The Archetypal Grandfather and Intergenerational Influence in Soyinka’s Bio-Narratives:

Strictures for Nigeria’s Identity Related Issues

Adedoyin Aguoru
Department of English
University of Ibadan
Ibadan, Nigeria

Introduction

The impetus for this inquiry emanated from discourses generated around the exploration of

intergenerational narratives through family histories and the documentation of narratives and

histories of grandparents. Strikingly familiar and similar were these to the intergenerational

trajectory in Wole Soyinka’s biographical narratives: I had encountered Pa Josiah (Wole Soyinka’s

grandfather), Akinyode Soditan, (Wole Soyinka’s father), as well as other influential patriarchal

figures in these narratives and considered them worthy of exploration as identity markers within

indigenous Yoruba society.

This chapter, therefore, interrogates Wole Soyinka’s biographical narratives and tracks the

intergenerational influence of the archetypal grandfather on Wole Soyinka’s family and the world

around them. It examines how this influence bears upon their circles of influence and on their

immediate society. It also explores how the archetypal role-play portrayed in these narratives

conditions and influences Wole Soyinka who continually plays similar strategic roles within his

own circle of influence, his country and beyond.

Whether Soyinka purposely patterns this trajectory and uses his bio-narratives as exploratory texts

for his actions or he unknowingly documented these activities are different dimensions and

perspectives. I have examined the interventions of the characters portrayed at specific stages and

periods of their lives particularly the political, historical, sociological and ideological implications

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of the actions of the archetypal male figures in the narratives and deliberately excluded arguments

on masculinities and gendered discourse.

The mention of the name, Wole Soyinka, resonates locally and globally Being a person of many

parts: writer, social critic, opposition diplomat, among others in recent times Wole Soyinka is

perceived and accepted as a sage, a wise old man; the archetypal grandfather.

Revisiting Archetypes: The Archetypal Father and Grandfather

Jon Mills (2018) revisits the essence of archetypes. He maintains that Carl Jung’s perspectives on

the archetype must be accepted equivocally as critical and should be interpreted as such. He argues

that an archetype may be understood as an “unconscious schema that is self-constitutive and

emerges into consciousness from its own a priori ground” (2018, p.199). Furthering the argument

on the significance of an archetype in contemporary discourse, Mills insists that origins and

dialectical reflections are process systems that are interpretive parameters. These thoughts not only

reinforces the position of the significance of the archetypal grandfather to this study, it expands the

age long arguments on universality of character types and patterns across ages and cultures. The

replication of character types of the father in Soyinka’s bio-narratives is in tandem with Mills

reading of “psychic reality as self-instantiating replicators”.

David Lindenfeld had in 2009 engaged the “distinctiveness of Jung's notion of archetypes and its

limitations” by juxtaposing them with ideas of more contemporary scholars of psychoanalysis

(2009, 217). To Lindenfeld, Jung’s description of a specific “repertoire of archetypal figures that

reside in the collective unconscious” is questionable given that he describes archetypes as a

superficial set of manifestation and dispositions that are situationally and culturally conditioned.

He, however, admits that the overriding significance of archetypes is its emphasis on the cruciality

of harmonizing what he describes as “emotionally powerful images in discourse that serve to

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counteract the disintegrating tendencies of modern thought and society” (2009, 217).

Isabelle Meier (2016) teases out specifics in her grandly written book titled

Grandparents: Archetypal and Clinical Perspectives on Grandparent-Grandchild Relationships.

Meier, through psychological and analytical perspectives examines relationships between

grandparents and grandchildren. She probes into the revered age long archetypal portraits and

intergenerational relationships of characters such as the wise old man, wise old woman, the old

wizard and the wicked witch. Meier observes that the implicit memories from encounters could be

stored in the subconscious and to be made active in subsequent years.

Having explored these viewpoints, examining the perspectives of the child, becomes pertinent.

According to Maud Bodkin, “To the mind of a young child, the father appears of unlimited power”

(1951, 17). She notes that the impression made on the child by legendary stories about kings are

often interpreted through the lens of existing emotions for a father. Of the father figure, Bodkin

observes that Freudian psychologists aver that certain aspects of spiritual life are influenced by

emotions triggered by a child’s relationship with a parent, particularly the father; “As to the child

the father may first appear pre-eminently the being that has the command over speech , material

contrivance and forms of worlds stored magic, so, with the development of the inner life other

figures, take the father’s place” (1951, 302). These communicated experiences testify to positive as

well as creative attributes which the father may have been exhibiting which help the child to come

to terms with “… special values which can be assimilated by his own nature” (1951, 301-302).

Soyinka’s creation of the archetypal grandfather in his bio narrative is that of the wise old man. The

elder, the sage, the interventionist, the pacifier, an authority figure (2020). As we navigate through

the narratives we encounter the wisdom, display of the understanding of the supernatural as well as

the exhibition of moral qualities attributed to this character type.

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Wole Soyinka’s memories, the dynamics of reconstructing and narrating a life vis-à-vis dominant

elements that make the biographical genre valuable in the construction and transformation of socio-

political life. Through this the intergenerational influence and participation especially as prisms

through which ideational issues relating to national life, existence and experiences of multiethnic

demography of congealed national identities brought together in a cobbled fractious national spaced

are appreciated.

Wole Soyinka’s biographical narratives, The Man Died: Prison Notes (1972), Ake: The Years of

Childhood (1981), Isara: A Journey Around Essay (1989), Ibadan: the Penkelemes Years - A

Memoir 1946-1965 (1994), You must Set Forth at Dawn - Memoirs (2006), are personal and

political. Each narrative tells more than personal history, and they phenomenological perspectives

dealing with identity challenges and crisis faced by an independent country in which a talented

artist, scholar and now wise old man lives.

