I think the comparision of Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe is mischievous at best.

There is no comparison really.

I like to think that what makes someone a SPECTACULAR writer is their ability to tell stories that finds a home in your heart.

I left secondary school MANY YEARS AGO, and I can tell you, that there are literatures I read back then, that I can still remember today... I can remember the dialogues... Incidents...Names... And even the pictures I created in my mind of what I think the writer was trying to portray.

I only read Wole Soyinka because I needed to pass my literature exams.
I remember how we had to debate The Lion and the jewel in our literature class... Soyinka portrayed Africa like a helpless continent that needed western civilization to survive.
I have never opened any of his books since after secondary school.

But I have read Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe more than 10 times.
I have read The Concubine by Elechi Amadi more than 15 times.

I mean, from start to end.

I have replayed different scenarios and different endings in my head.

I have thought about A Things Fall Apart where Ikemefuna did not die...
A concubine where Ihuoma's children didn't hunt lizards on the very day Ekwume came visiting...

These are memories that will remain with me forever because a writer dared intrude my subconscious and made a home there.
.
.
.
I will chose to read Efuru by Flora Nwapa over any of Woke Soyinka "finest works".

There are at least 10 African writers who I'll read first before I pick any Wole Soyinkas books, like;
Ngugi wa Thiongo
Cyprian Ekwensi
Mongo Beti
Buchi Emecheta
Aye Kwei Armah
Etc.

And No, my submission is NOT because of the politics of "ANYWHERE BELLE FACE' Wole Soyinka has subjected himself to, which has made him a nuisance/laughing stock right now, it's just how I have always felt about his works.
I never connected to ANY of his books, I had to struggle to read, to relate, or even understand them and I have read over 200 books from African writers series alone.

Many Nigerians will easily remember Ikemefuna and Okonkwo more than they can remember any character in Wole Soyinka's books, this is because of RELATABILITY, a writer speaking to the reader in a familiar language.

Chinua Achebe is NIGERIA'S GREATEST LITERARY EXPORT to the world and there is a reason he is called THE GODFATHER OF AFRICAN LITERATURE...

I mean, THINGS FALL APART alone has been translated into 57 Languages!!!

It is not news that the reason why Achebe was snubbed for a Nobel Prize for literature was because he was too committed in his support of African culture and the oppressed, instead of using his platform to serve the interests of big powers in the west who were and are still our puppet masters.

Like the late Nelson Mandela once said; paraphrased, Achebe is the writer in whose company the prison walls fell down.

Achebe is THE GOAT.
There is NO COMPARISON.
Kapish?

Shhhh 🤫 op off mic . . . off mic 🎤
These people you're looking for their trouble no dey waste time on 'common sense' 🙄

The greatest book written by a black man is Things fall apart

Nothing comes close

Respect to Achebe but Soyinka is above his level... 💯

Mehn guy you dey yarn wella.

Ngugi wa Thiongo
Cyprian Ekwensi
Mongo Beti
Buchi Emecheta
Aye Kwei Armah

These are the real scholars.
Nigeria today is a replica of 'The beautiful ones are not yet born'. I also know that one day what happened to the political elites in that novel, will happen in Nigeria.

Who is comparing Wole Soyinka (free born) to one useless Godforaaken Osu born chinua achebe (of cursed memory)?

Makavelli001:
I think the comparision of Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe is mischievous at best.

There is no comparison really.

I like to think that what makes someone a SPECTACULAR writer is their ability to tell stories that finds a home in your heart.

I left secondary school MANY YEARS AGO, and I can tell you, that there are literatures I read back then, that I can still remember today... I can remember the dialogues... Incidents...Names... And even the pictures I created in my mind of what I think the writer was trying to portray.

I only read Wole Soyinka because I needed to pass my literature exams.
I remember how we had to debate The Lion and the jewel in our literature class... Soyinka portrayed Africa like a helpless continent that needed western civilization to survive.
I have never opened any of his books since after secondary school.

But I have read Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe more than 10 times.
I have read The Concubine by Elechi Amadi more than 15 times.

