved, colonized and disparaged Africans and International Affairs since the foundation of Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901. It is an ideal legacy for people interested in rhetorics, history and International Relations. The power of words cannot be underestimated. They can move passionate hearts to reason and tears. At long last, the disparate words moved the entire world to reason and tears, resulting in the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990, after 27 years behind bars. In 1988, his new collection of poems Mandela's Earth, and Other Poems was published, while in Nigeria another collection of essays entitled Art, Dialogue and Outrage: Essays on Literature and Culture appeared. In the same year, Soyinka accepted the position of professor of African studies and theatre at Cornell University.[13] In 1990, the second portion of his memoir called Isara: A Voyage Around Essay appeared. In July 1991 the BBC African Service transmits his radio play A Scourge of Hyacinths, and the next year (in June 1992) in Siena (Italy), his play From Zia with Love has its premiere. Both works are very bitter political parodies, based on events which took place in Nigeria in the 1980s. In 1993 Soyinka was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Harvard University. The next year appears another part of his autobiography Ibadan: The Penkelemes Years (A Memoir: 1946-1965). The following year his play The Beatification of Area Boy was published. On 21 October 1994 Soyinka was appointed UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the Promotion of African culture, human rights, freedom of expression, media and communication. In November 1994 Soyinka fled from Nigeria through the border with Benin and then to the United States. In 1996 his book The Open Sore of a Continent: A Personal Narrative of the Nigerian Crisis was first published. In 1997 Soyinka was charged with treason by the government of General Sani Abacha. In 1999 a new volume of poems entitled Outsiders was released. His play King Baabu, premiered in Lagos in 2001,[14] is a political satire on the theme of African dictatorship and the "warped aspect of human nature that makes people think they have the right to dominate others and also inflict very agonising experiences on fellow humans". [14] In 2002 a collection of his poems, Samarkand and Other Markets I Have Known, was

published by Methuen. In April 2006, his memoirs, entitled You Must Set Forth at Dawn, were published by Random House. In 2006 he cancelled his keynote speech for the annual S.E.A. Write Awards Ceremony in Bangkok to protest the Thai military's successful coup against the government.[15] In April 2007 Soyinka called for the cancellation of the Nigerian presidential elections held two weeks earlier because of widespread fraud and violence. Soyinka, along with theatre director Richard Schechner, actor Alan Cumming and filmmaker Brad Mays was interviewed about The Bacchae as part of an up-coming series Invitation to World Literature, which officially launched on Annenberg Media's educational website in September, 2010.[16] The series, produced by Annie Wong for WGBH Boston, began airing nationally on PBS in October, 2010. Soyinka continues to serve as resource person globally while acting as inspiration and voice of conscience to leaders[17] and recently in the wake of the Christmas Day (2009) attempted bombing cautioned that the United Kingdom's social logic which allows every religion to openly proselytize their faith is being abused by religious fundamentalists thereby turning England into a cesspit for the breeding of extremism. He affirmed that freedom of worship is logical and correct but warned against the consequence of the illogic of allowing religions to preach apocalyptic violence.[18] The muse of a wordsmith Soyinka frequently refers to Ogun, a Yoruba God as a sort of inspiration to his art, guardian of his personal being and "my companion deity". [8] It is obvious, through his writings, however that his reverence to Ogun is not metaphysical and he proclaims himself that although he has a fascination with Ogun, it does not go beyond his literary interest [19] Style and valor With the wink and nod of a writer of smooth-hewn background, smiling at serendipities and bypassing much luxury on the laps of man, Soyinka has continued to raise his voice to the ceiling ever since he wrote his unique poem "Telephone Conversation" in 1962.