The narratives portray interventions and engagements of the subject, whose (national and global)

influence transcends the role of the dramatist as the conscience of the society or the advocate, as the

spokesperson for his community. The dominant and recurring archetypal figure, Pa Josiah, Wole

Soyinka’s grandfather, is consistently portrayed as the sage, kingmaker, authority figure and

quintessential grandfather. He is portrayed as an enigmatic personality, who watches over his

lineage, circle of influence and the affairs of his community with an utmost sense of responsibility.

He is also reputed for forging cordiality with his grandchildren and this fraternity contributes

tremendously to the making of the Soyinka we know. Soyinka seems to consciously and

subconsciously replicate, nurture and consolidate.

Pa Josiah's archetypal roles in his immediate constituency and in the international community.

Soyinka acknowledges in several ways his childhood bonding to his grandfather, indicating the

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ways in which accepting leadership roles can facilitate the forging of cohesive and empowering

understanding of self, community and society at large. This dimension of national identity,

grounded in self and community identity is consciously interrogated in this chapter.

Polemics of Identity in Self-Writing: Biography, Autobiography, Prison Notes and Memoir

Stripped of all fripperies and polemical arguments, a biography would be ‘an account of a person’s

life’ and an autobiography ‘an account of a person’s life by him or herself’. This definition I derive

from Cuddon and Preston’s position that “autobiography is an account of a person's life by him or

herself” (1998, p.63). I have also argued that biographical literature aims at recreating the life of a

person, who may in the context of the autobiography, memoir or other forms of self-narrative, be

the writer (Omotunde, 2001).

Objectivity is the keyword of modern biographers who aver that in choosing the form and the

object, they deal objectively in fact and not fiction. This is not contrary from the position of the

autobiographer, who claims to be proclaiming the truth at all times (Fowler, 2006).

Soyinka adopts several biographical forms in his biographical collection. He evidently interrogates

age-long indices and elements of biographical forms in his bid to interrogate, expound, document,

justify, clarify basis for actions and inactions, confess doings and chronicle personal and political

ideologies. Though published in the following sequence: The Man Died: Prison Notes (1972), Ake:

The Years of Childhood (1981), Isara: A Journey Around Essay (1989), Ibadan: the Penkelemes

Years - A Memoir 1946-1965 (1994), You must Set Forth at Dawn - Memoirs (2006), the narratives

may be read in any other sequence or as a family or political saga. This chapter encourages us to

follow the chronology of the entire plot by engaging Isara, the biography of his father, as the first in

order to encounter the archetypal grandfather character that emerges from the ‘beginnings’ and

recurs through the 'becomings’ and how these encounters reflect ideations of Soyinka’s portrayal of

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self, and the implications these have for Nigeria’s history.

Soyinka’s notes to the readers of Isara explains that the narrative is and compulsive recurring

flashback:

The completion of that childhood biography rather than assuage a curiosity about a vanishing

period of one’s existence only fuelled it, fragments of incomplete memory returning to haunt one

again in the personae of representative protagonists of such a period (Soyinka, 1989, vii).

Ake, sequel to Isara, is followed by The Man Died, Ibadan and You must Set Forth at Dawn.

Soyinka explores three dominant forms of biographical writing: a blend of the factional, yet truthful

biography in Isara, childhood autobiography in Ake and the prison note, and war narrative in The

Man Died. In The Man Died (1972), Soyinka narrates his arrest, interrogation, incarceration, and

the government’s bid to implicate him by all means, having escaped incarceration in an earlier trial.

Describing the book Soyinka writes: “This book has taken many forms … all influenced by

problems of expediency, of my continuing capacity to affect events in my country, of effecting the

revolutionary changes to which I have become more than ever dedicated …” (1972, Blurb). In

Ibadan, Soyinka deliberately indemnifies himself in the foreword, by stating,

IBADAN does not pretend to be anything but faction, that much abused genre which attempts to

fictionalize facts and events, the proportion of fact to fiction being totally at the discretion of the

author, the principal cause of his embarking upon the project being … the politics, the unfinished

business, of that political entity Nigeria, into which I happen to have been born, its sociology and

political pathology, especially as it relates to my primary constituency … the immediate triggering

event…the Nigerian 1993 democratic venture and its aftermath (Soyinka, 1994, ix-x).

You must Set Forth at Dawn - Memoirs covers the political milieu of Nigeria from 1960 till

October 2005. Though prison notes and memoirs are also essentially autobiographical, the success

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of other forms of biography and autobiography gave rise to the emergence of numerous

reconstructed narratives. Soyinka relies on memory relived or reconstructed; he categorically states

this while acknowledging his associates for data checks in You Must Set Forth at Dawn. He noted

that they had to compensate for the diary he never kept, making clear his dependency on his

memory and the time line and memory offered by his faithful associates. The mission of

accomplishing You must Set Forth at Dawn he describes as another biographical undertaking and

further explicates his interrogation and involvement with the corpora of critical writing on

biographical literature. He acknowledges the influence of diligent critical scholars of this genre

who he claims:

…finally goaded me into abandoning a rational decision: not to pursue the task of recollection and

reflection beyond the age of innocence – calculated at roughly eleven and a bit. While, unlike those

authoritative voices I still hesitate to claim to definitive knowledge of the subject, I can at least

flaunt the advantage of having lived with him all his life, without even a day off, which is far longer

than any other being has on the literary planet (Soyinka 2006, xiii).

Soyinka practically explores the maxim ‘the political is personal’ in the context of his biographical

writing, in that the topical national thematic preoccupation often centers on and around him. He

remains one of the national characters that have been influential in the history and in the making of

Nigeria and its international politics - from World War II, the colonial period and till contemporary

democracy in Nigeria. It is also instructive that all the narratives reflect aspects of these and three

are named after the cities where he grew up and where his mature consciousness largely connects

with Nigeria’s culture, sociology and political experience.

