Raises questions of what some call sacrifice while others might call it suicide. Enjoyed discussing it in my literature class.

As good a modern play as any I am familiar with. Soyinka brilliantly seizes on a literary possibility granted him by a painful history: he synthesizes the festal form of traditional Yoruba drama—which he explains at length in an essay included in this volume, "Theatre in Traditional African Cultures"—with European modes (particularly the ironic-tragic pageantry of Euripides in the market scenes and Shavian social satire when treating the dangerously bumbling English colonizers).

The plot: the title character, Elesin, is obliged to follow his king into death; when the English district officer, Pilkings, hears of Elesin's intention to commit ritual suicide (an act that coincides with the Prince's visit to Nigeria on a tour of the colonies), he resolves to put a stop to it. Predictably, Pilking's high-handed interference brings on chaos and destruction—though Elesin himself is not blameless, arrogantly claiming a young bride on the eve of his death, an act that creates further complications. This is a simple but mysterious tragic action, obeying the unities of time, but richly elaborated in a language that can seemingly do anything, from the scabrous lyricism of the praise-singer to the well-intentioned hauteur of the district officer's wife to the exuberant sexual taunting of the market girls to the chastened anti-colonial sensibility of the king's horseman's English-educated son. Brief quotations will not give an adequate sense of the play's vitality and variety, so I will simply recommend that you read it.

This Norton Critical Edition, edited by Simon Gikandi, is immensely useful. It contains an essay on Yoruba cosmology that provides context for Elesin's actions as well as the aforementioned history of traditional African theater by Soyinka. There is also an example of Yoruba drama—Duro Lapido's The King Is Dead—to demonstrate the indigenous materials Soyinka was adapting to his hybrid drama. As for the literary criticism gathered here, I didn't read it all, but two standouts are Anthony Appiah's essay that gently upbraids Soyinka for reifying "Africa" in a partial and culturally nationalist way (i.e., making Yoruba culture into a romanticized "traditional Africa" while contemptuously dismissing Christianity and Islam) and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s lucid explanation of the play's complex affiliations and disaffiliations with European tragedy. A 1992 article by Tanure Ojaide on teaching the play in American classrooms offers a concrete illustration of the cultural translations necessary to make Soyinka's vision legible even in the postcolonial academy, though Ojaide does include some hair-raising language about African-American students and about gender that would probably not pass by an editor today.

I was most entertained—if that is the word—by a confrontation between a Marxist critic and Soyinka himself. The critic, Biodun Jeyifo, complains that the play "rationalizes the rule of the dazzling FEW (Elesin) over the deceived MANY (the women, the retinue, Amusa, etc.)." Unlike Appiah's persuasive challenge to Soyinka's romantic nationalism, this polemic (in my view) flattens the play's complexity and irony (as if Elesin were a simply positive figure!). Soyinka replies with an energetic rebuke (originally published in a volume edited by Jeyifo himself, I note) that is one of the best writerly replies to reductive ideological criticism I've ever read, and here I'll end:

In other words, the desire to 'put off Death', 'to come to terms with Death', to 'communalise' Death so as to make it more bearable for the individual, 'to humour Death' (a quasi-magical propitiation), these are all social and individual devices and of course they make for untidiness in 'scientific' systems, so they have to be wished away. Now the actual forms which such devices take can of course be translated in terms of property and productive relations, etc., the most direct expressions of which have been the slaughter of slaves and retainers, mummification, domestic animal cult, egungun and other court-oriented cults, etc., etc. The poet, especially the mythopoet, is not entirely satisfied with that secondary level of forms of inventiveness or appropriation, however, and while he deals in concrete manifestations, may choose not to further reduce the original primordial fear by new extra epochal analytical games. For that is to move away from the mythopoeic source—and for no discernible illuminating results for the specific poetic enterprise. Nobody, I hope, will tell us that the fear of—or at the very least, the resentment of, sense of unpleasantness about, etc.—Death is simply due to the failure of the individual or society to as yet exist within an egalitarian environment. My suspicion is that this need to communally contain Death will always be there. Whether indeed the desperation with which this primary (human) hostility to death is sublimated under historico-materialist incantations is not in itself a superstitious device for evading the end of the material self is a question that can only be resolved by a deep probing of the critic's deeper sub-conscious. Certainly it leads easily to a tendency towards 'vulgar Marxist criticism' or, in this context, superstitious Marxism.

Although written in English Language, the book brings out the best of the Yoruba language and its rich figure of speech and expression. Very rhythmical and fast pace. It’s a clash of culture. It shows the consequence of Europeans not understanding the reason behind a “barbaric” African tradition or custom.

Wow, I was very impressed. This play is excellent! Well done Mr. Soyinka!

This play contains all the ingredients of a Shakespeare plot; cryptic lines, twisting tale, betrayal, suspense and fluidity. The story is original, but I didn't entirely enjoy its mode of delivery. By attempting to deceive the reader's vision in the last scene, compared to what an audience would plainly see, I felt the play broke too important a rule in its effort to deliver a moving finish.

