I have to agree with other reviewers who said that the first 80 pages are rather unengaging, but then at that point--roughly the point at which Soyinka gives an account of his first imprisonment--it starts to become really interesting. In the end I had gotten so used to Soyinka's humane, reasonable, committed but playful voice I was sorry to reach the finish.

In this Memoir, I love the way Professor Soyinka has deftly traversed his life to lay bare Nigeria's history and intrigues, opening an interesting debate on the role of a writer or a poet in society, of the tragedy of African leadership, of the betrayals and the killing of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the others, of friendship with Femi Johnson that goes beyond death.

That question: What would I do if I was in Rotimi's place?

That meeting with Abacha's daughter. I agree. How I wished Prof would have had dinner or lunch with Zainab Abacha and and toast along the lines he suggests in the book: "Here's to your generation. Try to wean yourself from the past.".

One of the hardest books to understand, if you have an average vocabulary. It centers on his adult life and the things he went through during Nigeria's military coups and all.

I expected a master piece from a mastermind in You Must Set Forth at Dawn, and I was not disappointed. Indeed, I got value for the money and time I spent on this engaging memoir by Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka.

The author has been one of the prominent actors in the political and socio-economic journey of Nigeria. He was a leading player in the western Nigeria uprising of 1964-65 in which he hijacked a radio station in Ibadan. He was active in the Nigerian civil war, for which he was imprisoned. And he was a thorn in the flesh of several military and democratic rulers in Nigeria.

However, the book is not only about Soyinka's political battles and rascality particularly in Nigeria and Africa, but also about his core beliefs, such as justice, freedom, honor, and merit. And he is passionate about true friendship, as illustrated by his profuse dedication and homage to a late friend, Olufemi Babington Johnson (OBJ).

Soyinka is intellectually mischievous and intelligently deviant. The book is filled with riveting episodes and anecdotes about his student days in England; acquaintance with literary giants, including British philosopher Bertrand Russell; falling in love with a dancer in Havana, Cuba; clandestine diplomatic shuttles around the world; dinners with world leaders in many countries, including with Nelson Mandela and Francois Mitterrand in Paris; an encounter with President Bill Clinton; and a quiet lunch in Israel with Shimon Peres, when he was no longer Israeli Prime Minister.

However, as I read the book, these words continue to ring in my head: Whose spy is Wole Soyinka? Which foreign governments are his paymasters? His connection with security agents is mystifying. Often, he is ahead of people who are after his life, thanks to his informants in government and security agencies. Sometimes, he is so comfortable strolling on the streets of major world capitals, and at other times, he is undercover because members of a roving death squad are after him all over Europe and America.

How did Soyinka know of a secret telephone in the wardrobe of Olusegun Obasanjo, then Officer Commanding Western Zone of the Nigerian Army in the 1960s? Obasanjo, who later became Nigeria's military head of state, and a democratic president, never knew the telephone existed in his own bedroom until Soyinka called him on the telephone box. That shows the level of Soyinka's influence even in the military intelligence corps.

But as I immersed myself in the book and followed some daring sagas and daredevil acts by the author, the answer unfurled. Soyinka is nobody's `spook.'

Whether he is on a fact-finding and exploratory visit to Bekuta, a slave settlement in Jamaica inhabited by descendants of the Egbas who might have migrated from Abeokuta in Ogun State, western part of Nigeria; or in Bahia, Brazil to retrieve a stolen artifact; Soyinka exhibited a kamikaze mind-set difficult to comprehend superficially. But as I reflected deeply, I understood that he follows and holds tenaciously to any cause he truly cherishes. I call that, passion.

My best chapter in the book is, Olori-Kunkun and Ori-Olokun. The chapter is vintage Soyinka. For me, this encapsulates his nature. Ori-Olokun is a "long-lost" bronze head of a principal Yoruba deity stolen from a courtyard in Ife, the cradle of Yoruba civilization. Soyinka traced the relic to Bahia in Brazil, with the intention of stealing it from the home of a private art collector and returning it to its due place in Africa. But a surprise awaited him.

The book has vivid plots, characters and dialogues. And I wonder if Soyinka wrote in a diary many of the events and people he described profoundly in the book. But that is not so, because he explained on the acknowledgement section that he didn't keep such a diary.

I was so sucked into the scenery which came alive as he ran from Oyo State in Nigeria to the Republic of Benin through the bush on the way to exile. As I read this divine escape, I was transported to the thick forest, dodging the branches of trees which lashed and lacerated the author as he sat precariously on a motorbike on a moonless night.

I was able to follow the entire book without being lost in some sections which have winding details and numerous digressions. Soyinka used digression copiously to create suspense, to espouse his beliefs or engage in reflective thinking. I am not sure if this style will not put off some impatient readers.

Despite this, I truly enjoyed the book. Not only once, but twice, I read it.

Wole re-affirmed my impression of him-he is such a cynic.

Great read.

My #1 ever

Captivating

En la escala de 0 a 5, le doy 10 estrellas. Las memorias de un hombre de Letras valiente, activo e íntegro que, como Neruda, no se deja y vive para que su país, Nigeria, sea un lugar en el que su pueblo viva como se debe, con dignidad, justicia, seguridad y libertad. Un ejemplo a seguir. :D

You must Set Forth at Dawn is perhaps the concluding part of Wole Soyinka's autobiography. It's very moving and sometimes I begin to think that it is a novel.

Click here to read my review

http://freduagyeman.blogspot.com/2010...


thanks

Today at a friend's place, I found a signed copy of this book, I almost took it...lol! I love Wole Soyinka so much and can't wait to get the book. I'm reading it right after my friend because its a signed copy. Soyinka is a great man.

A very interesting and insightful read.

Author is won the Nobel Prize for lit; memoir of his political life in Nigeria under a variety of dictators - reminder of how little we know of or understand life in countries in the developing world.