In July 2004, Wole Shoyinka, a prominent Nigerian novelist, poet, playwright and social activist, celebrated his 70th birthday. The first and, as it turned out, the last significant domestic work dedicated to the work of Volya Shoyinka was published in 1977. Since then, he has published more than thirty new books, has become one of the greatest figures in world literature, and has been awarded the most prestigious international prizes in literature, including the Nobel Prize in 1986. In Russia, he is actually known only for works written before the eighties, which were also included in the collection of ^the Masters of Modern Prose series in 1987.1-the last edition of Shoyinka in our country. The reason for such an inadequate attitude of publishers to the largest volume of modern world literature, apparently, is the problem of translation. After the departure of the amazing specialist in translations of African authors A. Kistiakovsky ², there was simply no one else who could adequately translate Shoyinka. Translation of his works requires not only an excellent knowledge of English, but also the highest level of education in a wide variety of fields, in addition, you need to know and understand Africa in general, and the culture of the Yoruba people in particular. The authors hope that in the very near future there will be a worthy translator of Shoyinka's texts, and the Russian reader will be able to judge his multifaceted work independently, without intermediaries, which in this case are us.

Wole Shoyinka was born on July 13, 1934 in Abeokuta, Western Nigeria. Here he received his primary and secondary education. In the mid-fifties, he studied at the University of Leeds in England. At the same time, he wrote his first short stories. In the late fifties, he worked at the Royal Court Theatre in London. After returning to Nigeria, Shoyinka wrote his first famous plays, which immediately made him world-famous. In the early sixties, Wole Shojinka directed various theater troupes, first "Masks 1960", then "Orisun Theater". At the same time, he teaches at the largest universities in the country (Ife, Lagos). In October 1965, he was arrested for the first time on charges of "pirating a radio speech" - forcibly seizing a radio station and imitating the speech of the country's president. However, in December of the same year, he was forced to be released. Since the end of the sixties, Shoyinka began to receive prestigious international literary awards one after another (1967-the John Whiting Prize for Drama, 1968-the Jock Campbell Prize, etc.). In 1968, during the Nigerian Civil War, Shoinka was arrested and spent more than two years in prison without trial (even without formal charges). He writes in prison, secretly borrowing a fountain pen from a visiting doctor, and, of course, after his release. Each of his works is expected and becomes an event not only of a local, but also of a global scale. In 1986, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Wole Shoyinka's talent is multi-faceted, he has written outstanding works of prose, stunning poems, both friends and foes turn to his socio-political works, and his philosophical essays are studied at the largest universities in the world. But above all, Shoyinka is a playwright. It is the drama that is the pearl of his work.

Shoyinka's first play, Forest Dance, ³ premiered on the country's Independence Day, October 1, 1960, when Nigeria became the new nez-

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a dependent state on the political map of the world. However, instead of the festive event that the audience logically expected to see, they saw a tragedy. A tragedy about the past and, worst of all, a tragedy about the future. Shoyinka was reproached more than once for such a" undermining " of the festive mood. But his foresight was confirmed very soon. This piece was both a reminder and a warning. The tragedy of the future can be prevented, but it requires at least an awareness of its possibility.

Despite the fact that the play was written by Shoyinka at the age of 29, even now, on the day of the 70th anniversary of its author, it cannot be traditionally attributed to" early " works. Usually, this phrase shyly hides raw or insignificant works of writers who became famous later. But Wole Shoyinka's talent is so bright and powerful that even his first play is truly a masterpiece.

Commenting on the" Dance of the Forest " by Shoyinka, another prominent African master of speech, Kenyan Ngugi Wa Tiongo, wrote that this play most strongly demonstrates the moral atrophy of intellectuals (what a combination!). He also draws attention to the fact that all the characters of the past, so vividly drawn by Shoyinka, are easily recognizable in today's life. ⁴

A special place in the" Dance of the Forest " is occupied by the idea of not just the dependence of the present on the past, but their mutual dependence! Speaking about Shoyinka's work in general, the Nigerian critic K. Ogungbesan notes in it "the interdependence of the past, present and future"⁵ . And this is indeed the case! Shoyinka's past may depend on the future.