A valiant writer, he believes that the promise of pen belongs to those who can take the bulls by the horns. He has a unique style and a thorough command of language. Political Philosophy Granted that political philosophy is the participation, the contribution and the study of the issues and concerns pertaining to the nature of the city, government, politics, laws, rights, liberty and justice for mankind, Soyinka has associated himself with all these. Literarily, philosophically and politically, he has done all the above, and excelled in all, as a multitalented political philosopher. He was a peace maker (putting his life in harm's way & imprisoned) during the Nigerian Civil War. In 1994, he was appointed by the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) as a Goodwill Ambassador for the promotion of African cultures in Africa and in Diaspora, human rights, freedom of expression, media and communicationas a result of his indefatigable savvies/activities as a political philosopher who knows how to start a journey and how to end it. Nigerian Literature Nigerian literature was born in earnest with the award of Nobel Prize in literature to Wole Soyinka in 1986. Soyinka, often referred to as the Bringer of Light to African Literatures, has put Nigerian literature on the world map, and since 1986, hundreds of Nigerians have proudly taken to studying Nigerian literature, as departments of Nigerian literature are being created in all the universities across the country. Writers of different genres have been published. Some have won prizes, while some are finalists in national and international contests, adding their voices to the identity, authenticity, aesthetics and glory of Nigerian literature. The list of other Nobel Laureates in literature who believe in Nigerian literature includes Naguib Mahfouz (1988), Nadine Gordimer (1991), Derek Walcott (1992), Toni Morisson (1993), J.M. Coetzee (2003). Centers, in Diaspora which have projected in large measure the Yoruba/Nigerian culture philosophy, religion and literature, for many years include Oyotunji African Kingdom

in South Carolina, United States and IWALEWA HOUSE of the Bayreuth University, Germany. IWALEWA HOUSE was founded in 1981 by Professor Ulli Beier, a German writer, scholar and connoisseur of Yoruba/Nigerian literature. A well-travelled writer in Yorubaland, he was (may his soul rest in peace) an intimate friend of memoirist Wole Soyinka. Many opinions from the academic and non-academic circles are hoping that the Nobel Prize Committee for Literature may decide in the future to award Nobel Prize twice to a valiant and multi-talented writer/political activist like Wole Soyinka. Like Booker Prize, that will be a precedent, if it happens. The Wole Soyinka African Writers' Enclave In 2011, under the aegis of African Heritage Research Library and Cultural Centre, a writers' enclave has been built in honor of Professor Wole Soyinka. The location is Adeyipo Village, Lagelu Local Government Area, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. The main objectives of the Enclave, amongst others, are:

To promote African and World Literatures. To provide a conducive atmosphere for the improvement of writers' craft. To increase world-wide knowledge and appreciation of African literatures. To raise the standard of African literature toward ensuring its active participation in cultural and national development. To initiate an endowment for a prestigious African Writers' Prize.

The enclave includes a Writer-in-Residence Programme which will enable writers to stay for a period of two, three or six months, engaging in serious creative writing. Writers-inresidence will receive monetary stipends. It is hoped that their works will impact positively on the lives of all categories of literary audienceyouth, adult and the general public, throughout Africa and the entire world *********************************************************************** *

Sidis Choice of Baroka and the Victory of Traditional Values over Western Ones in Wole Soyinkas The Lion and the Jewel Lakunle Lakunle is the schoolteacher of the village. He deeply admires Western culture and seeks to emulate, often to comically inadequate effect. He is portrayed by Soyinka as clumsy in both actions and words, throwing together phrases from the Bible and other Western works in hope of sounding intelligent. He is "in love" with Sidi, but can not marry her because she demands that he pay the traditional bride-price, something he refuses to do. Initially we chalk up this refusal to his Western beliefs, and the belief that women shouldn't be bought and sold, but later in the play he reveals his true self - when Sidi's virginity is taken away, he leaps at the chance to bypass the bride-price by saying that she can't really expect him to pay the bride price now that she's no longer "pure". He represents one extreme of the play's central pendulum - the Western values. Sidi Sidi is a young girl in the village who has just had her ego boosted by a visit from a bigcity photographer, who has taken her pictures and published them in a magazine. From them on, she is extremely conceited, thinking herself even higher than the Baroka, the Bale, the Chief of Illujinle. She refuses to marry Lakunle until he pays the bride price, and eventually goes to visit Baroka because she believes that she will be able to humiliate him by exposing his impotence. However, Baroka proves to be a cunning man and she falls right into his trap. She is the needle of the pendulum; she wavers from end to end, confused, before finally settling on the traditional side. Baroka Baroka is the leader of the village. He holds to his Yoruba traditional beliefs, but his power is coming under threat from the Western influence. The issue that troubles him throughout the beginning of the play, we learn, is his apparent impotence, a secret he reveals to his head wife. We later learn, however, that this feigned impotence was only a clever stratagem in order to lure Sidi into coming to his palace. In the course of the story Barokas qualities of cunning, discrimination and strength are

shown to advantage; Lakunle is provided with a number of opportunities to display his talents but he fails recurrently. Finally Sidis decision to marry Baroka reflects the playwrights opinion that in the context provided by the play, Baroka is the better man and his attitudes are the more substantial as well as worthy.

