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صورة أفريقية عريضة وعريضة جدا عن التقاء الأفارقة بالحداثة والاستقلال.. مملة أحيانا والترجمة غير دقيقة أحيانا
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The Interpreters
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The Nobel Laureate's first novel spotlights a small circle of young Nigerian intellectuals living in Lagos.
251 pages, Paperback
First published January 1,1965
This edition
- Format
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251 pages, Paperback
- Published
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January 1, 1996 by Trafalgar Square
- ISBN
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9780233989785
- ASIN
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0233989781
- Language
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English
About the author
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Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka, known as Wole Soyinka, is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "wide cultural perspective and... poetic overtones fashioning the drama of existence", the first sub-Saharan African to be honoured in that category.
Soyinka was born into a Yoruba family in Abeokuta. In 1954, he attended Government College in Ibadan, and subsequently University College Ibadan and the University of Leeds in England. After studying in Nigeria and the UK, he worked with the Royal Court Theatre in London. He went on to write plays that were produced in both countries, in theatres and on radio. He took an active role in Nigeria's political history and its campaign for independence from British colonial rule. In 1965, he seized the Western Nigeria Broadcasting Service studio and broadcast a demand for the cancellation of the Western Nigeria Regional Elections. In 1967, during the Nigerian Civil War, he was arrested by the federal government of General Yakubu Gowon and put in solitary confinement for two years, for volunteering to be a non-government mediating actor.
Soyinka has been a strong critic of successive Nigerian (and African at large) governments, especially the country's many military dictators, as well as other political tyrannies, including the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe. Much of his writing has been concerned with "the oppressive boot and the irrelevance of the colour of the foot that wears it". During the regime of General Sani Abacha (1993–98), Soyinka escaped from Nigeria on a motorcycle via the "NADECO Route". Abacha later proclaimed a death sentence against him "in absentia". With civilian rule restored to Nigeria in 1999, Soyinka returned to his nation.
In Nigeria, Soyinka was a Professor of Comparative literature (1975 to 1999) at the Obafemi Awolowo University, then called the University of Ifẹ̀. With civilian rule restored to Nigeria in 1999, he was made professor emeritus. While in the United States, he first taught at Cornell University as Goldwin Smith professor for African Studies and Theatre Arts from 1988 to 1991 and then at Emory University, where in 1996 he was appointed Robert W. Woodruff Professor of the Arts. Soyinka has been a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and has served as scholar-in-residence at New York University's Institute of African American Affairs and at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. He has also taught at the universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard and Yale, and was also a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Duke University in 2008.
In December 2017, Soyinka was awarded the Europe Theatre Prize in the "Special Prize" category, awarded to someone who has "contributed to the realization of cultural events that promote understanding and the exchange of knowledge between peoples".
Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka, known as Wole Soyinka, is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "wide cultural perspective and... poetic overtones fashioning the drama of existence", the first sub-Saharan African to be honoured in that category.
Soyinka was born into a Yoruba family in Abeokuta. In 1954, he attended Government College in Ibadan, and subsequently University College Ibadan and the University of Leeds in England. After studying in Nigeria and the UK, he worked with the Royal Court Theatre in London. He went on to write plays that were produced in both countries, in theatres and on radio. He took an active role in Nigeria's political history and its campaign for independence from British colonial rule. In 1965, he seized the Western Nigeria Broadcasting Service studio and broadcast a demand for the cancellation of the Western Nigeria Regional Elections. In 1967, during the Nigerian Civil War, he was arrested by the federal government of General Yakubu Gowon and put in solitary confinement for two years, for volunteering to be a non-government mediating actor.
Soyinka has been a strong critic of successive Nigerian (and African at large) governments, especially the country's many military dictators, as well as other political tyrannies, including the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe. Much of his writing has been concerned with "the oppressive boot and the irrelevance of the colour of the foot that wears it". During the regime of General Sani Abacha (1993–98), Soyinka escaped from Nigeria on a motorcycle via the "NADECO Route". Abacha later proclaimed a death sentence against him "in absentia". With civilian rule restored to Nigeria in 1999, Soyinka returned to his nation.
