Africa’s first Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has expressed his disappointment over a comment made by the late renowned novelist, Prof. Chinua Achebe, soon after he (Soyinka) won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986.
Soyinka disclosed this in a conversation with an American-based Nigerian novelist, Okay Ndibe, which was aired on Channels Television’s ‘Book Club’, Soyinka said that he considered the remark as uncalled for and disappointing.
During the conversation with Soyinka, Ndibe recalls how Achebe, at one time, says, “The Nobel Prize did not make one the Asiwaju of African Literature.”
He further asked Soyinka about his reaction to the statement at that time.
Soyinka in his response says, “The subject was not even literature when he (Achebe) made that statement and so I was disappointed that he created a nexus between my normal sociopolitical life and my normal way of articulating an opinion.
“It was almost like because I won the Nobel Prize, I have no right to offer, to do what I used to do before all my life. I responded to it, even though I wanted to make light of it. I was a little bit disappointed and I didn’t see the necessity; that particular subject, which was under contention, didn’t relate to literature. So, it was like, oh, am I now to carry this burden for the rest of my life? That people will think I am doing what I used to do before simply because I now have a Nobel Prize.”
When asked how he feels about literary enthusiasts who often segregate themselves into Soyinka camp or that of Achebe, Soyinka refers to it as “ignorance”.
He says, “Everybody feels they have a right to pronounce authoritatively, not only on the products but on the producers of the products and their positions in society.”
The Nobel laureate adds that he would never speak about the works of other professionals, such as architects, musicians, doctors, lawyers etc., the way people “pontificate on literature.”
When the interviewer asks him about his experience after winning the Nobel prize, Soyinka says, “It has bred demands, expectations; it has bred even envy in some areas – one can cope with that – antagonism where totally unnecessary, uncalled for. But that’s part of human life; any kind of achievement does that.”