Conflict between Tradition and Modernity in Creative Writing Sidis Choice of Baroka and the Victory of Traditional Values over Western Ones in Wole Soyinkas The Lion and the Jewel 31 Issues have been raised regarding the conflict between tradition and modernity in this play wherein tradition wins over modernity through the final action of Sidi. Now, if the play reflects a conflict between old ways and new ways, then who is the winner? We cannot answer this very easily. If we say that Sidi is the prize, then we see that she has been won by Baroka. And thus victory may seem to go to the older ways of life and the older beliefs he represents. But still we are confronted with some complications; the first is that Lakunle is not a particular convincing representative of modern ideas. There is evidence that he misunderstands some of the books he reads and he believes to be true. For example, he is wrong in saying that womens brain is smaller than mens. Then he is much fascinated by the most superficial aspects of modern ways of life, such as, night clubs, ballroom, dance, etc. He is full of half-baked modern ideas which he exploits in denying to pay the brideprice to Sidi. Baroka, the sixty-two year village chief of Ilujinle, on the other hand, opposes progress because he believes that it destroys the variety of ways in which people live and that he as well as Lakunle should learn things from one another. Baroka is anxious enough to make Sidi his wife and here comes the love-triangle of Sidi, Lakunle and Baroka wherein finally Sidi surrenders herself to Baroka. It is miraculous to know that a young man fails before an old man in the game of love and at the end Sidi willingly accepts Baroka, not Lakunle, as her husband.

Bride-price, a Sign and Symbol and a Complex Situation There are several reasons behind Sidis hesitation in accepting Lakunle. The basic reason seems to be his refusal to pay the bride-price: Ignorant girl, can you not understand? To pay the price would be To buy a heifer off the market stall. Youd be my chattel, my mere property. No, Sidi! (The Lion and the Jewel, 8) But Sidi is also uneasy about Lakunles ideas, especially the role of women and the duties of a wife. The language he uses, drawn from his ragged books (mainly the Bible and the dictionary) adds to this uneasiness. She feels uncomfortable by the scorn with which he is regarded by other villagers, even the children. She also hates his miserliness which she considers A cheating way, mean and miserly. There are many inconsistencies in Lakunle which also may irritate Sidi. Although he claims to detest Barokas habits and powers, in fact he secretly envies them. In one speech he wishes if he had the Bales privilege of marrying many wives. Now, polygamy is a familiar tradition in older, backward society whereas monogamy is a modern phenomenon. Lakunle is contradicting himself here by trying whole-heartedly to uphold modernity but ironically he cannot obviate his native identity and demands. Even he seems to forget his principles at the end of the play when he eagerly embraces the thought that since Sidi is no longer a virgin now, he cannot be asked to pay a bride price for her: But I obey my books. Man takes the fallen woman by the hand And ever after they live happily. Moreover, I ill admit It solves the problem of her bride-price too. (The Lion and the Jewel, 61) Opposing Religious Values Convenience Plays a Better Part In the same speech he forgets in his agitation that he is a Christian opposed to the village religion and appeals to the God of thunder and lightning. He declares that My love is selfless- the love of spirit. Not of flesh but if it is so, then how can he be so concerned of bride price even when he is about to lose the beloved? Lakunle himself is deliberately insincere and that it would be perfect to say that he is too weak to recognize his own

inconsistencies. We may assume that Sidi refuses him being motivated by more to her personal opinions and disliking to this callous man rather than considering him a representative of western norms and values. But at the end she realizes that Baroka possesses what Lakunle lacks; the climax is, youth is eclipsed by the old. Seduction of Modern Channels It is not true that Sidi refuses Lakunle as if she was in love with Baroka from the very beginning. Sidi initially refuses Barokas offer to marry him and this offer arrives when she is under the influence of the magazine brought to the village by the white photographer. We notice Sidis excitement demonstrated by her reactions to this magazine and the photographs in it: Have you seen these? Have you seen these images of me Wrought by the man from the capital city Have you felt the gloss? Smoother by far than the parrots breast. (The Lion and the Jewel, 19) The fact that her photograph covers three pages and the Bales only the corner of a page seems to her to prove that she is far more important than he is. Her confusion in choosing between Baroka and Lakunle as her husband indicates the young generations wavering to choose between the old values and the new allurements of Western culture: In Wole Soyinkas The Lion and the Jewel, there is a constant confrontation between tradition and modernity. Soyinka published the play in 1959, when Nigeria was struggling for independence under British control. Nigeria had been united as the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria since 1914 and by the late 1950s was facing the challenge of whether or not it was ready for independence and capable of handling modern Western civilization. Some Nigerians felt that it was time for change while others wondered if they should move from their present culture. (Watts 1)