The action , which takes place in the equally famous play "Death and the Royal Horseman"⁶, is connected with the ancient custom of the Yoruba people, according to which, after the death of the king, his main approximate - the Horseman, must follow him. Follow voluntarily, not by committing murder or suicide, but through a special ritual. The life of this community depends entirely on the fulfillment of this, as well as all other traditions. However, the head of the local colonial administration intervenes and interrupts the ritual. The consequences of this are much more tragic than the British administrator might assume...

As critics have correctly pointed out, the play's special drama is that "the tragic guilt of the hero is redeemed not by his death, but by the death of his son, and the fault itself consists in the inability to die in a timely manner"⁷ .

The play "Strong Family" is also superficially connected with an ancient custom of the Yoruba people, which was carried out through a certain ritual, when one of the members of the community took upon himself all his sins. This ritaul was performed only voluntarily, but, as a rule, such people were representatives of a Strong Family. In the play, both mystical and realistic at the same time, the villagers, where the main character Eman gets, try to make the redeemer of their sins a little idiot boy who came to their village from nowhere. Trying to prevent this, Eman plays the role of redeemer himself, because he was born Strong.

Unlike many other works of V. Shoyinka, we have discussed quite a lot about the "Strong Gender".

Shoigu himself said about this play that it shows the contrast of ideas of "selfishness and self-sacrifice as opposed to other common forms of self-destruction of human beings" ^.8 It is very interesting to follow the assessments of this work by other experts.

Professor Eldred Durosimi Jones (University of Sierra Leone) points out that the Evil that is constantly mentioned in the play is not defined. The author never specifies what it is, what, after all, happened. And indeed, this "uncertainty" allows us to make generalizations and consider the play much wider than its designated framework.

The reader, according to E. D. Jones, is faced with the question of the consequences of sacrificing oneself by Eman. Without stating this directly, the critic suggests that this sacrifice may not lead to the desired goal ^.9

Gerald Moore, in his well-known book Wole Shoyinka, also expresses doubts that Eman's sacrifice can have a positive impact on the villagers as a whole community ^.10 Although it is up to the reader to judge.

After all, if you believe the heroine of the play Sunma, a girl (one of the most complex and mysterious characters) "and there is Evil. It's hard to believe. The image of the child seems to prevent the acceptance of such a statement, but the course of the play inexorably forces you to make sure of this. At the very end of the play, when Eman sacrificed himself, Shoyinka makes a remark: "The girl stands at a distance and motionlessly watches everything that happens." So the Evil remained. It was impossible to destroy it. It's right next to us. It looks at us, watches us, just as a Girl watches the villagers at the end of a play.

A special topic for further reflection is given to the reader by an episode that has been little noticed by critics, which determines the predetermination of Eman's sacrifice. His action was decided not only by his father (about whom much has been said), but also by his mother (about whom only half a word has been said). After all, his mother died during childbirth, giving birth to him - a man of a Strong family. No woman can survive by giving birth to a Strong-bred man.

American literary scholar Ketu Katrak, in his book about the work of V. Shoyinka, highlights the "Strong Family", emphasizing that the main battle in the play takes place not between Eman and the villagers, not between "dorb and evil", but between Eman's will and his fate ^.11

A special aspect of Wole Shoyinka's multi-faceted talent is his poetic works. A writer, playwright, stage director, actor, critic, magazine editor, publicist, public figure, he, of course, could not help but be a poet! But his poetry is as beautiful as it is not simple. It is not for those who seek pleasure, even if it is a search for aesthetic pleasure. Shoyinka's poetry is difficult not only to understand, but also to simply move along the line. Fortunately, in Russian translations, Shoyinka's poems sound much simpler, or at least more familiar to our ears, because in the original they do not rhyme. Wole Shoyinka's poetry is a serious conversation:

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Up is birth, down
 The storm flutters its wings:

On the growing leaves of years.

