ABSTRACT
In recent times, the autobiography is fast becoming a form of literary expression through
which writers address various issues concerning their identity as well as socio-political
realities in society. For African intellectuals, the urgency of the post-independence
realities confronting different countries on the continent makes it imperative for them to
deploy their life narratives beyond the traditional ends which autobiographical works are
generally expected to address. It is in light of this that this study probes into Wole
Soyinka’s making of selfhood in his recent autobiographical work You Must Set Forth at
Dawn (2006). While trying to investigate how the writer creates a new identity for
himself through his life narrative, the study argues that the prevailing circumstances
around the individual intellectual in the postcolonial environment should be seen as major
determining factors in the representation of the life of the public intellectual in Africa. It
identifies the pains of colonialism, the failure of post-independence leadership as well as
the lack of promise in contemporary administrations in most African states as
exemplified by Nigeria in Soyinka’s narrative as the key factors mediating the
composition of life narratives by public intellectuals in Africa.
In this research report, Soyinka’s approach to history, memory, exile and nationalism are
closely examined towards a better appreciation of his personality as well as his stance on
various issues which continue to crop up in view of the dislocations which have
constituted hindrances to the progress of Nigeria. The thesis also examines how Soyinka
produces individual and communal agency as an African intellectual whose activism
often translates to commitment in his literary works. The work draws the conclusion that
the composition of the lives of individuals, and by extension public intellectuals
especially in Africa, is often a product of both internal and external factors which
combine to determine the personality of the subjects of life narratives
