''The Interpreters'' is a novel by

Wole Soyinka Wole Soyinka , (born 13 July 1934) is a Nigerian author, best known as a playwright and poet. He has written three novels, ten collections of short stories, seven poetry collections, twenty five plays and five memoirs. He also wrote two transla ...

, first published in London by

André Deutsch André Deutsch (15 November 1917 – 11 April 2000) was a Hungarian-born British publisher who founded an eponymous publishing company in 1951. Biography Deutsch was born on 15 November 1917 in Budapest, Hungary, the son of a Jewish dentist ...

in 1965 and later republished as part of the influential Heinemann African Writers Series. It is the first and one of the only three novels written by Soyinka; he is principally known as a playwright. The novel was written in English and later translated into a number of languages.

Plot

The novel is set in the 1960s, in post-independence and pre-civil war

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, mainly in

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

. There are five main characters in the novel: the foreign ministry clerk Egbo, the university professor Bandele, the journalist Sagoe, the engineer turned sculptor Sekoni, and the artist Kola. They were friends at high school, then went abroad to study, and returned to start middle-class jobs in Nigeria.

Style

The narrative of ''The Interpreters'' seems chaotic, with Soyinka constantly returning to past events, and some effort is needed for the understanding of even the main characters, especially Egbo and Sagoe. Many other characters (university professors, editor board of the newspaper where Sagoe works at) are given schematically, fully conforming to the prevailing stereotypes of the era. This is because the novel was published in the 1960s, shortly after many of the African states became independent, and in fact Soyinka tried to build his narrative in order to oppose the stereotypes that were generally included in a post-colonial novel. The structure of the narrative also ultimately forms a comment on the events that occur in the lives of several characters.

Reception

Thomas Lask, writing for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', took issue with the "diffuse" construction of the novel. However, his review was positive, praising the combination of "esthetic and political problems". The novel has been referred to as "difficult" and as "never having received the attention it deserved".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Interpreters, The (novel) Nigerian English-language novels 1965 Nigerian novels Novels set in Lagos African Writers Series Novels by Wole Soyinka Postcolonial novels