I mean, from start to end.

I have replayed different scenarios and different endings in my head.

I have thought about A Things Fall Apart where Ikemefuna did not die...
A concubine where Ihuoma's children didn't hunt lizards on the very day Ekwume came visiting...

These are memories that will remain with me forever because a writer dared intrude my subconscious and made a home there.
.
.
.
I will chose to read Efuru by Flora Nwapa over any of Woke Soyinka "finest works".

There are at least 10 African writers who I'll read first before I pick any Wole Soyinkas books, like;
Ngugi wa Thiongo
Cyprian Ekwensi
Mongo Beti
Buchi Emecheta
Aye Kwei Armah
Etc.

And No, my submission is NOT because of the politics of "ANYWHERE BELLE FACE' Wole Soyinka has subjected himself to, which has made him a nuisance/laughing stock right now, it's just how I have always felt about his works.
I never connected to ANY of his books, I had to struggle to read, to relate, or even understand them and I have read over 200 books from African writers series alone.

Many Nigerians will easily remember Ikemefuna and Okonkwo more than they can remember any character in Wole Soyinka's books, this is because of RELATABILITY, a writer speaking to the reader in a familiar language.

Chinua Achebe is NIGERIA'S GREATEST LITERARY EXPORT to the world and there is a reason he is called THE GODFATHER OF AFRICAN LITERATURE...

I mean, THINGS FALL APART alone has been translated into 57 Languages!!!

It is not news that the reason why Achebe was snubbed for a Nobel Prize for literature was because he was too committed in his support of African culture and the oppressed, instead of using his platform to serve the interests of big powers in the west who were and are still our puppet masters.

Like the late Nelson Mandela once said; paraphrased, Achebe is the writer in whose company the prison walls fell down.

Achebe is THE GOAT.
There is NO COMPARISON.
Kapish?

If you are good,you are good.
The truth is Achebe was a great man but he was lesser to the Nobel Laureate,Wole Soyinka.
Achebe was a small baby compared to Professor Wole Soyinka,his father.

Chinua Achebe died miserable, full of confusion and anguish, he was attacking wole Soyinka and yorubas because he could reach the height WS got to, what a life, that is the same thing that happened to the bitter grieving obi, he too is on bitterness and anguish on rampage and his people with them, Achebe full of wrath and depression thought he deserved the prize Wole Soyinka got with his mediocrity and bitter grieving obi thought he deserved presidency by causing mayhem and chaos, no mediocre can go through the backdoor to get anything.
God bless Wole Soyinka the nemesis of bitter grieving obi.

Nelson Mandela held Chinua Achebe in high esteem, considering him a significant figure in literature and African culture. Mandela recognized Achebe's impact on African identity and storytelling, often praising his works, especially "Things Fall Apart," for their profound influence on the global perception of Africa and its people.

Mandela once said about Achebe:
There was a writer named Chinua Achebe, in whose company the prison walls fell down.

This quote highlights the comfort and liberation Mandela found in Achebe's literature during his imprisonment. Achebe's storytelling provided not only a connection to African heritage and culture but also a sense of mental and spiritual freedom for Mandela during his years of incarceration.

Nelson Mandela also held Wole Soyinka in high regard, recognizing his contributions to literature and activism. Soyinka, a Nigerian playwright and poet, was the first African laureate to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986. Mandela admired Soyinka's courage and commitment to justice, particularly in standing against oppressive regimes.

In his foreword to Soyinka's memoir "You Must Set Forth at Dawn," Mandela wrote:



Wole Soyinka is a brilliant dramatist, a gifted writer, and a courageous activist who has consistently spoken out against injustice in his homeland and beyond

This praise underscores Mandela's recognition of Soyinka's literary genius and his unwavering stance on human rights and freedom, paralleling Mandela's own lifelong struggle against apartheid and oppression.

Pls allow the dead to rest in peace. He came, he saw and he conqured.