After reading the Author's Note, I had high hopes for this play. I really appreciated the blunt nature with which Soyinka described his work, and I found his assertion that it was not a story about colonialism or a clash of cultures interesting. The first of many problems with this story is that it is indeed a story about prejudice and colonialism. The entire theme of the play centers around a clash of cultures. Soyinka is Nigerian, and wanted the reader to focus more on the Yoruba culture and the life after death theme. However, that part of the tale is so secondary to everything else that's going on, it is hard to give credence to it. Without having any real knowledge about the Yoruba culture, I am unable to appreciate the piece the way the author intended. I have no knowledge of cosmology or the other aspects of the Nigerian culture. I noticed the huge disparity in understanding between the two cultures, and I appreciated the lesson within the play; We need to learn to understand and respect one another. (Live and let live). This is a lesson that is just as useful now as it was in the past. I hated the language Soyinka used for the play. I read that this style is typically called "lyrical." However, I thought it was a hot mess. The entire play is full of clichés, short sentences, word repetition, and abundant nonsensical metaphors. While some of the insults used by the characters are interesting and a nice change of pace from the otherwise bleak nature of the play, they lack any real punch. The changes in tone within the dialogue further illustrate the culture clash that is evident here. Soyinka's use of accents is insulting, and he largely marginalizes his characters through his use of broken English dialogue. It's lazy writing. It feels almost like he is trying to write in the style of Shakespeare or T.S Eliot, with the abundant sorrow and tragedy of the story. However, Shakespeare knew how to write a great play. His story about clashing cultures, The Tempest, was a work of genius and extremely funny. Even the evil characters, like Caliban and Antonio, were friendly and likeable. There is no one to like In Death and the King's Horseman. There is no character development, no backstory, ect. It's just a badly written play about the British attitude towards cultural sacrifice.

the first act was a bit hard to follow, but once the main conflict was set up this became an intriguing and breathless story of the tension between white colonialism and native customs. short and a quick read as well !

I would give this play 3.5 stars. i read it for class and really enjoyed it however there were parts that were hard for me to follow and definitely some misogyny which was quite upsetting to read about. however, all and all i am glad that i read it for class and was able to learn more about the Yoruba culture!

A powerful, sharp, witty, and humorous discourse on the ravages of colonial interference. I loved it.

I love the depiction of the clash of cultures in "postcolonial" Nigeria. Wole Soyinka did it with humour and truth.

I love the women being the vanguard of protecting a ritual practice of their ancestors, their wit and satirizing had me whooping.

I both laughed and fumed at the insolence and ignorance of the white characters to think they could come and steamroll right over the people and their beliefs, while also attending a very European get-together wearing ancestral masks(the caucasity).

I commiserated with those sucked into and seduced into turning away from their ancestral practices through religion and societal ideals of the white man and those who put on a convincing front.

I love the way the women poke fun at the police officers uniform, manhood, and how he has been brainwashed by the political structures set up by the whites

In short, this play had everything, I could feel the atmosphere, the reverence, the tension, the disgust, it was all there and I was right there with it.

I don't think I have enough of the cultural context to understand this play, but Soyinka is clearly a badass. His author's note here is among the all-time greats. I appreciate this play for its nuanced look at a practice often condemned out of hand.

والآن لننس الأموات.. بل فلننس حتى الأحياء.. لتجهوا بعقولكم نحو الذين لم يولدوا فقط

A play based on the natives of Yoruba, Death and the King’s Horseman marks the journey of Elesin Oba (the chief Horseman of the King) who is meant to sacrifice his life and follow the dead King into the afterlife. Filled with ritualistic nuances and a strong emphasis on the conflicts between colonizer and colonized, the play portrays Elesin’s conviction to perform the ritual and ultimate failure in sticking to his words. Simon Pilkings, a British Officer, not only intervenes in the sacrificial ritual but plays an integral role in sending Elesin’s eldest son Olunde abroad to study, thereby separating father and son. The ploy of the colonizers to tame the supposedly “uncivilized” natives pushes the plot forward to its ultimate disheartening end.

We had to read this play as part of the curriculum for Postcolonial Literature in college. While the authenticity of the culture of Yoruba natives is kept intact through their dismissal of the colonizers rules, their freedom to practice rituals as per their heritage is denied because of the might of the colonizer. Apart from the theme of culture and freedom, we also witness a spark in the Women of the society who know their place and are firm in their beliefs. They are depicted to be the strong face of Resistance that is gradually building up. I found the character of Simon Pilkings to be so infuriating and that of his wife Jane Pilkings to be rather insensitive and foolish. Even though she is more docile and approachable than Simon, she doesn’t stand up for herself when mistreated by him. Her views are unworthy in his eye as he often orders her to “shut up”.

The innate tendency of the colonizer to classify what they don’t comprehend as “insane”, “barbaric” is more than evident in the manner Simon speaks about the natives. The plot is so rich in the way it intersperses the fight of indigenous people – against foreign forces that attempt to oppress them in their own lands – with that of the ignorance of the colonizer which finally leads to dire consequences. It was very enlightening and wholesome but I had to give it a 2 star rating because of Elesin’s monologues and dialogues with others which flew above my head. I didn’t understand most of what he was trying to say as he always spoke in riddles. I had to rely on a lot of other sources to get the gist of it. And I believe that if you can’t make sense of what’s going on in a book then you can’t get the complete essence of it. So while the story is really good, I found it difficult to process a lot of the content.