This biographical collection chronicles narratives of ‘becomings’; it tracks the intergenerational

influences that shaped his formative years, which have also become his center of gravity pillars and

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his operational philosophy. These are overtly influenced by the looming presence of patriarchal

figures, particularly Pa Josiah, his grandfather, who he portrays with high regard. Without doubt,

Soyinka studied literary and critical masters, therefore, his subtle reference to biographical criticism

is purposive and evident in the narratives. It is, therefore, not coincidental that chronology,

characterology as well as what is remembered and not remembered are purposely selected.

Adapting S.T Aksakoff’s Years of Childhood (1917) and title of John Mortimer’s play A Voyage

Round my Father (1963), as two of his subtitles, betray his literacy in biographical writings. The

narrative voice and point of view in each of the selected texts is unique to each form. The

biographer in Isara, is an omniscient one. He shrewdly narrates the prenatal challenges of Morola

and the expectation of a birth of a male child who strategically remains unborn in the text. With

hindsight, the reader realizes that the author makes himself biologically present and yet physically

absent in the biography by being in the state of an unborn child who later comes into full

understanding of the lives and times of his progenitors.

Most scholars agree that the practice of autobiography is as varied as its practitioners. However, the

commitment of the practitioner may be literary, political, scientific or historical. What is evident in

this form is that the motivation of the autobiographer determines what is written and how it is

written, what is revealed and what is left obscure in the self-narrative. Goethe notably resolves a

major problem of autobiography in “…selecting only such personal details as it was proper and

pertinent to disclose” (Buckley, 1984, 39).

More often, childhood autobiographies are thought of to be more successful than other forms.

Pascal (1960) describes that the common theme explored by this autobiographical genre is growing

up. This is germane, because the “…inner development is so embraced in outer events” (Buckley,

1984, 85). Within this context, the child seldom introspects but discovers and comes to self-

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realization through his perception of others and occurrences around him. Pascal, therefore, notes

that the process of growth takes a lively, concrete form, through observing things and people; the

widening consciousness in this widening world. The dominant argument here is considered vis-à-

vis Pascal’s opinion on the intent of narrating childhood. To him the childhood narratives “… that

prefaces the account of the mature man in this case … tend to be singled out that which fore-

shadow the later development” (Buckley, 1984, 85) are purposely intended to be so.

What resonates clearly in Wole Soyinka’s biographical and autobiographical narratives is how these

show the indigenous cultural traditions of Yoruba and its impact on the development of ethical and

social capacities of members of society. The grandfather as elder and patriarch receives respect,

regard and dignity, both on account of age and position in the family, but even more so as a function

of the selfless and other-regarding attention he devotes to the welfare of members of his expanding

family, the community and the society at large. This is why Yoruba people say, “Agba ko si ni ilu,

ilu baje; baale ile ku, ile d’ahoro”; that is, there are no elders in society/town, the society/town is

rudderless, the father dies in the family, the family is torn asunder.

Bringing ethnicities of different cultural traditions which does not value such respect would

definitely create crises of various types. Often it is not strange for some ethnicities to think the

Yoruba venerate their elders, whereas they have no such observances for their elders. Thus, while

Soyinka was dealing with his own childhood and experiences, these help to reiterate the identity

strictures that permeate the space of Nigeria multi-ethnic landscape.

In Soyinka’s bio-narratives, one identifies the engagement of memory, a large body of tangible and

intangible elements, which triggers off the desire to write and is an established source of

biographical writing. Varying perspectives on the biographical form of literature have prompted

multidisciplinary views and approaches to biographical writing and its criticism, particularly

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because fictional biographies and autobiographies also exist as forms of literature. Memory and its

construction in biographical literature, particularly the autobiographical, require delineation.

“Reconstructing a life”, particularly a life that is already fully lived or being lived, remains a huge

challenge. It continues to explicate movements in space and time in a bid to shape the past or give it

some form. Re-telling a past experience imposes a pattern on a life, constructs out of it a coherent

story. It establishes certain stages in an individual life, makes links between them, and defines,

implicitly or explicitly, a certain consistency of relationship between the self and the outside world.

It also locates the nexus of self/personal identity within socio-communal, group, ethnic, national

and international context, thereby providing meaning making tropes which ignite senses of being.

These, within the context of a colonial and post-colonial setting reverberate as phenomenologies of

empowerment or disempowerment. In the case of a sophisticated and talented creative writer/artist,

this signals dimensions of knowing and ontologies which resonate beyond the self. This is why the

works of Soyinka have been mined for historical, sociological, epistemological and ontological

valences of ideas.

Excellent arguments have emerged in critical writings on the reader’s response to biography and

issues revolving along memory, remembering, rewriting a story and the inappropriateness of

narrating a single side of a story. These, combined with issues of subjectivity and objectivity in

remembering, are subjects of debate in biographical criticism and make biographical narrative

intriguing, yet polemical. Buckley, nonetheless, maintains that “… memory remains to most

autobiographers the essential and efficacious faculty” (1984, 46).

Of the psychology of self-writing, Guntarik and others have written, of the fact that “The past can

be intrusive. Even when we want to let the past rest, it can surround and overwhelm us” (2015, 4).

Selective memory brings up only the good times with a bid to smother traumatic experiences, like

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“Suicide, murder, death, crime, war, incest, rape…” which are regarded as taboos (2015, 4). Though

these issues are dominant themes in biographical discourses, there are no definite responses or

absolute resolutions. Most of the issues raised by Guntarik and others remain fundamental outlying

basics in the psychology of memory and selectiveness in narration. In the final analysis, it does

provide a foundation to the politics of what is written and what is left unwritten, especially in

narratives that have implications for proper understanding of individual and group existence.