Putinofrussia:

If you are good,you are good.
The truth is Achebe was a great man but he was lesser to the Nobel Laureatte,Wole Soyinka.
Achebe was a small baby compared to Professor Wole Soyinka,his father.

Some people will still argue this

Achebe was just a mere story teller.
Soyinka is more of a genius.
This is Soyinka's showcase:
Plays

Keffi's Birthday Treat (1954)
The Invention (1957)
The Swamp Dwellers (1958)
A Quality of Violence (1959)[134]
The Lion and the Jewel (1959)
The Trials of Brother Jero (1960)
A Dance of the Forests (1960)
My Father's Burden (1960)
The Strong Breed (1964)
Before the Blackout (1964)
Kongi's Harvest (1964)
The Road (1965)
Madmen and Specialists (1970)
The Bacchae of Euripides (1973)
Camwood on the Leaves (1973)
Jero's Metamorphosis (1973)
Death and the King's Horseman (1975)
Opera Wonyosi (1977)
Requiem for a Futurologist (1983)
A Play of Giants (1984)
Childe Internationale (1987)[135][136]
From Zia with Love (1992)
The Detainee (radio play)
A Scourge of Hyacinths (radio play)
The Beatification of the Area Boy (1996)
Document of Identity (radio play, 1999)
King Baabu (2001)
Etiki Revu Wetin
Alapata Apata (2011)
"Thus Spake Orunmila" (in Sixty-Six Books (2011)


Novels

The Interpreters (1965)
Season of Anomy (1973)
Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth (Bookcraft, Nigeria; Bloomsbury, UK; Pantheon, US, 2021)[138][139]
Harmattan Haze on an African Spring
Short stories

A Tale of Two (1958)
Egbe's Sworn Enemy (1960)
Madame Etienne's Establishment (1960)
Memoirs

The Man Died: Prison Notes (1972)
Aké: The Years of Childhood (1981)
Ibadan: The Penkelemes Years: a memoir 1945–1965 (1989)
Ìsarà: A Voyage around Essay (1989)
You Must Set Forth at Dawn (2006)
Climate of Fear (Literature) (2005)
Poetry collections

Telephone Conversation (1963) (appeared in Modern Poetry in Africa)
Idanre and other poems (1967)
A Big Airplane Crashed into The Earth (original title Poems from Prison) (1969)
A Shuttle in the Crypt (1971)
Ogun Abibiman (1976)
Mandela's Earth and other poems (1988)
Early Poems (1997)
Samarkand and Other Markets I Have Known (2002)
Essays

"Towards a True Theater" (1962)
Culture in Transition (1963)
Neo-Tarzanism: The Poetics of Pseudo-Transition
A Voice That Would Not Be Silenced
Art, Dialogue, and Outrage: Essays on Literature and Culture (1988)
From Drama and the African World View (1976)
Myth, Literature, and the African World (1976)
The Blackman and the Veil (1990)[141]
The Credo of Being and Nothingness (1991)
The Burden of Memory – The Muse of Forgiveness (1999)
A Climate of Fear (the BBC Reith Lectures 2004, audio and transcripts)
New Imperialism (2009)
Of Africa (2012)[143]
Beyond Aesthetics: Use, Abuse, and Dissonance in African Art Traditions (2019)

Films

Kongi's Harvest
Culture in Transition
Blues for a Prodigal
Translations

The Forest of a Thousand Demons: A Hunter's Saga (1968; a translation of D. O. Fagunwa's Ògbójú Ọdẹ nínú Igbó Irúnmalẹ̀)
In the Forest of Olodumare (2010; a translation of D. O. Fagunwa's Igbo Olodumare)
..

mrvitalis:
The greatest book written by a black man is Things fall apart

Nothing comes close

Not good enough to secure a Nobel.
Dr. D.O Fagunwa was a better story teller than Achebe, Achebe is not even close.

Soyinka, a men that can not even control his family should not be taken seriously.

