The purely literary achievements are always there for all to see, read and admire, and as time goes by, to treasure and to emulate. In the case of Achebe and Soyinka, the various prizes they have won attest to their achievements. Literary criticism has concentrated on Achebe's conscious writing on his culture for the consumption of foreigners as against writing for people within his own understanding… Soyinka, on his side, has been found by many critics as being deliberately difficult and hard to comprehend.

If we were to play a game of the world that Achebe creates side by side with the world that Soyinka creates we would be seeing two different worlds…

While the successes achieved by Achebe and Soyinka have had positive communal repercussions, their greatest successes have to do with their individual achievements in their ability to write one culture (Igbo and Yoruba) in the language of another culture (English). This is the nature of the greatest writers through time and today. Salman Rushdie, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Derek Walcott–these are the writers in whose company Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka exist.

I must confess that I have not read Omotosho's dissertation on these two, but the title itself is already a huge problem for me. As catchy as the title may seem, I think any attempt to compare Soyinka and Achebe is bound to fall short of all else but intellectual show-off.

Take the title for instance. Achebe or Soyinka suggests a choice but between them and there works and there seamless contributions to the richness of our culture and the perception of our humanity by the world, I think it may just be folly to have to CHOOSE between them. Achebe and Soyinka would have done it for me.

And my reasons are not far-fetched. While the early works of Achebe may have focused extensively on the ensuing conflict between his Igbo ethnicity and the Western imperialists, it is important to note that the theme in the work is universalizable. Anyone who has ever been under an imperial power of any sort can relate to that story be he black or white or purple or green.

Further, Soyinka's preoccupation with the problems of the new nation in his early writings is also important in getting a fuller and richer picture of the who situation. So a comparison or contrast between both men is just too fleeting. But I may be wrong.

... Samsudeen Alabi

The truth is, I just stumbled upon this book here and now. But as already observed, the title appears to unnecessarily pit these, two, literary greats in an A or B option... Well, better not judge a book by it's title.
Still, I can't help thinking, "To what end, purpose...? What motive...?"