Strung rings of words

 So that I would not lose my being-

In the monotonous echo of the rain, and it-

Stretching my thought, turned it

 Down-this shaky rack of time,

 The raindrop flowed slowly I watched as on the muddy


 glass of the window

 Once, giving myself up to the game of the mind,- death;

 Passion of rain-midwife-love

 Swaddles the newcomer with a bundle of words,

And I, a sleepwalker who has touched the Sky in passing

, a newcomer who has passed through

 the Eternal string of centuries,

 Watch as the fallen leaves of years,

Under the frothy cover of days,

 Feed the life-giving humus

 And sprout again - in another

 Hypostasis, and I feel Myself in it

 and the silver trail

 of the Former and again setting rains-

They penetrate to the bones

 of the Mute original newcomers-guests,

 Wandering Alone in the dark...


But the question is not a question we asked-
It stretches out in a chain of searches: we

 Blindly ripen in the darkness of silence,

 Looking for grains of ourselves,

And then, in unending agony, passing Through convulsions, through pain

,

 Through screams, through the bloody animal howl

 that Forever cursed love,

 We, rejected by the flesh,

 Lumps torn by fate

 From the life-giving darkness,

 Must, suffering and suffering. agonizing, swimming

 In the ocean of time to become yourself-

a beacon that sent a single ray,

Immediately swallowed by the darkness,

mirage that lit up the night for a moment

And disintegrated in silence 12
.

In the preface to the publication of one of his most striking poetic works - "Idanre", the President of Senegal, philosopher and poet Leopold Senghor wrote: "Idanre is a cosmogenic poem. It falls under this category of lyric-epic poetry, which presents us with a human expression of cosmic forces: from things seemingly elementary but mysterious, like earth and sky, fire and water, sea and rocks, to "the Lord God Walking in the wind" ¹³ .

A significant part of the work is written by Shoyinka in prison. "Poems from Prison" were published while Shoyinka was still in prison, but the reader did not doubt their authorship, because no one else could write like that. Shoyinka's "famous motives" were particularly evident here: the painful search for the truth, the struggle to remain true to this truth, and the need (!) to sacrifice oneself for its sake... By the way, the poem "Ulysses" just quoted was also written in prison.

Particularly noteworthy is the cultural, historical and philosophical value of Wole Shoyinka's works. Reading Shoyinka, you will not only get acquainted with the worldview of a wonderful writer, but also immerse yourself in the philosophy of one of the largest and most distinguished Yoruba people even in Africa. General philosophical questions generally occupy a special place in the writer's work. And more often Shoyinka sees them through the prism of the traditional worldview of his people.

Despite the fact that Wole Shoyinka grew up in a Christian family, literally behind a fence that protected him from traditional Yoruba life, ¹⁴ and was educated in "civilized" educational institutions, he later returned to the traditions of his people, their philosophy and religion. "The more I learned about the Yoruba religion, the more I realized that it was a different interpretation of the world, a different awareness of man and his place in the universe. In general, all religions are just metaphors for the strategy of a Person trying to cope with the vast Unknown. " ¹⁵

Wole Shoyinka's views on religion are set forth in a number of philosophical works, in particular, in the famous book "Being and Nothing". Speaking about the humanism of African religions, Shoigu noted in his Nobel Lecture: "The pre-colonial history of African communities-and I mean both the European-Christian and Arab - Islamic colonizations-clearly demonstrates that African societies have never fought wars over their religions in the entire history of their existence. Never has the Black Race tried to conquer or remake others. For economic or political reasons, yes. Never for religious reasons. The bloody history of the world's major religions, the wounds of which are still being felt, may lead us to the secret idea that religion, as defined by the greatest philosophers, becomes self-knowledge only through war. Therefore, when in the last years of the millennium, the same time when the crusades and jihads that devastated other civilizations, destroyed ancient social relations and trampled on the spirituality of entire peoples, destroyed their culture, according to the instructions of their invisible gods, when today we meet with peoples whose social causes of behavior are guided by canonical theological requirements, we see that that the age of darkness has never really left this world. " ¹⁶

The concept of man is one of the central ones in any philosophical system, and, of course, the concept of man in Yoruba philosophy occupies an important place in Shoyinka's work. The human personality does not consist of opposing "selves". Wholeness and inner unity are central to the Yoruba concept of man.