Putinofrussia:

Achebe was just a mere story teller.
Soyinka is more of a genius.
This is Soyinka's showcase:
Plays

Keffi's Birthday Treat (1954)
The Invention (1957)
The Swamp Dwellers (1958)
A Quality of Violence (1959)[134]
The Lion and the Jewel (1959)
The Trials of Brother Jero (1960)
A Dance of the Forests (1960)
My Father's Burden (1960)
The Strong Breed (1964)
Before the Blackout (1964)
Kongi's Harvest (1964)
The Road (1965)
Madmen and Specialists (1970)
The Bacchae of Euripides (1973)
Camwood on the Leaves (1973)
Jero's Metamorphosis (1973)
Death and the King's Horseman (1975)
Opera Wonyosi (1977)
Requiem for a Futurologist (1983)
A Play of Giants (1984)
Childe Internationale (1987)[135][136]
From Zia with Love (1992)
The Detainee (radio play)
A Scourge of Hyacinths (radio play)
The Beatification of the Area Boy (1996)
Document of Identity (radio play, 1999)
King Baabu (2001)
Etiki Revu Wetin
Alapata Apata (2011)
"Thus Spake Orunmila" (in Sixty-Six Books (2011)

How many of these sold upto 100,000 copies outside the shores of Nigeria. Most of these are short poems and drama and not novels . It is novels that rule the world of literature and not poems.nibhave friends and relatives that have written more poems than this. In this artificial intelligence age , I can surpass this poems and plays in 24 hours

ElSudani:


Not good enough to secure a Nobel.

There has never been a time Noble price has been used to determine best in any field at all

Stephen Hawkings is the best physicists in the last 100 years he never won it

Some people win it by accidental discoveries

Achebe is dead and rotten away, the perverted embittered clown and warmonger died miserable barking like a dog at Wole Soyinka the moon, he can never reach

mrvitalis:

There has never been a time Noble price has been used to determine best in any field at all

Stephen Hawkings is the best physicists in the last 100 years he never won it

Some people win it by accidental mistakes

Same way commercial success is not a factor in determining a literary value.
Otherwise, J.K Rowling will be rated far higher than most writers.

Chat GPT can surpass all of Soyinka's work in 24 hours . It is not about quantity but quality, how many of your books are selling outside ibadan Lagos market

Putinofrussia:
Achebe was just a mere story teller.
Soyinka is more of a genius.
This is Soyinka's showcase:
Plays

Keffi's Birthday Treat (1954)
The Invention (1957)
The Swamp Dwellers (1958)
A Quality of Violence (1959)[134]
The Lion and the Jewel (1959)
The Trials of Brother Jero (1960)
A Dance of the Forests (1960)
My Father's Burden (1960)
The Strong Breed (1964)
Before the Blackout (1964)
Kongi's Harvest (1964)
The Road (1965)
Madmen and Specialists (1970)
The Bacchae of Euripides (1973)
Camwood on the Leaves (1973)
Jero's Metamorphosis (1973)
Death and the King's Horseman (1975)
Opera Wonyosi (1977)
Requiem for a Futurologist (1983)
A Play of Giants (1984)
Childe Internationale (1987)[135][136]
From Zia with Love (1992)
The Detainee (radio play)
A Scourge of Hyacinths (radio play)
The Beatification of the Area Boy (1996)
Document of Identity (radio play, 1999)
King Baabu (2001)
Etiki Revu Wetin
Alapata Apata (2011)
"Thus Spake Orunmila" (in Sixty-Six Books (2011)


Novels

The Interpreters (1965)
Season of Anomy (1973)
Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth (Bookcraft, Nigeria; Bloomsbury, UK; Pantheon, US, 2021)[138][139]
Harmattan Haze on an African Spring
Short stories

A Tale of Two (1958)
Egbe's Sworn Enemy (1960)
Madame Etienne's Establishment (1960)
Memoirs

The Man Died: Prison Notes (1972)
Aké: The Years of Childhood (1981)
Ibadan: The Penkelemes Years: a memoir 1945–1965 (1989)
Ìsarà: A Voyage around Essay (1989)
You Must Set Forth at Dawn (2006)
Climate of Fear (Literature) (2005)
Poetry collections