Romance In the play, both men, Lakunle and Baroka play the role of romantic lovers in a different way. Lakunle plays this role for much of the play; he praises Sidis beauty, kneels to her and performs services for her. Baroka, who seems anti-romantic to many of us, turns in a brief performance as a romantic lover. Having appealed to Sidis vanity through the stamp-printing machine he weaves a spell of words around her: In Barokas part, we see that certain qualities of slyness in him make him win Sidi which are not manifested in Lakunle. From the very beginning she cannot tolerate Lakunle and

till the end she is consistent in expressing her hatred to this callous chap. On the other hand, when she is seduced by Baroka, she decides to choose one single man whom she would let herself touch in future and that single man should be Baroka who has already touched her enough. The Bale impresses her with his skill at wrestling; he pretends not to know about the offer of marriage and implies that Sadiku is always trying to make matches for him. Moreover, he cunningly appeals to her loyalty to the old village ways and he praises her depth and wisdom, too. He flatters her with his talk of having her portrait on the stamps and all the time he talks to Sidi in a soothing tone with the most flattering seriousness as well as stressing the responsibilities of the village head. Lakunle obviously lacks this foresightedness and therefore Sidi cannot get reliability as well as practicality in him. Victory of Old Africa? The Lion and the Jewel shows the triumph Baroka over Lakunle and many readers and critics regard this as a victory of old Africa over foreign-educated parvenu or upstarts. It is true that the vitality of Africa has been demonstrated and the established rulers have been shown as dignified, arrogant and powerful. But the way Soyinka presents Baroka is not acceptable to those who want to romanticize traditional African leaders. Baroka is not a straightforward conservative; he has made many a significant innovations and his language shows his familiarity with alien idioms and ideas. Several small African nations make a large part of their national income by selling beautiful stamps to collectors abroad. It is not then too surprising that the Bale should view stamp sales as a major source of revenue. The Old and the New Complementing Each Other Soyinka has portrayed Baroka and Lakunle- these two men to complement one-another, and his argument in the play is worked out through the juxtaposition of them. Baroka is presented in a much more favourable light than Lakunle, but Soyinka is dealing in relative rather than in absolute terms. He has taken us into a grey area and he forces us to look closely and distinguish different shades of grey. He does not allow us to sit back and separate the black from the white at a quick glance. (Gibbes, 54) We may, therefore, say that this play is not in favour of reckless progress and false imitation of socalled western practices; simultaneously it is not in favour of simply standing still. Like all good fictions, it gives us something to think and argue about. Reactionary Answer? Some critics accused Wole Soyinka of giving in The Lion and the Jewel, a reactionary (that is, a backward looking) answer to these problems. Soyinka is not a writer who believes that progress is always a good thing. As a small example, he shares Barokas view that modern roads are murderous. On the other hand, like Baroka he has stated his belief that the old must flow into the new. One critic replied to the charge that The Lion and the Jewel is a reactionary play by arguing that one of the first duties of the comedian is the exploding of clich. In other words, it had become a mechanical thing a cliche to say that the new must be preferable to the old. In The Lion and the Jewel, Wole Soyinka had simply refused to reproduce that clich. (Blishen 1975)