In Yoruba philosophy, the world is made up of the living, the dead, and the unborn. In this context, abiku stands out in particular. This phenomenon is unique to Yoruba philosophy. Olumide Lukas, in his book The Yoruba Religion, writes: "The Yoruba believe in the existence of a special group of spirits that inhabit a newly born child and cause its death, always in childhood. The very word "abiku" means " child,

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born to die." The indwelling spirit has an obligation to return at a certain time, so the child's death is preordained. " ¹⁷

Wole Shojinka has a poem dedicated to abik.

At my feet beats a silent plea -
It's the glare of your bracelets.

But your sorcery is in vain:

I am the doomed abiku.


Over the centuries, in a series of maternal losses

I am doomed to be reborn.

Remember
that even the funeral rite

Calls me to the ground,

always wet with bitter tears,

frozen by the dew of death 

In the evening twilight, when the spider

easier to cope with the victim.


The night that gives abik life

Blooms into a deadly morning,

And the contractions of childbirth give rise to a cry

drawn out by the grip of death.

The ripened womb gives birth to fruit,

But the ripened fruit dies-

mother grants the abik death,

his eternal foremother.

Wole Shojinka repeatedly refers to the phenomenon of abik in his other works. So, this image is developed in one of his most powerful plays "Dance of the Forest". Fortunately, this play has long been translated into Russian and published. All her characters are extremely bright. But a special place is occupied by the Post-born Child - "a character with whom the climax of the play, the fate of the characters, the possibility for a person to choose his own fate, and an attempt to break the endless cycle of crimes committed by people from generation to generation and gravitating over them like fate" ¹⁸ .

No less interesting are the pages devoted to the mysterious abiku in the autobiographical "Years of Life".

"...Her only daughter, Bukola, was not from our world. On her fingers, wrists, ankles, and waist were amulets, bracelets, bells, and rings. She knew she was abiku. The two thin scars on her face also counteracted the calls of her otherworldly buddies. Like all abiku, she had exclusive rights. Her parents couldn't scold her seriously or for long.

Her eyes would suddenly roll up, leaving only the whites. She also did it when we asked her to. I asked Bukolu:

"Do you remember anything from the other world?"

- no. But when I forget myself, I go there.

"Can you leave now?"

From a safe distance away, my sister Tinu threatened to complain that I was egging Bukola on. Bucola said she could, but only if I was sure I could call her back. I wasn't sure I could do it. I looked at her and wondered how her mother handled a supernatural being who dies, comes to life, dies again, goes to another world, and returns as often as she pleases. We walked side by side, and the bells on her feet tinkled, driving away her otherworldly friends who called to them.

"Can you really hear their voices?"

- Often.

"What do they say?"

"That I should come and play with them."

"Don't they have anyone to play with?" Why are they bothering you?

She shrugged her shoulders. And then the thought came to me... "(We will break the quote here and refer the reader to the book itself to find out what kind of idea came to Wola Shoyinke.)

* * *

With all due respect to the researchers of Shojinka's work, who have written entire volumes about his works, it should still be noted that any assessment of literary works, especially the works of such outstanding masters as Wole Shojinka, cannot claim to fully (and sometimes even partially) reveal the true intentions of the writer. However, this thesis is by no means new, it is only a reason to note here: everyone will understand Shoyinka in their own way. But, of course, for understanding (albeit in its own way), the reader will have to work seriously. Wole Shojinka is tough and uncompromising with his readers. Shoyinka's works, and this has been repeatedly noted by experts, make the reader work on themselves. And not in general, not abstractly, but specifically-in order to move up the line. It requires frequent stops, turning to other books or people to fill in the gaps in your knowledge. Despite worldwide fame, the highest literary awards, recognition and love of readers from all countries and continents, Shoyinka, perhaps, remains one of the most misunderstood writers in the world. The pain with which the writer perceives this is indicated, for example, in the short preface to his play "Death and the King's Horseman", where Shoyinka simply begs not to perceive his play as "a reflection of the problem of the clash of cultures".

