Isara, a Voyage Around "Essay" (Vintage International)

Rating:
Summary: My Least Favorite Soyinka Work
Review: Although I have enjoyed and admired Soyinka's writing for years, and I consider him to be one of Nigeria's leading men of letters, I cannot recommend this work. His plays, novels and essays are, for the most part, filled with humor, insight, originality and coherence. Isara, however, is very much a mixed bag. The narrative technique he employs--the discovery of a cache of letters that comprise the work's "story"--never quite succeeds. I don't assume that a work of literature, especially a modern one, should adhere to the conventions of (typical) Victorian narrative--that plot must be linear, internally coherent, etc. I am a great admirer of fragmented, complex, writerly narratives. However, Soyinka simply does not handle this technique skillfully. The jumps in mood, tone, style, time, space and story are often confusing without being enticing or vibrant. In short, there is some of what I have come to respect and enjoy from Soyinka, but there is not enough. The shrewd characterization and intriguing mise en scene are clouded by an unnecessarily and unsuccessfully contrived structure.

Rating:
Summary: My Least Favorite Soyinka Work
Review: Although I have enjoyed and admired Soyinka's writing for years, and I consider him to be one of Nigeria's leading men of letters, I cannot recommend this work. His plays, novels and essays are, for the most part, filled with humor, insight, originality and coherence. Isara, however, is very much a mixed bag. The narrative technique he employs--the discovery of a cache of letters that comprise the work's "story"--never quite succeeds. I don't assume that a work of literature, especially a modern one, should adhere to the conventions of (typical) Victorian narrative--that plot must be linear, internally coherent, etc. I am a great admirer of fragmented, complex, writerly narratives. However, Soyinka simply does not handle this technique skillfully. The jumps in mood, tone, style, time, space and story are often confusing without being enticing or vibrant. In short, there is some of what I have come to respect and enjoy from Soyinka, but there is not enough. The shrewd characterization and intriguing mise en scene are clouded by an unnecessarily and unsuccessfully contrived structure.