Who is really the Greatest among CHINUA ACHEBE, WOLE SOYINKA, CYPRIAN EKWENSI and OLA ROTIMI? And why do you think so?

None.

To me WOLE SOYNIKA is the greatest, not for winning the Nobel, but he is a poet,novelist and playwright.
CHINUA ACHEBE is a novelist, CYPRIAN EKWENSI is a novelist while OLA ROTIMI is a playwright

am not sure there's a basis for comparing them.



people will just go with tribal loyalties, not objectivity, thats all.

That's the stage we're at, right now.


They're all great, and shouldnt be compared the same way.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
am not sure there's a basis for comparing them.


Well said tpia tribal loyalties would certainly how sway, objectivity would be secondary and thirdly i dnt tink they can be compared, they are all in a class of their own.

I will go with Ola Rotimi not because i am sure he is better than the others; but just that he was the
only one among them that i had the honour of meeting and learning from.

could you guyz stop with the comparing
every writer or poet is unique in his own special way
daaaaaaaaaa

i am not sure of the basis to use in comparing them. Anyways I am not ethnically linked to any so wont be biased in that area.
They're all great writers, but i think I'll go for Achebe, simply because I find his books very engaging and more interesting. _{just an opinion guys}.

I really don't know what you mean by greatest but if I were to be given a choice to pick any of those authors and read, then it would be Cyprian Ekwensi. His novels are quite real and his writings do not show the pressures of trying to satisfy a literary school of thought.

That's not to say the rest are not good.

the best of the authors is cyprian ekwensi, when you read his books you almost feel you are part of the plots. he is very creative and real like what you see in your everyday life. its never like a friction.

cyprain is good,
so are other writers, no one should compare them
but instead their uniqueness and style from other writers should be compared

I think that the comparism should be b/w Achebe and Soyinka seeing that the other two are no where to be found in the face of the former.
To me , Achebe is the greatest because his books explore africanism at its peak especialy his Things Fall Apart. Could you remember that the 50 year anniversary of Things Fall Apart was held in London this year.
Soyinka is less than Achebe because his theme are not always clear to an average reader ie You are meant to attend 'special school ' before you could make out something from any of his works e.g The Man Died, Strong Breed, Telephone Conversation e.t.c
All the same, they are all great and good.

THERE IS NO BASIS FOR COMPARISM THEY WERE/ARE ALL LEGENDS, GURUS AND MAESTROS. OLA ROTIMI IS MY PERSONAL FAVORITE. I REALLY LOVED kurunmi.

If we're judging by which writer is the most enjoyable to read, then I'll go for Cyprian Ekwensi.

Cyprian Ekwensi does it for me. I'll go with Chinua Achebe over Wole Soyinka any day. Soyinka's writing makes my head ache. Ekwensi's writing style is very natural.

I think one mistake any sane person can make is comparing talent. As far as every of those writers could make impact with whatever area they do desired, then there should be no room for such comparison. Some people dont really appreciate Soyinka that much for reasons you cant easily come to terms with. I have a friend who never liked Michael Jackson despite his mind boggling achievements and impact. But he would rather die for 2pac.

On the whole, no body is the greatest except you want to measure their supposed value based on literary achievements or awards.