Even venerable literary critics-Africanists (moreover, specializing in the work of V. Shoyinka!) sometimes they admit that they can't solve its riddles. Thus, one of the leading researchers of Shoyinka's creative work, V. Beilis, wrote that "...some features of his work remain a mystery to us, and the impulses driving his creative behavior are often incomprehensible"¹⁹ .

The authors of this article also do not risk saying that Volye Shoyinka's work is clear to them and can be sorted out. Oh, these "shelves"! Of course, attempting such an approach is a characteristic feature of European thinking. But this is the main obstacle, the main mistake of Europeans trying to understand other worlds and cultures, especially African culture. How not to recall here the wonderful poems of the famous Cameroonian writer Francis Bebey. In these verses, the ancient Ife mask addresses the European who looks down on it:

You who have honored me with a visit,
Listen, my friend:

If you want it, look at me,

't like it, turn away.

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But do not judge me,
And most importantly, I beg you, do not try to put me

On the shelves of a stupid

Alien world 20
.

Each work of Wole Shojinka is certainly interesting and worthy of attention, but limited to the scope of a short article, its authors tried to introduce the reader only to the most significant, from their point of view, works of the master.

Kneeling before the talent of Wole Shoyinka, we only invite you to read his works. This is an invitation to a long Road and great discoveries along the way. In the year of the writer's anniversary, I would like to express my wish that our theater groups, our theater directors finally put on plays by Volya Shoyinka for the Russian audience. Of course, this is not an easy task, and it will certainly not be taken up by everyone, but it is worth it!

-----

¹ But this collection also contains works written in the 60s and 70s.

² In fairness, we should also mention the translator A. Sergeev, as well as the translators of V. Shoigu's poetic works E. Galperina and A. Ibragimov.

³ Chronologically, the first publications of the plays "Inhabitants of the Swamps" and "The Lion and the Pearl" are noted, but they were probably written simultaneously with "Dance of the Forest".

^{Ngugi Wa Thiongo, Wole Soyinka,} 4 Aluko and the Satiric Voice // Ngugi Wa Thiongo, Homecoming, Heinemann, London, Nairobi, ibadan, 1972, p. 61.

⁵ Ogungbesan, Kolawole, Wole Soyinka: The Past and the Visionary Writer // A Celebration of Black and African Writing, ed. by King B. and Ogubgbesan K., Ahmadu bello University Press (Zaria) and Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1975, p. 175.

⁶ Published in Russian translation under the title "Death and the King's Equerry".

^{Beilis V. A.} 7 Traditsiya v sovremennykh kul'turakh Afrika [Tradition in Modern Cultures of Africa], Nauka Publ., 1986, p. 233.

⁸ See Duerden D., Pieterse C. African Writers talking, Heinemann, London, 1972, p. 173.

^{Jones, E. D.} 9 The Writing of Wole Soyinka, Heinemann, London, Ibadan, Nairobi, 1973, p. 49 - 56.

^{Moore G.} 10 Wole Soyinka, Evans Brothers Limited, Ibadan, 1971, p. 56.

^{Katrak K.H.} 11 Wole Soyinka and Modern Tragedy. A Study of Dramatic theory and Practice, Greewood Press, New York, 1986, p. 107 - 108.

¹² The poem "Ulysses", translated from English by A. Kistiakovsky.

¹³ Preface de Leopold Sedar Senghor // W. Soyinka, Idanre, Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines, 1982, p. 6.

¹⁴ The area where the Christians lived and the school were fenced off from the "rest" of the world by a high wall, and little Wohle asked to be raised higher when religious masquerades and other traditional activities of his people were held in the city behind this wall.

¹⁵ Wole Soyinka on Yoruba Religion // Isokan Yoruba Magazine, Summer 1997, vol. 3, N 3.

¹⁶ See: Beilis V. A. Vole Shojinka, Moscow, 1977, p. 29.

¹⁷ Ibid., p. 18.