In Nigeria, Soyinka was a Professor of Comparative literature (1975 to 1999) at the Obafemi Awolowo University, then called the University of Ifẹ̀. With civilian rule restored to Nigeria in 1999, he was made professor emeritus. While in the United States, he first taught at Cornell University as Goldwin Smith professor for African Studies and Theatre Arts from 1988 to 1991 and then at Emory University, where in 1996 he was appointed Robert W. Woodruff Professor of the Arts. Soyinka has been a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and has served as scholar-in-residence at New York University's Institute of African American Affairs and at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. He has also taught at the universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard and Yale, and was also a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Duke University in 2008.
In December 2017, Soyinka was awarded the Europe Theatre Prize in the "Special Prize" category, awarded to someone who has "contributed to the realization of cultural events that promote understanding and the exchange of knowledge between peoples".
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Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 85 votes)
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Soyinka literally drops you into his protagonist ensemble in mid scene, no explication, just like if you were watching a play. I found it an intriguing way to get to know characters - emerging slowly from their interactions, different facets from different scenes, reflecting a very detailed observation of people and an ability to really capture their quirks and contradictions. I would never have read this if I wasn't exploring back through Nobel Laureates as a quarantine project. I would never have heard of it. Its odd how quickly writers, including excellent writers, can fall away as we concentrate on the next new thing and have so little time to remember and carry the history with us. The challenging relationships different characters have with history and traditional stories/religion as Nigeria becomes independent plays a big part in the narrative with meta-narrative resonances. It's a bit male in perspective, none of the group really able to form adult attachments; and this too seems rooted in the lack of sense of self, as they all return from overseas educations, as Nigerians take over the colonial structures including corruption with delight. Each character is struggling to find meaning in different ways and ultimately I did not feel that hopeful. Written in 1965 as Nigeria started to lose democracy to a series of military coups, it is likely that Solyinka didn't feel that hopeful either.
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Odličan stil, ali jednostavno se nismo našli... U pogrešno vreme sam je čitala, kad sam imala puno obaveza, a knjiga tražu maksimalnu koncentraciju i pažnju...
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Hay libros que si bien son complejos, llegan a envolverte de tal manera que ni siquiera tienes oportunidad de cuestionarte si su lectura es difícil o no; este no es uno de esos libros.
Wole Soyinka en esta novela se muestra como un autor más que capaz. A lo largo de la lectura, nos encontramos con párrafos laberínticos que ciertamente dan cuenta del increíble uso de la lengua por parte del autor, pero que a la final terminan siendo pasajes tortuosos e innecesarios.
La historia, si es que podemos llamarla así, nos lleva por diferentes aspectos de la sociedad nigeriana vista a través de los ojos de 5 individuos. Sin embargo, es tan extraña la forma de presentar la narración, que al final es inevitable perderse y no prestar atención.
De alguna manera siento curiosidad por el autor y por ende creo que valió la pena el ejercicio. Ya veremos si otra de sus obras logra ganarse una mejor puntuación.
Wole Soyinka en esta novela se muestra como un autor más que capaz. A lo largo de la lectura, nos encontramos con párrafos laberínticos que ciertamente dan cuenta del increíble uso de la lengua por parte del autor, pero que a la final terminan siendo pasajes tortuosos e innecesarios.
La historia, si es que podemos llamarla así, nos lleva por diferentes aspectos de la sociedad nigeriana vista a través de los ojos de 5 individuos. Sin embargo, es tan extraña la forma de presentar la narración, que al final es inevitable perderse y no prestar atención.
De alguna manera siento curiosidad por el autor y por ende creo que valió la pena el ejercicio. Ya veremos si otra de sus obras logra ganarse una mejor puntuación.
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Luin Tulkit-kirjaa melkein 3 viikkoa. Tällaiset kirjat saavat pohtimaan vakavasti, kannattaako vapaa-aikaa käyttää lukemiseen vai ihan johonkin muuhun.
Voihan otsalohkoni - kyllä oli vaikea kirja. Muun muassa tällaisen kielen takia lukemisesta puuttui kaikki ilo. Sinänsä nuorten nigerialaisten hetket olivat kiinnostavia väläyksiä afrikkalaiseen 1960-lukuun ja ilmiselvään juurettomuuteen. Monet palasivat expat-elämästä ja opiskelemasta ulkomailta. Ja tapailivat Afrikassa uskonmiehiä, Afrikan valkoisia, yliopistoeliittiä ja emansipoituneita naisia.
