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Book Profile | | | According to Yoruba wisdom, as one approaches elder status, one ceases to indulge in battles. "Some hope!" comments Wole Soyinka, early in his new memoir: "When that piece of wisdom was first voiced, a certain entity called Nigeria had not yet been thought of." Now past his biblical three-score-and-ten and with a distinctive mass of white hair making him the most recognisable of African writer-elders, Soyinka shows no sign of laying down the cudgels or his pen just yet. You Must Set Forth at Dawn is an extraordinary chronicle (the title derives from a Soyinka poem that goes on to promise the traveller "marvels of the holy hour"), as much an insider's political biography of Nigeria as an updating of the author's own restless story since the publication over a quarter of a century ago of his first autobiographical work. Soyinka's Aké: The Years of Childhood was a modern classic and fortunately, he was persuaded to abandon his vow not to "pursue the task of recollection and reflection beyond the age of innocence, calculated at roughly eleven and a bit". It has been an eventful life, which Soyinka recounts as a practised storyteller blessed with total recall. He guides us skilfully along the twisting road he has travelled - at times alone, at times in company, with some momentous greetings, ambushes and leave-takings along the way. No surprise that his personal demiurge is the many-faceted Ògún, Yoruba god of the road and creativity.
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Author Profile | | | The first African recipient of the Nobel prize for literature, which he won in 1986, Soyinka is universally lauded for his plays, poetry, essays, fiction and memoirs. Since student days in Britain in the 1950s he has also been a political activist and a champion of human rights. His homecoming after a five-year stint in Europe was in 1960, the year of Nigerian independence, and from there his narrative tangles inseparably with the nation's fortunes. An interesting footnote reveals an admission by a British former colonial officer about the 1959 elections that delivered the first post-colonial government: "It was the British who taught Nigerians the art of rigging." Soyinka's commitment to the struggle for democracy brought him into conflict with a series of dictatorial Nigerian heads of state, earning him imprisonment (by Gowon), exile (by Babangida and Abacha), a death sentence in absentia (by Abacha) and silencing (by Obasanjo). Abacha's death in 1998 was the spur for the writing of this book and made possible the homecoming with which it ends, to a Nigeria he "never should have left".
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Bargain Price, Easy Purchase | | You Must Set Forth At Dawn is available on www.booksng.com at a bargin price of N1,850. Our website is simple to use and placing orders is very easy. Payment can be done online through the use of your Nigerian debit card (same card used to withdraw cash from ATM machines) or by direct payment into our various bank accounts. Please call our Customer Care Line on +234 (1) 8134595 to speak with any of our customer care representatives or email info@booksng.com Monday to Fridays, 9am to 3pm (West and Central African Time).
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