Telephone Conversation (1963) (appeared in Modern Poetry in Africa)
Idanre and other poems (1967)
A Big Airplane Crashed into The Earth (original title Poems from Prison) (1969)
A Shuttle in the Crypt (1971)
Ogun Abibiman (1976)
Mandela's Earth and other poems (1988)
Early Poems (1997)
Samarkand and Other Markets I Have Known (2002)
Essays

"Towards a True Theater" (1962)
Culture in Transition (1963)
Neo-Tarzanism: The Poetics of Pseudo-Transition
A Voice That Would Not Be Silenced
Art, Dialogue, and Outrage: Essays on Literature and Culture (1988)
From Drama and the African World View (1976)
Myth, Literature, and the African World (1976)
The Blackman and the Veil (1990)[141]
The Credo of Being and Nothingness (1991)
The Burden of Memory – The Muse of Forgiveness (1999)
A Climate of Fear (the BBC Reith Lectures 2004, audio and transcripts)
New Imperialism (2009)
Of Africa (2012)[143]
Beyond Aesthetics: Use, Abuse, and Dissonance in African Art Traditions (2019)

Films

Kongi's Harvest
Culture in Transition
Blues for a Prodigal
Translations

The Forest of a Thousand Demons: A Hunter's Saga (1968; a translation of D. O. Fagunwa's Ògbójú Ọdẹ nínú Igbó Irúnmalẹ̀)
In the Forest of Olodumare (2010; a translation of D. O. Fagunwa's Igbo Olodumare)
..

all these you mentioned are poetry that most of then are not upt two pages.

ElSudani:


Same way commercial success is not a factor in determining a literary value.
Otherwise, J.K Rowling will be rated far higher than most writers.

Everyone who knows book known peer review and recommendations of your work in scholary projects is what determins your work and who's best

In that class Achebe beats every African

His work is used to teach African literature than any other African

kettykin:


How many of these sold upto 100,000 copies outside the shores of Nigeria. Most of these are short poems and drama and not novels . It is novels that rule the world of literature and not poems.nibhave friends and relatives that have written more poems than this. In this artificial intelligence age , I can surpass this poems and plays in 24 hours

lol
Talk is cheap.
Chimamanda is still alive.Tell her to do close to these.
If she didnt win a Nobel,then we will know there is something fishy.
The truth is neither Chima nor Acheba has the strength.
We are differently gifted.
Only a genius like Prof Soyinka could do that.

Secondly,,there are a lo of best sellers who didnt win Nobel because it is 'special'

Took this from Quora...

Why are books by Nobel literature Laureates not best sellers?
For one thing, the Nobel is an international prize. In the last ten years' winners, only three are primarily writing in English. A lot of prizes are awarded for efforts in poetry and drama, which you wouldn't find on bookshelves in any case.

Also, the prize was not always as elitist as it is today. Historical winners include Ernest Hemingway, Pearl S Buck and Rudyard Kipling, all big-selling authors in their day.

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For the same reason that McDonalds doesn't have any Michelin stars. Product made for mass consumption requiring little consideration of it's value is not the same as great food or literature.

Both have their place in the market but they cater for a different consumer.

Are there writers whose popularity has kept them from ever earning a Nobel Prize in Literature?
The short answer is, “No, don’t be silly.”

To pick a few writers whose work sold well who won the Nobel, consider Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Pearl S. Buck, and Sinclair Lewis.

Recall what the award was set up to do. The award was supposed to go to an author from any country “who has produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction.”

That is a bit vague, but there should be an emphasis on the words outstanding work and ideal.

So the goals are that the work should be of superlative quality and that there is a tendency towards advancing ideals.

From these goals, we can reasonably conclude that they want to choose writers who have produced great works of literature, and that the literature needs to say something about the ideals and goals of Man and society.

