French Literature Reviews - 2026

W. Soyinka, Of Africa and Other Essays
Francophone and Oral Literatures

Wole Soyinka, Of Africa and Other Essays

Introduced and translated from English by Etienne Galle.

Paris: L'Harmattan, 2018.

246 pp.

EAN 9782343131801

26.00 EUR

Publisher's description:

Bringing together 'Of Africa', the lecture 'The Creed of Being and Nothingness', and the essays 'Africa and Its Other' and 'The Fourth Stage' honors the continuity of Wole Soyinka's central concern: bringing the African world to light from within itself through myth and literature.

Wole Soyinka, born in Nigeria in 1934, was the first African to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Wole Soyinka occupies a prominent position in global letters as a playwright, poet, and essayist whose work engages with cultural and political realities. As a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, his intellectual trajectory has shaped discussions surrounding postcolonial identity, cultural memory, and the intersection of traditional cosmologies with contemporary thought.

This volume brings together Of Africa, the lecture The Creed of Being and Nothingness, and the essays Africa and Its Other and The Fourth Stage, honoring the continuity of Wole Soyinka's central concern of bringing the African world to light from within itself through myth and literature. Readers interested in contemporary African philosophy, postcolonial criticism, and the intersection of myth and literature may find it relevant.