¹⁸ "Poetry of Africa", Moscow, Khudozhestvennaya literatura, 1973, pp. 244-245.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF V. SHOYINKA'S WORKS (in Russian)

POETRY

"Poets of Nigeria", comp. by E. Galperin, Moscow, Progress, 1966, pp. 37-44.

"Africa. Literary Almanac", vol. 8. Moscow, Khudozhestvennaya literatura Publ., 1987, pp. 322-324.

"Selected works of African Poets", Moscow, Raduga Publ., 1983, pp. 346-355.

"Poetry of Africa", Moscow, Khudozhestvennaya literatura, (series "Library of World Literature"), 1973, pp. 419-428.

"Poetry of Africa" (in two volumes), volume 2. Moscow, Khudozhestvennaya literatura, 1979, pp. 349-357.

A significant number of V. Shoyinka's poems were also published in the collection of the Masters of Modern Prose series, published by Raduga Publishing house in 1987.

DRAMATURGY

"Dance of the Forest" / / "Selected works of African playwrights", Moscow, Raduga Publ., 1983, pp. 303-372.

"A strong family" / / Beilis V. A. Vole Shoinka. Moscow, 1977.

"Death and the King's equerry" / / Wole Shoyinka (collection of works by the writer, published in the series "Masters of Modern Prose", Moscow, 1987).

PROSE

Interpreters / / "Wole Shojinka" (collection of works by the writer from the series "Masters of Modern Prose", Moscow, 1987). "Ake. Years of childhood" / / Ibid.

WORKS ABOUT V. SHOYINKA

Beilis V. A. Doroga (foreword to the collection of works by V. Shoyinka, published in the series" Masters of Modern Prose " in 1987, pp. 5-16).

Beilis V. A. Vole Shoinka, Moscow, 1977, (series "Writers and Scientists of the East").

Information about Shoyinka's work is also available in the following publications:

- Vavilov V. N. Prozaika, Moscow, 1973.

Ivasheva V. V. Literature of West African countries. Proza, Moscow, 1967.

- Modern literatures of Africa (in two volumes). Moscow, 1973-1974.

WORKS BY V. SHOYINKA (in the original language)

Samarkand and Other Markets I Have Known, 2003.

King Baabu, 2002.

The Seven Signposts of Existence, 2000.

Early Poems, 1998.

The Burden of Memory, the Muse of Forgiveness, 1998.

The Open Sore of a Continent: A Personal Narrative of the Nigerian Crisis, 1997.

Ibadan: The Penkelemes Years, 1994.

The Blackman and the Veil, 1993.

From Zia, With Love, 1992.

The Credo of Being and Nothingness, 1991.

Mandela's Earth and Other Poems, Methuen, 1990.

Isara: A Voyage Around Essay, Random House, 1989.

Art, Dialogue and Outrage, New Horn, 1988.

A Shuttle in the Crypt, 1986.

Requem for a Futurologist, 1985.

A Play of Giants, 1984.

Opera Wonyosi, 1981.

Myth, Literature and the African World, 1976.

Ogun Abibiman, 1976.

Death and the King's Horseman, 1975.

Camwood on the Leaves, 1973

The Bacchae of Euripides, 1973.

Season of Anomy, 1973.

The Man Died: Prison Notes, 1973.

Madmen and Specialists, 1972.

Before the Blackout, 1971.

Poems from Prison, 1969.

Idanre and Other Poems, 1967.

Kongi's Harvest, 1966.

The Road, 1965.

The Trials of Brother Jero, 1964.

The Swamp Dwellers, 1964.

INTERNATIONAL AWARDS RECEIVED BY V. SHOYINKA

John Wheating Drama Desk Award, 1966. Prize of the Festival of Black African Art, Dakar, 1966. New Statesman Award named after Jock Campbell, 1968. Nobel Prize in Literature, 1986. Leopold Cedar Senghor Award, 1986. Enrico Mattei Award, 1986.

Awarded honorary titles of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1986), the Italian Republic (1990).

Amnesty International Award - "Prisoner of Conscience".

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