En ymmärtänyt kirjaa lainkaan. Siinä oli selvästi tarina, mutta kuka missä mitä miksi kenen kanssa? Mikä oli kirjan idea? Miksi se oli kirjoitettu?
En saa tästä kirjasta selkoa ilman Googlea tai GR-arvioita. Tuskin kuitenkaan välitän niin paljoa, että käyttäisin aikaa kumpaankaan.
Ymmärrän myös, että ongelmani saattaa olla se, etten lainkaan ymmärrä kontekstia. Mutta käännöskirjallisuuden pitäisi auttaa lukijaa tällä matkalla eikä tehdä siitä vielä vaikeampaa.
Voihan otsalohkoni - kyllä oli vaikea kirja. Muun muassa tällaisen kielen takia lukemisesta puuttui kaikki ilo. Sinänsä nuorten nigerialaisten hetket olivat kiinnostavia väläyksiä afrikkalaiseen 1960-lukuun ja ilmiselvään juurettomuuteen. Monet palasivat expat-elämästä ja opiskelemasta ulkomailta. Ja tapailivat Afrikassa uskonmiehiä, Afrikan valkoisia, yliopistoeliittiä ja emansipoituneita naisia.
En ymmärtänyt kirjaa lainkaan. Siinä oli selvästi tarina, mutta kuka missä mitä miksi kenen kanssa? Mikä oli kirjan idea? Miksi se oli kirjoitettu?
En saa tästä kirjasta selkoa ilman Googlea tai GR-arvioita. Tuskin kuitenkaan välitän niin paljoa, että käyttäisin aikaa kumpaankaan.
Ymmärrän myös, että ongelmani saattaa olla se, etten lainkaan ymmärrä kontekstia. Mutta käännöskirjallisuuden pitäisi auttaa lukijaa tällä matkalla eikä tehdä siitä vielä vaikeampaa.
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A small group of young Nigerian intellectuals have a few drinks and hold pretentious philosophical conversations, in between ribbing each other about girls, jobs, getting drunk, etc. I shouldn't like this book at all, I should be thinking that no decent writer would write conversations like that, because people don't talk that way.
These characters in this situation would, and the conversations between them are perfect. So are the almost throw-away sentences at the ends of chapters which made me completely rethink what I had just read. Wole Soyinka is not a decent writer, he is a great writer.
The characters, places, corrupt society and satirical set pieces are all very well depicted. The writing is richly sensual, poetic, funny and distinctive. The author is better known as a playwright and poet than a novelist, so the plays and poems must be mind-blowing. He even makes Voidancy poetic in this little gem of a novel.
The story of how they ended up in the situation they are in for the time-frame of the novel is told obliquely, using their memories and each others, flashbacks, hallucinations and a little from the third party narrator. This means that the story is revealed through a series of images. The mixture of techniques works very well. Many of the stories are not happy ones, as the protagonist group deal with corruption, frustration, bigotry and ignorance. They are all interesting.
These characters in this situation would, and the conversations between them are perfect. So are the almost throw-away sentences at the ends of chapters which made me completely rethink what I had just read. Wole Soyinka is not a decent writer, he is a great writer.
The characters, places, corrupt society and satirical set pieces are all very well depicted. The writing is richly sensual, poetic, funny and distinctive. The author is better known as a playwright and poet than a novelist, so the plays and poems must be mind-blowing. He even makes Voidancy poetic in this little gem of a novel.
The story of how they ended up in the situation they are in for the time-frame of the novel is told obliquely, using their memories and each others, flashbacks, hallucinations and a little from the third party narrator. This means that the story is revealed through a series of images. The mixture of techniques works very well. Many of the stories are not happy ones, as the protagonist group deal with corruption, frustration, bigotry and ignorance. They are all interesting.
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The writing is too pretentious for me, but it does handle some interesting topics!
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Прочетена на български в превод на Румяна и Георги Паунови.
Шоинка 1988: Шоинка, У. Тълкувателите. София: Народна младеж, 1988.
Шоинка 1988: Шоинка, У. Тълкувателите. София: Народна младеж, 1988.
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