Akeem Lasisi
Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has put in perspective his engagement with the English language as a writer.
He seems to see it as a necessity he has to turn into a weapon that serves him.
Although Nigeria used to boast many writers who compellingly wrote in indigenous languages, the number and influence of those who use English have almost always been dominant.
Time has also continually been eroding their (mother tongue users) number, with various factors, including westernisation, pummelling the fortunes of the indigenous languages themselves.
In Soyinka’s Yorubaland, for instance, the likes of D. O. Fagunwa, Oladejo Okediji, Femi Jebooda, T.A. Faniyi, Kola Akinlade, Adebayo Faleti, Akinwumi Isola, Kola Owolabi, Lanrewaju Adepoju and Olatubosun Oladapo used to be very active.
Even before many of them passed on – with Okediji being the latest to depart – their influences and productivity in the language had dwindled, while only too few younger writers operate in the intensely rich Yoruba.
A good number of those who write in English have, however, also found a way of accommodating their own native codes in their works, with Soyinka not being an exception, although he is regarded by some critics as being notorious in his handling of English.
Such critics say he can be too difficult a writer, but those who seem to better understand the temperament of his literature know that it is more about depth and the realm in which the works are usually situated.
Besides, like Chinua Achebe and Niyi Osundare, the Nobel laureate is great at marrying English and the indigenous language (Yoruba in his own case and that of Osundare; and Igbo, in Achebe), as particularly evident in his super iconic Death and the King’s Horseman.
Now at about 87, he has again reflected on how he and the language confront each other.
Soyinka noted this during a recent conversation with Professor Wale Adebamwi, Presidential Penn Compact Professor of Africana Studies, Department of Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania:
“The language question always comes up. Let’s just put it this way. For me, my first task is to communicate. And I communicate with the nearest vehicle to hand. And I don’t feel any angst about it. We didn’t ask for the imposition of this language. We didn’t ask that there should be many nations in Nigeria. And if you want to communicate with people, there must be a common language. But you can also take the instrument that belongs to your enemy and turn it against your enemy.
“I don’t resent the British for forcing their language on me. I think I have used it effectively,” Soyinka said and the hall erupted with laughter.”
