By Temitope Ajayi
Flowerbudnews; I woke up this morning to see Professor Wole Soyinka’s reply to an email I sent to him two days ago. He is so courteous, proper and personable.
I read and re-read his message over and over. I didn’t know I was smiling until Aanu asked what was making me to smile. I typically would consider myself as someone who is unfazed and undazzled by any star power. I felt the Soyinka effect by mere reading his email.
My first encounter with Professor Soyinka was in lower secondary school through his play, The Trial of Brother Jero. I would thereafter read many of his other plays, prison memoir, essays and other books. I took undergraduate and postgraduate exams on some of his works. I have always marveled at the depth of his knowledge and intellectual fecundity.
Professor Soyinka is a rare breed and special gift to the world.
Perhaps the most definitive literary criticism of Soyinka’s plays is Professor Oyin Ogunba’s book: The Movement in Transition: A study of the Plays of Wole Soyinka, published in 1978 by the University of Ibadan Press.
Activities marking his 90th birthday will start in few days from now. I can only wish the Nobel Laureate good health for more years.
