Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth

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Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth
Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth.jpg
First edition
Author Wole Soyinka
CountryNigeria
Genre Literary fiction
Set inFictional country
Publisher
Publication date
2021
Media typePrint
ISBN 978-0-593-31447-0

Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth is a 2021 novel written by Nigerian playwright and novelist Wole Soyinka. It was released on 28 September 2021 by Bookcraft Africa.

Contents

The novel is a political satire, inspired by a report that Nigerians are among the happiest people on Earth. It tells the story of Dr. Kighare Menka, a surgeon who discovers a human body parts black-market scheme going on in his hospital. It is Soyinka's third novel, and his first since Season of Anomy which was published in 1973.

Synopsis

The novel takes place in an imaginary version of Nigeria. A secret society made up of highly-placed members of the nation's political and religious elite trades in human body parts for use in religious rituals. [1]

The body parts are stolen from a hospital run by Dr. Kighare Menka, a surgeon who treats war victims and whose friend Duyole Pitan-Payne is about to begin a job at the United Nations in New York City as representative of Nigeria. Duyole is targeted by mysterious forces who try to prevent him from taking the new position.

Duyole is killed after Dr. Menka informs him of the scheme going on in his hospital.

Background

Wole Soyinka during a lecture at Stockholm Public Library on 4 October 2018. Wole Soyinka in 2018-8.jpg
Wole Soyinka during a lecture at Stockholm Public Library on 4 October 2018.

Wole Soyinka, who won the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, was inspired by a report that Nigerians are among the happiest people on Earth, began writing almost two decades later and before the COVID-19 pandemic. [2] [3] [4] The book was written in two sessions of 16 days between Senegal and Ghana. According to Soyinka, the pandemic lockdown helped him finish the novel amongst other writings in his compound in Abeokuta. [2] [3] [5]

Chronicles which is Soyinka's third novel was released in 2021 by Bookcraft Africa, Pantheon Books and Bloomsbury Circus, almost fifty years since his last novel, Season of Anomy which was published in 1973. [5] [6] [7]

In 2023, the French translation was published by Éditions du Seuil and a translation in Italian was published by La nave di Teseo. [8] [9]

The novel is intended as an allegory of the state-sponsored corruption that is common in Nigeria and similar African nations. [10]

Reception

The novel received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews which lauded the wordplay, [11] while Publishers Weekly praised the novel as "[a] biting satire that looks at corruption in an imaginary contemporary Nigeria, Chronicles is also an intriguing and droll whodunit." and "[a] brilliant story that takes on politics, class, corruption, and religion from the very first chapters. It highlights Soyinka's lush, elegant language." [12] Neil Munshi of the Financial Times described Chronicles as "a brutally satirical look at power and corruption in Nigeria, told in the form of a whodunnit involving three university friends." [2]

Reviewing for The Guardian , Nigerian writer Ben Okri called the novel "a vast danse macabre" and "Soyinka' greatest novel, his revenge against the insanities of the nation's ruling class and one of the most shocking chronicles of an African nation in the 21st century." [10] Colombian writer Juan Gabriel Vásquez writing for The New York Times noted that Soyinka wrote the novel as "lament for the spirit of his native Nigeria," and while the plot is "convoluted, obscure at times, [and] often tying itself in too many knots," the novel is ultimately a successful exploration of "the crossroads between corruption, religious fanaticism, endemic resentments and a legacy of colonial divisiveness." [4]

M. A. Orthofer rated the novel B+ in a Complete Review review calling it an "impressively-wrought work", while noting that "the intricacies of its sentences and its plot are challenging". [7] Keishel William writing for NPR was somewhat less positive, concluding that the novel is not among Soyinka's best works, but "[t]he parts of the novel that are good are immensely good – and in true Soyinka fashion, the writing tosses you right into the middle of Nigerian life, for better or worse." [13]

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References

  1. ↑ "Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth (synopsis on publisher's website)". Penguin Random House . Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 Munshi, Neil (22 September 2021). "Wole Soyinka on Nigeria: 'It's like something has broken in society'". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022.
  3. 1 2 Tepper, Anderson (23 September 2021). "'At long last, Idunit!' Wole Soyinka on his first novel in nearly 50 years". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on 28 September 2021. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  4. 1 2 Vásquez, Juan Gabriel (28 September 2021). "The Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka's First Novel Since 1973". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  5. 1 2 Flood, Alison (28 October 2020). "Wole Soyinka to publish first novel in almost 50 years". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  6. ↑ Maclean, Ruth (25 September 2021). "Wole Soyinka Is Not Going Anywhere". New York Times . Archived from the original on 28 September 2021. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  7. 1 2 Orthofer, M. A. (19 September 2021). "Chronicles From the Land of the Happiest People on Earth by Wole Soyinka". Complete Review . Archived from the original on 9 August 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  8. ↑ Chemam, Melissa (18 September 2023). "Nigerian literary giant Wole Soyinka releases new novel in France". Radio France Internationale . Archived from the original on 27 September 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  9. ↑ Waqqas, Youssouf (2 July 2023). "Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka: Europe has forgotten history lessons". The Majalla . Archived from the original on 6 December 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  10. 1 2 Okri, Ben (27 September 2021). "Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth by Wole Soyinka review – a vast danse macabre". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 4 October 2021. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  11. ↑ "CHRONICLES FROM THE LAND OF THE HAPPIEST PEOPLE ON EARTH". Kirkus Reviews . 28 June 2021. Archived from the original on 27 November 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  12. ↑ "Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth". Publishers Weekly . 7 July 2021. Archived from the original on 2 December 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  13. ↑ Williams, Keishel (2 October 2021). "Wole Soyinka's long-awaited third novel isn't his best work". NPR. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
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