Conclusion It is clear that The Lion and the Jewel is tilted in favour of the mature and discriminating Baroka and against the shallow and boyish Lakunle. But this does not imply that Soyinka is likely to support old men and dislike youths. He made his intentions as a playwright clear when he said: Ill admit, if as a dramatist I set a riddle which gives my audience a headache, not only in the theatre, but afterwards... the purpose of the theatre is to impart experience... Often this is indefinable. (Gibbes, 54). We can then believe that through the plot of The Lion and the Jewel, Soyinka deliberately has put a riddle which gives us a headache on analysing the victory of Baroka over Lakunle in which many of us would like to apply ethnic issue as a soothing balm. Sidi is then quite right to uphold her own. ********************************************************************** The Lion and the Jewel (1963) This play is one of Soyinka's most popular. Despite occasional uses of unconventional devices, it is readily accessible and highly entertaining. Like Death and the King's Horseman, a much more serious work, it explores the value of traditional Yoruba ways vs. European innovations. Some modern readers object to its treatment of women and find the humor spoiled by the sexism. What is your reaction? Morning The play is set in the village of Ilujinle. Note Lakunle's age. Despite his behavior on occasion, he is essentially a lively young man. He tries to emulate European notions of courtesy by relieving Sidi of her burden, though carrying water is traditionally a women's task. His flirtatious opening speech may seem rather crude, but is typical of the kind of jesting that goes on in courtship. Sidi is not so much shocked as bored by Lakunle. Sidi cleverly answers his insistence that she should abandon the traditional way of carrying loads on her head. Note the contrast between the ideas that Lakunle has derived from books about women's weakness and Sidi's answers based on experience. Baroka, the Bale (chief) of the village is a major character later in the play, here introduced as standing for tradition. When Lakunle proposes to Sidi he is quoting words he has read in popular English books about marriage. Note that his pretentious metaphors are answered by her pithy proverb. "Bush" means "uncivilized," typical of people who live in the bush. Their relationship is clarified when Sidi says she wants a bride-price. It is not that she lacks affection for Lakunle--what has passed before has been essentially good-natured sparring on her part. But she insists on the tradition which will prove her value in the eyes of the village. Lakunle, in his "Pulpit-declamatory" style, quotes to her lines from the wedding service which are in turn quoted from Genesis 2:24.

Sidi is eager to see the stranger's book. Notice how the conflict in the play which has been between Lakunle and Sidi is now complicated by the tension between Sidi and Baroka. How do you react to Sidi's celebration of her own beauty? The dance of the lost Traveler draws on Yoruba tradition and that of many other African peoples. Current events are often depicted and commented upon in dances involving costumes and pantomime. It is this sort of "street theater" which Soyinka sees as providing fertile ground for the development of drama in Africa. One of the problems with reading a play rather than seeing it performed, is that one skims quickly over what would be a very impressive high point in the production, with dancing and drumming building to a climax. Imagine this "dance" taking quite a long time and having much more dramatic impact than anything that has gone before. Note that Lakunle finally enters into the dance with enthusiasm. Despite his modern pretensions, he is underneath not so alien to Sidi and her comrades as one might at first suppose. The stranger had been photographing Sidi while she was bathing, and she quickly grabbed up her clothes to cover herself when she saw him. Baroka gives Lakunle the traditional greeting and is displeased to get a European one in return. Far from being displeased by the dance, he insists on it being continued, playing the role he played in the original incident. When he tells Lakunle "You tried to steal our village maidenhead" he is speaking to the character Lakunle is playing, not the villager himself. He is telling him to go on acting. It is significant that Lakunle has been given the part of the stranger. Noon "The Lion" is Baroka's nickname. It is common in many cultures for men to use elderly women as go-betweens to solicit a new bride. What do you think of the fact that Sidi seems to have learned that she is beautiful through the magazine photographs? How do the magazine photographs affect Sidi's perception of Baroka? The storm god Sango (often spelled "Shango" or "Xango") is a West African deity, the most famous of those to have survived the slave trade to the western hemisphere, where his name is invoked in such places as Bahia and Haiti, where African traditions linger on among the black inhabitants. Of what quality does Lakunle accuse Baroka? Laukunle's story is told through pantomime, in the form of another dance. Again it is important not to skip quickly over this passage, but to attempt to imagine it vividly enacted on stage. A matchet is a large knife used for clearing brush, machete in Spanish. Note how the Bale is worked into this "flashback." A bull-roarer is a carved piece of wood or stone which is whiled at the end of a long cord to produce a mysterious roaring sound, part of the religious traditions of many cultures. What do you think Lakunle's attitude is toward Baroka's success in diverting the railroad? The removal of body hair is a feature of many cultures, not--as is often supposed--of western ones alone. Night