The Patriarch: Pa Josiah, the Archetypal Grandfather

“The father and grandfather embody attributes for the father archetype: power strength, and order”

(Baumin et al, 2012, 186). Bodkin as initially stated, opines that, “… to the mind of the young

child, the father appears of unlimited powers; that in the life-history of the individual imagination

the figures of father and king tend to coalesce” (1968, 17). The position is that there is an emergent

group consciousness about the father, which is retained in the deeper levels of the mind. This is

evident in the relevance of the Soyinkas in the society, particularly the Yoruba society.

Soyinka privileges the role of archetypal grandfather in his collection and reinforces this as a

dominant influence in his later life. The recurring motif of the wise old man, the sage and the

kingmaker, is what Soyinka juxtaposes along other symbols in his imagery and in the

reconstruction of his memories of his grandfather in his lifetime and after his death. The patriarchal

influence of the father archetype is recalled as a conscious and subconscious narrative frame and

this is symbolic.

It is deduced that, at some point in Soyinka’s mature consciousness, he is able to piece together the

significance of the influence of the patriarchs he related with as a child. In Isara, Soyinka

introduces his father Akinyode Soditan, (fondly referred to as Essay), Pa Josiah, his grandfather,

and his father’s circle of friends and schoolmates led by Sipe Efuwape (the Resolute Rooster), his

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father’s greatest buddy whose portrait is reconstructed with the fondest memories. He also

inclusively brings in other remarkable characters like Opeilu, Wade Cudeback, Essay’s pen pal, and

Saaki Akinsanya, who is enthroned King of Isara at the end of the narrative. The Sipe Efuwape type

relationship is replicated in Wole Soyinka’s friendship with Femi Johnson in Ibadan, among other

very fruitful circles of friends Wole Soyinka would later write of as his associates friends or

mentees.

Pa Josiah Soditan is born of Iya Ile Ligun and married to Miriam. His associates are Node, the

illustrious but prudent son of Isara and Jagun, a warrior chieftain in Isara (Soyinka, 1989, 3). Josiah

is a Christian and a church elder (1989, 11). His conversion to the Christian faith upsets his mother;

that notwithstanding, he sends his son Akinyode, who eventually becomes a Head Teacher, to a

Seminary for his formal training. His syncretic posture to religion is seen in his cordiality with his

associates. He officiates as a Christian during the dedication of Node’s vehicle while Jagun

conducts etutu rituals and the Imam concludes the ceremony with Koranic readings (1989, 3). What

this shows is that in Yoruba society, religion is not a battering ram to immobilize the identity of

human beings. Humanity comes first, religion only comes to enhance that humanity, for Yoruba

people; and when this position of religion falters, it is of no use or value.

Pa Josiah’s involvement as a kingmaker and interventionist in his town is portrayed early in the

narration of Isara. He, along with his friend, Jagun, intimate Akinyode about the role they expect

him and members of his age group to play in installing a new king in place of the one whose health

was ailing and whose demise had been foretold by the Ifa oracle (1989, 28). This discussion

foregrounds the kingship tussle that would take place in Isara towards the end of the narrative. The

two aged men are portrayed as wise men who understand “That times are changing…” (1989, 28).

They, therefore, consciously initiate the younger ones into the affairs of the elder’s council. They

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purposefully engage the younger generation to understand the place of leadership in societal

existence and, by so doing, combatted the unwarranted intrusiveness of the colonisers in the affairs

of the town, by having an enlightened king ascend the throne.

Josiah’s significance in Isara is captured in his wife’s (Mariam) ponderings on him,

Josiah played many roles in Isara’s affairs, not all of which she understood, only that it often meant

long hours into the night meeting at the home of a chief, in the palace or in iledi itself. Josiah had

foresworn osugbo after his baptism, but that did not prevent him taking his seat at their meeting

place when the affairs of Isara brought the elders together in the court yard of osugbo (1989, 87).

Soyinka, however, portrays his grandfather as a mortal, his remarkable stubbornness, irritations,

unwillingness to cooperate at times, and his temper, which he suppresses in his household largely

because he would not want the parish priest to summon him on account of marital skirmishes.

Soyinka juxtaposes these characteristics with the more significant role he plays in the lives of his

people.

Soyinka paints a clear portrait of Josiah’s relationship with his son’s family in Ake. He remained

involved despite the distance and the differing religious ideologies. Josiah, a caring father, writes to

his son after consultations are made regarding his wife’s ailment and possible cure. Rather than wait

for their response he follows up with a visit to ensure that the arrangements for rituals are made. He

insists he must see the culprit who Jagun’s consultations finds guilty of his daughter-in-law’s

misfortunes. Interestingly, Josiah treats Morola, his daughter in law, with a lot of tenderness. He

carefully interrogates her to confirm Jagun’s findings, that Iya Alate, who she gave permission to

use the frontage of her shop is responsible for her ailment. He promptly insists that the rituals that

will counter the prevailing challenges be conducted. His convictions about his Christian faith and

greater reverence to indigenous religious practice is clear, as he chides his son;

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Leave everything as it is, right? Wasn’t that what you were about to say? He shook his head in

annoyance. I keep reminding you – I knew what I was doing when I let those people baptize me. It

wasn’t meant to turn my back on everything I knew, just you keep that in your mind! Twelve

months! Up and down, in and out, here and yonder. Do you think I can sit all that time with my

arms folded? ... just why do you think these things are revealed to us at all? Why? If they could

take their cause without our own participation, why would they be revealed to us at all? So that we

can boast and feel clever for having known? Oh no, Awo (the oracle) is far too busy for that kind of

indulgence (Soyinka, 1989, 128).