The Nobel committee has made many dubious choices over the years, but they have never been deterred by good sales or popularity. They have sometimes chosen writers who were perhaps not quite of the first rank, but you could never argue that the choices were entirely frivolous. Debatable yes.

Now, let’s look at this question from the other direction. Consider some popular novels. Do people who are serious lovers of literature want the author of Fifty Shades of Grey to receive a Nobel? No, oh god no. Is it because of the popularity of the books? No, it’s because the books are, quite frankly, a boatload of bat guano that panders to a taste for a certain type of salaciousness that is frankly tedious if you aren’t subject to such obsessions. Similarly, who would seriously advance the case for a Nobel for Dan Brown? Or Ken Follett? None of us begrudge others their appetite for the literary equivalent of a McDonald’s greaseburger, but don’t try to convince us that it is truite braisée aux champignons et au riesling.

The defining qualities for the Nobel are high intentions, intelligent and brilliant execution, and seriousness about mankind and our ideals and situation.

A lot of bestsellers don’t make the grade. It’s not because they are popular. It’s because you got them at McDonald’s. It’s not McPoisonous, because it’s made to a certain McStandard of hygiene, but it’s not wonderful. Don’t try to call it gourmet dining. Embrace the fundamental tackiness and enjoy it, but don’t demand elevation to the pantheon of honour in modern literature. These books were not written with serious literary intentions. They were written with a goal to entertain, often to entertain within the confines of some genre, and even when they are intelligently told, it is not the job of such writers to think below the surface of their material.

Chukwudis and jealousy, if na dem mistakenly win that noble prize ehn, we for no hear word again 😹😹........Useless illiterates trying to demean the biggest and most prestigious award in the world cos no b dia ppl win am, if e easy make una run am na.. haters!

One pained , illiterate, Bitter Obi ppl even said this...

mrvitalis:

Some people win it by accidental discoveries

That's like the most stupid statement ever in the history of the world 😹

mrvitalis:

There has never been a time Noble price has been used to determine best in any field at all

Stephen Hawkings is the best physicists in the last 100 years he never won it

Some people win it by accidental mistakes

Pls can you name two or three persons who have won nobel prize by accidental mistake.... when one sees a brain dead, it is easily discernable.

seunowa:

Pls can you name two or three persons who have won nobel prize by accidental mistake.... when one sees a brain dead, it is easily discernable.

By accidental discovery I meant and yes there are many

People don't even regard noble prize in literature and arts

Those ones are useless Nobel prize just like the Noble peace prize.

Like Sheldon cooper in Big Bang theory will say "Real Nobel prize are those in physics and sciences"

Soyinka was gifted a noble prize because of memoirs from prison, I also respect him sha for bringing glory to Nigeria and black people in general

As Igbos will not allow Achebe rest, Yorubas no be HausaFulani see your see that foolish China Achebe we will drag his Igbo soul on footbal field like football.

E no go beta for Chinua Achebe for the hell de. May he rest in pieces.

duruZed:
Pls allow the dead to rest in peace. He came, he saw and he conqured.

EcoNews:
As Igbos will not allow Achebe rest, Yorubas no be HausaFulani see your see that foolish China Achebe we will drag his Igbo soul on footbal field like football.

E no go beta for Chinua Achebe for the hell de. May he rest in pieces.

🤪

Still greater than Awolowo and Soyinka combined

Very gullible people
It is just shameful comparing a mere story teller to an epitome and embodiment of all literature genre.

seunowa:
Very gullible people
It is just shameful comparing a mere story teller to an epitome and embodiment of all literature genre.

Wole Soyinka has no popular work.

An average lover of literature doesn't know any of Soyinka's works .

He just kept spamming people with 2 pages of books every month when he was actively smoking cannabis and sniffing cocaine.

It was same period he founded cultism in Nigeria.

In a civilized country he just have been sentenced long ago

Prof WS is all rounder- drama, poetry, prose, story telling, fiction/non fiction, name it. Achebe was only good at story telling.
With due respect, i'd pick Ola Rotimi's body of work over Achebe's.

-Kiss the truth!