Summary and Reviews of You Must Set Forth at Dawn by Wole Soyinka

You Must Set Forth at Dawn by Wole Soyinka

You Must Set Forth at Dawn

A Memoir

by Wole Soyinka
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus (8):
  • Readers' Rating (1):
  • First Published:
  • Apr 11, 2006, 528 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Mar 2007, 528 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Book Summary

Nobel Prize-winner Soyinka captures the spirit of Nigeria itself as he brings to life the friends and family who bolstered and inspired him. He describes his pioneering theater works that defied censure and tradition, and recounts his exile and the terrible reign of General Sani Abacha.

The first African to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, as well as a political activist of prodigious energies, Wole Soyinka now follows his modern classic Ake: The Years of Childhood with an equally important chronicle of his turbulent life as an adult in (and in exile from) his beloved, beleaguered homeland.

In the tough, humane, and lyrical language that has typified his plays and novels, Soyinka captures the indomitable spirit of Nigeria itself by bringing to life the friends and family who bolstered and inspired him, and by describing the pioneering theater works that defied censure and tradition. Soyinka not only recounts his exile and the terrible reign of General Sani Abacha, but shares vivid memories and playful anecdotes–including his improbable friendship with a prominent Nigerian businessman and the time he smuggled a frozen wildcat into America so that his students could experience a proper Nigerian barbecue.

More than a major figure in the world of literature, Wole Soyinka is a courageous voice for human rights, democracy, and freedom. You Must Set Forth at Dawn is an intimate chronicle of his thrilling public life, a meditation on justice and tyranny, and a mesmerizing testament to a ravaged yet hopeful land.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

BookBrowse Review

BookBrowse

Soyinka, who describes himself as a "closet glutton for tranquility", has lived a life that is intricately linked with the history of Nigeria and therefore has been anything but tranquil. As such You Must Set Forth At Dawn is first and foremost a political memoir that also serves as a political history of contemporary Nigeria...continued

Full Review (623 words)

This review is available to non-members for a limited time. For full access, become a member today.

(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Beyond the Book



Akinwande Oluwole "Wole" Soyinka (pronounced wo-lay sho-enka), born 1934, is a Nigerian writer, poet and playwright, considered by many to be Africa's most distinguished playwright. He was also the first African to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986 (since then, two others have won: Egyptian Naguib Mahfouz in 1988 and South-African Nadine Gordimer in 1991). He studied at both the University College, Ibadan (south-west Nigeria) and at the University of Leeds (UK) where he received a degree in English Literature.

After a time working as a playwright and a play reader for the Royal Court Theatre in London, he returned to Nigeria, where he taught in the Universities of Lagos, Ibadan, and Ife (becoming Professor ...

This "beyond the book" feature is available to non-members for a limited time. Join today for full access.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked You Must Set Forth at Dawn, try these:

  • The Thing Around Your Neck jacket

    The Thing Around Your Neck

    by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

    Published 2010

    About this book

    More by this author

    Searing and profound, suffused with beauty, sorrow, and longing, the stories in The Thing Around Your Neck map, with Adichie's signature emotional wisdom, the collision of two cultures and the deeply human struggle to reconcile them.

  • Say You're One of Them jacket

    Say You're One of Them

    by Uwem Akpan

    Published 2009

    About this book

    More by this author

    Uwem Akpan's stunning stories humanize the perils of poverty and violence so piercingly that few readers will feel they've ever encountered Africa so immediately.

We have 7 read-alikes for You Must Set Forth at Dawn, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
More books by Wole Soyinka
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    Becoming Madam Secretary
    by Stephanie Dray
    New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Dray returns with a captivating novel about an American heroine France Perkins—now in paperback!

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Girl Falling
    by Hayley Scrivenor

    The USA Today bestselling author of Dirt Creek returns with a story of grief and truth.

  • Book Jacket

    Jane and Dan at the End of the World
    by Colleen Oakley

    Date Night meets Bel Canto in this hilarious tale.

  • Book Jacket

    The Antidote
    by Karen Russell

    A gripping dust bowl epic about five characters whose fates become entangled after a storm ravages their small Nebraskan town.

Who Said...

A library is thought in cold storage

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

T B S of T F

and be entered to win..