What one may deduce from this is the crisis which being Christian and being traditionalist imposes

on generations of Yoruba people. On the one hand, they embrace these new religions from colonial

sources, while at the same time being devoted to their cultural traditions. Soyinka portrays Josiah,

his grandfather and Essay, his father, as strong-willed men, but who have sufficient mutual respect

for each other’s position on issues. Josiah’s syncretic posture and Essay’s liberalism towards

Christian and Western notions in resolving issues are complimentary. On one of those crucial

moments he musingly asserts himself, “Seminary or no seminary, he, Josiah, was still the head of

Ile Ligun” (1989, 130). Josiah sneeringly refers to his limitation as a Christian when he discovered,

through consultations of the oracle, that Iya Alate was responsible for Morola’s ailment; “She can

thank her stars that we are all Christians now. If she had tried this when I was as I was, I would be

doing more than just taking a look at her. Now I have to just settle for simply protecting my own

and rendering her powerless to do further harm” (1989, 131). One may understand Soyinka’s

deliberate inclusion of this detail in foregrounding the rituals he carries out to indemnify his

grandson when he prepares for high school in Ake. It is also remarkable that he is abreast of issues

relating to his grown-up son and his friends, and does not hesitate to counsel him:

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Yes, talking of your friends. Don’t lend them too much money … these people know you have a

steady job, you don’t risk money in all sorts of dubious ways. They know you save steadily … and

of course, you lend it to them… you don’t know how to say no. That is right. Just like your father

(1989, 132).

His son subsequently admits that he had intended to seek his counsel on some matters. The fact

that he has an intimate relationship with his son and that he confides in him is unmistakable and

this creates the space for Pa Josiah’s positive influence on his friends as well. He sees to it that

Sipe consults with the oracle, to seek protection from any opposition to his establishing his drug

store. Pa Josiah in Isara is portrayed as a father and a grandfather of two infants (1989, 33). He

plays the father role excellently in mentoring his son. He also serves as a peacemaker and

kingmaker in his community.

In Ake, we are told that Wole’s grandfather hails from Isara, while Wole and his parents live in Ake,

several miles away from Isara. Father, as Wole refers to him in Ake, inhabited mud houses that were

sparsely furnished. According to his grandson, his wardrobe consisted of two or three agbada, some

buba and trousers for casual wear, his chieftaincy robes and his caps.

He also kept a set of farming and hunting gear (Soyinka, 1981, 130). From the description of his

wardrobe we understand that Father is a hunter, a farmer, and a chief. One of the major disasters of

colonialism on Nigeria and Africa has been the destruction of traditional ways of living of the

people: the division of labour the recognition of one’s place and role in society, the idea of

responsibility that goes with membership of society, among others have been wiped out, and in its

place have now being reified the emasculated human who has no moral compass or capacity to live

an integrated communal or social life.

Soyinka described Father’s abode as clean, in comparison to the other houses in Isara (1981, 131).

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He also thought that Father was smaller framed than his son. In his opinion, his head radiated

energy, and looked hard and impregnable, even by a gunshot. In spite of his minute size, he exuded

such power that Soyinka thought “…every inch of him gave off such power that he effortlessly

dominated all who came near him” (1981, 139). Soyinka himself becomes much of him as a grown

man. He is also conscious of the fact that he belongs to a mysterious cult like the Ogboni, which

were revered in Ake. Soyinka himself would go on to establish the first fraternity on the Nigerian

Campus (Soyinka 2006).

He remains an enigma to his grandson, who sees him as the alpha male in many aspects of his life

and casts him in the robes of his co-conspirator and confidant. Soyinka, stung by bees on his first

trip to Isara, says, “I bore my wounds proudly home and displayed them—not to Teacher and Wife

—but to that other parent who had become fellow conspirator, who truly embodied the male Isara

for me in its rugged, mysterious strength…” (Soyinka, 1981, 139).

That he lives in a different world of philosophical and religious belief intrigued his grandson.

Soyinka is awed, because Pa Josiah doesn’t have his parent’s reverence for the Christian faith.

Soyinka is also bowled over by the fact that he “…appeared indifferent to the word of God” (1981,

p.139). When Soyinka narrates the encounter with the bees to his grandfather, he confidently

remarked that, “Ogun protects his own” (1981, p.140); unlike his mother who would have quoted a

Christian anecdote and probably forbid him from going to the farm again.

Through a child’s eye, Soyinka would establish the strong personality of Father, for us to

understand the bond between them and significance of their relationship. This is foregrounded in

Isara and reinforced in The Man Died and in Ibadan. Soyinka’s references to him and his opinion is

held in high esteem by the subject. In one intimate moment in Ake, Pa Josiah initiates Soyinka to

the world of wines;

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He filled my calabash halfway and filled his to the brim. He blew the froth away and drank it all

down. I sipped from mine, watched his face for comments. It grimaced; “That man is lazy. I’ve told

him, if he doesn’t go further up the stream for my wine, I shall stop him bringing any more wine to

this house… (Soyinka, 1996, 141).

Soyinka, in You must Set Forth at Dawn, writes of giving a lesson to his “wine daughter”, Anna, in

New York. He tells of “…a special relationship that came from her ceremonial induction into wine

from childhood” (Soyinka, 2006, 134). One can, again, take another cue about the significance of

wine sharing from in The Man Died. Soyinka in that esoteric writing narrates his experiences with

the ‘ghosts’ that visit him while in solitary confinement. His grandfather, no doubt, was a regular in

‘his hallucinations’ and does share his treasured palm wine with him; he recalls: “Bring out the

wine gourd from behind that cupboard. It’s gone stale but you gave me no notice as usual. And I

suppose you can’t stay till evening for the fresh supply…” (Soyinka, 1976, 154).

Josiah enjoys his grandson’s company, capitalizing on his inquisitiveness as well as his innocence,

he seizes every opportunity he has to quiz and instruct him. His inquisitions include how the young

boy intends to manage conflicts and quarrelsome playmates, troublemakers and bullies in school.

