In September, 2021, the BBC approached me to send a letter to Wole Soyinka. They approached me, as they told me, because they liked my review of Mr. Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel, on Goodreads (enclosed below). Here is my letter.

Hello, Mr. Soyinka! I am Adnan Al-Abbar from Kuwait, and I would like to ask this question.

I find that your WRITINGS AND IN PARTICULAR YOUR play, The Lion and the Jewel — one of my favorites actually — sobers us to the fact that no matter how much knowledge and wisdom we gain from globalized (or universal) values, we should never forget that we live among people who are generally bounded by ideas rooted to our culture. That the real world has real people in it, and not characters of a play. And this is one of the great lessons one can find in all of literature.

But this is what worries me: The more I read in contemporary international literature, the more I am convinced that literature all around the world is converging to a formula where the author aims at activism and scoring social points in writing that is superficially covered with native garb instead of reaching wisdom and understanding, or making works of genuine beauty. Do you think there is hope for literature in the near future, or do you think we are nearing an era where such universal lessons might not be conveyed in literature anymore? Do you think today’s literary atmosphere incentivizes people like you and Emerson and Walcott and Mahfuz to create these artistic masterpieces, or is literature facing its imminent doom? 

Your admiring fan, Adnan.

My brief review on Goodreads:

Enter the Nigerian Shakespeare. Soyinka is a playwright of the highest order. Sarcastic, funny, amazing, and Shakespearian. I was very amazed by how Arabic Nigeria felt. A play about culture, learnedness, and the disadvantages intellectuals face in a regressive society, the advantages in status and appeal of the leaders of the people, on sexual manipulation, and how people choose their partners in realistic settings. Soyinka writes excellent prose that catches the reader by surprise: I couldn’t put the play down until the curtains set. Amazing.