People criticising Prof Wole Soyinka for using semantic language and esoteric concepts in his works are not gifted to understand such works, a dramatist, Kemi Ilori, has said. He said people could make meaning of Soyinka’s work through the application of relevant theories used by the Nobel Laureate to write his works.
Ilori, in a lecture delivered at a seminar of the Institute of Cultural Studies in Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, said the works of Soyinka followed some theories propounded by philosophers, which influenced his thinking.
He said: “In my study of Soyinka’s theatre, I found out that there are many layers of meanings. When you look at these theories, you are meeting a man that has read vastly and if you are going to catch up with him, you have to catch up with some of his sources, which influence his thinking. I feel the echoes of Chakravorty Spivak, Homi K. Bhabha, Edward Said, and Victor Turner in the characters that I see in Soyinka plays.”
In most works of Soyinka, he said, there is always a character challenging orthodoxy and rationality in one way or the other. “We may not like what they are saying or their approach to life but they will be there as a kind of person that stands out,” he said.
The chairman of the Institute, Prof Gbemisola Adeoti while hailing the speaker, described the lecture as a “great home coming” in the field of art. He said: “Ilori is great dramatist, poet and a great critic of art.” Adeoti also praised Prof Ahmed Yerima, who was a speaker at the event.
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