He pries the lad’s innermost thoughts and earns his confidence even on settlement of siblings’

skirmishes. He straightaway goes on to ask him if he is conscious of the fact that the students in

Government College Ibadan may be by far older than his classmates in the primary school who are

much older than him.

He draws his grandson’s attention to the fact that he will be leaving home for the first time at age

nine and a half, which may not necessarily be strange, but he needed to let him realize that his

classmates could be young men who had possibly worked and saved money before being able to

raise fees for school. He emphatically tells his grandson, “You will be sharing desks with MEN,

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not boys!” (1981, 143). He says Soyinka’s father prepares him for school, a place he describes as

“… battle and as battlefield…” (1981, 143), by stuffing his head with books. He tells him, as a

matter of fact, that, “… success in book learning only creates other battles. Do you know that?” He

continues, with seriousness; “You think those men are going to be pleased when you, whom they

are nearly old enough to spawn, start defeating them? Hm?” A thoroughly alarmed Soyinka soaks

in his grandfather’s words; “Human beings are what they are. Some are good, some evil. Others

turn to evil simply because they are desperate. Envy, hm, you mustn’t make a mistake of thinking

that envy is not powerful force for the action of many men. It is a disease you will find everywhere,

yes, everywhere” (1981, 143).

At several points in Wole Soyinka’s life one would find his actions being in tandem with the pieces

of advice offered him by his grandfather. Josiah implies that his grandson’s mother is not ignorant

of the challenges he would face at Government College Ibadan, but she has no precautionary

measure that will be as suitable as his plan for him. It is his prerogative, he states, to “look out for

him” in his own way. Josiah arranges for a day alone with Soyinka to indemnify him against

anything the evil may want to do to harm him. Soyinka undergoes a set of painful incisions around

his ankle and wrists; the cuts are thereafter soaked in some mysterious potions. A young boy of

Soyinka’s age serves as an acolyte to the elderly priest who conducts the exercise. Josiah, in

essence, teaches Soyinka his first lesson in endurance and handling pain as he instructs him; “What

you are about to undergo will give you pain…keep your mind always from a source of pain … it

will pain you of course, you are not wood, so it must pain you, but you are not to cry” (1981, 145).

He is, indeed, pleased with Soyinka after the exercise; he commends his high threshold for pain and

says his inner strength is true to type of an ‘Akin’, a warrior, and that he made him proud. He

reassures him that he is never to believe anything contrary to that. Wole described his perception of

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him from that point as larger than life, probably because of the “unprepared-for-immersion” he had

gone through, which made his words sink deep in his unconscious mind. Father now playing the

soothsayer, was evidently set to release his grandson into the world, saying, “Whoever gives you

food. Eat it. Don’t be afraid, as long as your heart says, Eat. If your heart misgives, even for a

moment, don’t take it, and never step in that house again. Do you understand what I have just said?

Next, don’t ever turn your back on a fight” (1981, 147). It is worth noting that Soyinka till date

remains a fighter.

Soyinka portrays his grandfather as a witty, wise and observant man. His chuckling and loud

ringing laughter is portrayed in Ake, Isara, and The Man Died. After his investiture in Ake, a

puzzled Soyinka inquires if his dad had to go through the same exercise, Josiah’s secret amusement

depicts his ability to enjoy the company of a child; he ( Wole Soyinka ) observes that he (Josiah)

began with a chuckle and later let out a “… single prolonged yell of wonder which had a neatly

regulated tailing off at the end…” (1981, 148). From this point onwards, in the biographical

collection Soyinka takes liberty to speak or make reference to his grandfather, expecting his reader

to know the personality he was referring to and his significance to his life and wellbeing.

In Isara, Soyinka portrays Pa Josiah, as a stubborn old man who is always at loggerheads with his

stubborn old mother. He is the visionary who foresees the kingship tussle in Isara and positions

himself, his friends, his son and his son’s age grade strategically to put an end to the opposition that

had begun to shed the blood of the innocent in the land. His intervention stalled the violence

generated and led to the successful installation of Saaki, as the Odemo of Isara. (Saaki , the Odemo

is introduced in Ake as Essay’s friend).

In Ibadan, Pa Josiah, is the muse to whom Wole refers to time and again, wondering what his

responses would have been on matters concerning him. Shortly before leaving for school, his

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grandather had contacted diviners who had told him that his grandson was going to visit alien lands

and cohabit with alien beings and had sent an invocation for his preservation “…We nu ren n’jo ebi

n’pona” (you will not travel the day the road is hungry), which he, with the understanding of his

faithful follower, contracted to Ma ren to distract his unsuspecting daughter-in-law (Soyinka, 1994,

100). Wole proudly bears the name since his mother decided to embroider it on all his school

bedding and clothes, he says, “I prefer Maren … it’s the name my grandfather began to use for me

once he came to accept that I was leaving home…” (1994, 105).

When Soyinka eventually meets his classmates, the boys and the men, in Government College,

Ibadan, he could handle each of them and issues that came up without being intimidated. His first

brush with the Nigerian Government, was with the Nnamdi Azikwe led government. He restrains a

certain Ms. Evanti, a special guest of Governor General Nnamdi Azikwe. She had defiantly

exceeded the time allotted for her performance while he was serving as Master of Ceremonies

during the national independence celebrations. His insistence and the fuss created by Ms.Evanti

became an embarrassment even to the Chief Host.

His parents had been informed that their son had ruffled the feathers of the Governor General of

Nigeria and they went about seeking to smoothen them after which they visited Soyinka. Upon

chiding him for choosing to pick up quarrels with the high and mighty in the country, Soyinka

makes light of the issues and asks: “How is grandfather?” (Soyinka, 1994, 89). This reference in

space and time is symbolic of his reverence for his muse, who would have been proud of him and

insist that he fights on, rather than preach to him to stay out of trouble, like Teacher and his Wife

(his parents) had done.

