Dec 30, 2009

Death and the King's Horseman | What Do I Read Next?

The Lion and the Jewel (1963) is one of Soyinka’s earliest plays, and one of the first to be performed in Africa. More humorous than Death and the King’s Horseman, it depicts a clash of cultures through the story of a confrontation between a schoolteacher and the village chief. As the two men try to win the hand of a beautiful woman, they argue the values of tradition and modernity.

Ake: The Years of Childhood (1981) is Soyinka’s second volume of memoir. Chosen by the New York Times as one of the twelve best books of 1982, it describes the first ten...