Sadiku's glee at Baroka's impotence may be partly based on resentment at having been long abandoned by him as a lover; but there seems generally to be a tension between the Bale and his wives which roots his dominance over them in his sexual potency. Her story of the rusted key which could not open her treasure house is an obvious sexual metaphor. However, based on what we have just seen, she knows of his impotence only through what he has told her, not by first-hand experience as she claimed. Note the insistence on the power of women's rituals, from which men are banned. Note Sidi's glee in desiring to torment Baroka. The wrestling match in Baroka's bedroom is of course a metaphor for the power struggle about to take place between himself and Sidi. Throughout this scene the Bale tries to throw Sidi off her balance by pretending not to know why she has come. To "pull asses' ears" is to mockingly put one's fingers behind one's head to imitate a donkey's ears. Sidi mocks Baroka in her conversation with him. She uses metaphors to satirize his pursuit of young women. The "tappers" are palm-wine tappers. Baroka manages to keep throwing Sidi off balance in their conversation. In his description of Sadiku's activities as match-maker he quotes her typical line of chat. Sidi's respectful words in boasting of her traditional garment cause Baroka to call her "wise." Several small African nations make a large part of their national income by selling beautiful stamps to collectors abroad. It is not then too surprising that the Bale should view stamp sales as a major source of revenue. What is it the Bale says he dislikes about progress? How can you tell that Sidi is being bewildered by Baroka? Sidi is "overcome" by Baroka's words. The third pantomime ironically depicts the triumph of women over a man just as the Bale is triumphing over a woman. Lakunle's description of the Bale's dungeons is probably a paranoid fantasy. "Mummers" are dancers who pantomime stories. Lakunle is expected to tip the mummers, like other people; but in this he adheres to the pattern established by his refusal to pay a bride price. He clings to modernism as an excuse for saving money, though the following description makes clear that he actually enjoys the performance. Sidi is angry with Baroka, either because she has been seduced or because she has been deceived. Lankunle reacts with stereotypically heroic words of despair, but when he hears himself utter them, he recoils and changes metaphors. He reacts strongly to Sidi's loss of virginity. What are his motives? A "praise-singer" is a traditional poet-bard, often known as a griot , who sings the praises of whoever hires him. What is Lakunle's reaction to Sidi's seeming acceptance of his proposal? (2) From http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/stage2/reviews/th-mod017.html Synopsis The action takes place in the remote Nigerian village of Ilujinle, in the territory of the Yoruba people. Sidi is the local beauty, much admired by the village school teacher Lakunle (la-kun-li), who wants to make her his bride. She is not averse to his intentions, but insists he must pay her 'bride price' to maintain her reputation. Lakunle however, is a

modernist, he has been to Lagos and is filled with modern ideas, consequently he is reluctant to fall in line with what he sees as an archaic tradition (at least that is his excuse, we surmise its more a case of penny-pinching). A photographer who had visited the village sometime earlier and taken photographs of the people returns to deliver a copy of the magazine in which the photographs appear. Photographs of Sidi have pride of place, on the cover and centrespread, whilst the village bale ('ba-lay' = chieftain) Baroka has only a small corner inside. Sidi realises the power of her beauty, placing her above even the leader of her people. Baroka was once a powerful warrior known as 'the Lion'. He has lived a long life and collected many concubines. Now he wants to add Sidi to his harem and sends his head wife, Sadiku, to proposition her. Sidi is not interested since he is an old man, and with the arrogance of youth rudely rebukes his advances. But Baroka is a wily old fox, not so easily brushed aside. He has determined to have Sidi, and hatches a plan to seduce her. Who will win the battle of wills, the naive but headstrong young girl, or the wily experienced old statesman? Impressions Wole Soyinka's play is a spirited and ribald account of African village life that explores the conflicts between traditional and modern values, third World reality against first world ideals, and the power of men against the influence of women. The action is interspersed with raucous African song and dance. The visit of the photographer is told as a play within a play, a musical re-enactment with the villagers acting out the events of that day. The set is a simple circular affair but imaginative use of props serves to transform it from the schoolhouse to the village square and Boroka's bedroom. Colourful costumes round off the effect. The strong accents of the characters make the dialogue a little difficult to follow at times for unaccustomed ears but adds to the realism of the piece. Unfortunately, the play loses it's way a little in the second act, accenting the humour but in so doing straying away from the darker side of the original story. Performances Omonor Imobhio is ideally cast as the beautiful young Sidi, the 'Jewel' of the title. She captures perfectly the essence of the uncultured 'bush woman' who allows the power of her beauty to go to her head turning her world upside down. But Anthony Ofoegbu is the undoubted star of the show, garnering most of the laughs as the lovestruck modernising schoolteacher. Toyin Oshinaike was impressive as the 'Lion' of the title, Baroka, despite struggling with his lines on a couple of occasions and Shola Benjamin was wonderfully comic as the mocking head wife Sadiku. The remainder of the fifteen strong cast, including musicians, all performed admirably. Verdict

A colourful production with many genuinely funny moments. Despite the generally strong perfomances however, it has to be said that the direction went somewhat astray with the result that this production fails to capture the acerbic edge of the original play.