Soyinka spends twenty-two, out of the twenty-eight months of incarceration, in solitary

confinement. In “Kaduna 68” he painstakingly narrates the occupation of his mind during the

20
period: the ghosts that haunt him, especially the ones whose presence were welcome. He privileges

his grandfather in this section and writes:

My grandfather sits gnome–like, chuckling secretively, every chunk of his body pulsing with; love

and with strength … where have you been? Where are you going? When are you coming again?

Why do you never stay? Ungh. Don’t tell me, it isn’t that I need an answer. I tell them ‘Don’t ask

me. Ask him when he comes. All I know is that he is hidden somewhere in that chattering box

because that is where I hear his name. I turn on the box and it says you are doing something in

Australia, But he was only here yesterday. … How fitting that knowledge of his death should reach

me also over the air, as if in gnomic vengeance for leaving him so little of myself beyond the voice

of the air (…tense month of 1967…) like a ghost pursuing a miscreant the telegram that bore the

news chased me from point to point of delusion and desperation (Soyinka, 1976, 154).

Evidently while incarcerated and in seclusion, his bond with his grandfather remains strong and his

reminiscences portray his regret at his inability to spend more time with him before his demise.

Soyinka celebrates his grandfather and his deep respect and value for what he transmits, religiously,

culturally and philosophically continually guides him.

In his mature years Soyinka intellectualises Ogun. He chooses to make Ogun, the de facto god of

his grandfather, his own god and literary muse. He weaves his poetry and erects theoretical pillars

of understanding of the Yoruba worldview from the Oguninan perspective. This and several other

images and imageries run through this biographical collection that establishes the fact that

grandfather subconsciously influences Wole Soyinka.

Within these narratives, a symbolic conversion narrative, albeit in the reverse, is deliberately told to

reinforce the reality of Soyinka’s transition from Christianity to a true African identity. Though this

is ironic, as most conversion narratives are to the Christian faith, Soyinka gives Pa Josiah the

21
credit for the illumination and the reconnection that takes place. His initiation exercise symbolised

a rite of passage, from innocence and powerlessness to a more desirable stable state of manhood.

He is prepared for the contradictions of the archetypal theme of good versus evil which reflects in

all his writings. His sources and influences here identified, offers resources from the indigenous

culture and practices that he engages in dealing with injustices in modern Nigeria. An example is

the unanimous decision to call home the troublesome Agunrin Odubona in Isara during the

kingship tussle (Soyinka 1989, 191). Soyinka would do as much during the era of military

dictatorship in Nigeria.

Intergenerational Impact: The Interventionist, The Opposition Diplomat and Advocate for
the Other Generation

Soyinka, in Ake, is portrayed as a child interventionist, owing to his active participation in the

activities of the women’s group that led to the Women’s Movement and the Egba Women’s Riot. In

Ibadan, a mature pursuit of a career as a youthful interventionist, actively from his posture became

defined, while in Government College Ibadan, he brings to the consciousness of all, the concept of

the “half-child” prior to the country attaining independence. In the 1960s, his position was clear:the

fight for independence and the totality of the activities generated in the bid to attain independence,

did not necessarily culminate in nationhood. His posture, writings and activities reflected these. His

first daring political intervention is the legendary Mystery Gunman Episode; this was a feat he

carried out at the climax of the political crises after the Western Regional elections in Nigeria. He,

at the peak of the crisis, made his way in to the radio station and substituted, with his own tape, the

Premier of the Western Region’s audio recorded tape, that crucial intervention along with other

protests led to massive civil unrests. This is painstakingly documented in Ibadan. His decision to

mediate and negotiate a peace pact during the Nigerian Civil War and his subsequent incarceration

is the kernel of The Man Died.

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You must Set Forth at Dawn, in parts, narrates aspects of the battles that ensued as a result of the

annulled June 12, 1993 Elections. This captures a period when he narrowly escaped being

assassinated by the Sanni Abacha military regime. He, again proceeded, on self-exile where he

began Radio Kudirat and declared himself an Opposition Diplomat to the military regime. His

campaign, while in exile, was perhaps the most formidable opposition against then General Sanni

Abacha, regarded as the worst Nigerian military junta’s regime. Carving a remarkable niche, he

gave countless lectures around the world, visited presidents of nations across the globe, succeeded

in part by earning their sympathies in ostracising the Abacha led government from the world

economy and the politics of the international community.

These political interventions are the most successful engagements Soyinka embarked upon as an

illusionist, dreamer and as a nationalist seeking the good of his nation. Most of these and

subsequent activities are documented in volumes of his essays titled Interventions. Soyinka’s

interventions cut across several African countries and these are portrayed in a number of his plays.

In contemporary times, Soyinka distinguishes himself again by his numerous interventions which

are promptly captured or released through the media. His interventions include child advocacy and

other forms of mediation and more recently in the Farmer-Herder crisis and alarming cases of

kidnapping amongst other predicaments rocking the Nigerian nation.

In the year 2016 the Minister of Education of Nigeria issued an instruction that secondary school

children should be permitted to dress in a fashion that reflects the preferences of their religious

affiliations or idiosyncrasies. Soyinka’s opposition to this ideology was not just for the sake of

religion but the implication for the child and the children who are being used to drive such a

religious agenda. He insists that they should be spared the separatist imbecilities of the so-called

adult world. He not only inquires rhetorically “what does adult society owe its younger generation

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in a world that is so badly torn by differences?” (Soyinka 2016), he identifies an insertion of a

“wedge of difference” among youngsters as problematic, particularly at the period they should be

spared the shenanigans that characterize the adult world.

His objection to this religious infringement on the right of the child stems from the significance of

that age and period in the development of a child, which was his own point of transformation. He

likened this to an equivalent of the age-grade culture in traditional societies (Soyinka, 2016). Within

this structure, the transition of the rites of passage from one social existence to the next are not

restricted by rules but are strengthened by values that exclude ‘exhibitionism’, particularly dress

codes or other such encumbrances. Soyinka’s insistence is upon the fact that the youth should not

be denied the bonding and acculturation that accompany with growing up he insisted that it is the

essence of,

… a common group solidarity distinguished only by age and learning aptitudes, enabling the pupil

to imbibe not only a formal education but the sense of place and responsibilities within the overall

community. At the heart of this strategy is purposeful leveling. This is the one place, in a child’s

life, where the child can see the other as a human equal, as, very simply, another human being

(Soyinka, 2016).

Assertively, he opines that terrorism, as it plays out in contemporary Nigeria, did not emerge

‘overnight’ but was bred by separatist tendencies. He insists that the same way pupils are

discouraged from ‘class distinction through display of wealth’ is the way ‘the more insidious

demonstration of religious difference should be equally discouraged’. He ends this intervention

with a definite plea that, “In the name of whatever deity—or none—that we believe in, leave these

youths alone! Subject them to a uniform character formative discipline. Don’t give them airs-

spiritual or material—and do not fight surrogate wars through their vulnerable being” (Soyinka,

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2016).

Another notable intervention of his is his comment on the Sexual Offences Bill and the national

response it generated from the Senate and the Presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The

statement he issued on the commemoration of the June 12 day was to seek the support of the

democracy advocacy groups in the country to review and insist that the bill, which did not favour

the girl child, should not be signed into law. He raised questions on the legal definition of a ‘child’

and how that definition cannot be changed by a bill redefining ‘marital status’ in Nigeria.

Does Yerima’s Bill, gleefully assented to by his peers, not simply vitiate this latter, supposedly

humane concern for the protection of the child? Again, I confess to being only a ‘bloody layman’ in

such matters. However, reading both bills, it strikes me that all the new bill does is empower the

clique of pedophiles. All you need do is “marry” six-year old under any local laws, and do whatever

you want with her. Through marriage, she is already an “adult”. Her “defiler” is now fully protected

by this law. She is not. The current bill is the ancient story of locking the stable door after the horse

has bolted… (Soyinka, 2015).

He insisted that the debate must remain open until “It is resolved in favour of the child”. It is

instructive that this open letter to the Presidency and the Nigerian public halted the passing of the

bill into law and the Senator that proposed the bill wrote another open letter clarifying issues and

respectfully appealing that Soyinka withdraws his halt order, so that the President may sign the bill

into law.

It must be noted that this particular campaign was a remarkable derivative of his upbringing in a

Yoruba family where children were valued and looked after by all adults in the community. This is

different from what obtains in some other socio-religious traditions where children are sexually

molested and brutalized in the name of religious or cultural traditions, and to import this kind of

25
behavior into the body politic of Nigeria would have grated the sensitivities of any Yoruba

Omoluabi. The culture of respect for everyone, especially for elders, women and for children

resonate as an identity marker for Yoruba people.

He plays his archetypal role out in reviving histories and literacies, while targeting the young

audience. The last decade witnessed him promoting a healthier reading culture among children in

Nigeria, by participating actively in several reading clubs and organizations. Very often, governors,

ministers and other reputable persons mentored by him participate in these events. His birthday,

usually a literary festival, is annually celebrated with essay writing competitions and spelling bees

amongst college students. He also recently expressed his interest in the Nigerian child ambassador,

Zuriel Oduwole, who is promoting the cause and welfare of the girl child in the Diaspora.

Whilst Soyinka, from his narratives, appeared not to be an attentive father, Olaiya observes that he

actively plays the role of a grandfather. According to him, “Grandpa Oluwole Akinwande Soyinka

is a … hard bringer of surprises to his grandchildren... he has had to shed his iron cast and play

Grandpa Soyinka in the orthodox way, in spite of the inadequacies of time…” (Olaiya, 2014).

Soyinka continually retains the voice of the old wise man. His responses in public spaces and the

numerous interviews he grants on reports on multiple kidnappings by the Fulani who inhabit

Nigeria and the intensified clashes among the Herder/Farmers immediately go viral and this is

instructive.

Conclusion

Biographical narratives, in their diverse forms, serve as narrative theories, which purposely engage

memory, remembering and documenting as its methodology. The politics of the biographical form,

along the age-long polemics of truthfulness and intentionality, will remain topical issues as these

forms continue to thrive and new approaches to the writing and criticism of the same emerge. It is

26
instructive that in spite of these contentions, biographical narratives maintain their didactic role of

illuminating, and the historic role of preserving the stories of lives robustly lived across

generations. The archetypal figure of the grandfather is bound by the universal collective

unconscious that constitutes hallmarks for the reification of identity ideations for communities and

peoples, not just individuals about whom they are composed. Thus, it reinforces the imagery of

positive character types, the identity cultivations they enshrine and the transformational

intergenerational impact they make, as evidenced in the Soyinka figure, his interventions and his

advocacy.

References

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Baumin J., Baumin T., and George J. (2012). Post-Jungian criticism: theory and practice.
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Cuddon J.A and Preston C.E (1998). The penguin dictionary of literary terms and literary theory.
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Pascal R. (1960) Design and truth in autobiography. Harvard University Press

Soyinka, W. (1976) The man died. Rex Collings.

___________.(1981) Ake: The years of childhood. Spectrum Books.

___________.(1989). Isara: A voyage around essay. Ibadan Fountain Publications.

___________.(1994). Ibadan: The penkelemes years. Spectrum Books.

___________.(2006). You must set forth at dawn. Bookcraft

___________.(2016.) ‘To everything, its place’. saharareporters.com. 24 June 2016. Accessed 28

Olaiya, T.T. (2014). ‘SOYINKA‘…The ‘visiting’ husband, ‘absentee’ father but dotting grandpa’.
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