The Interpreters.

London: Andre Deutsch,, 1965. The Nobel laureate's first novel First edition, first impression, of the author's debut novel. Primarily known as a playwright, Soyinka became the first African recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986. Soyinka has lived in exile on several occasions and was held prisoner during the Nigerian civil war in the 1960s. An outspoken opponent of oppression and tyranny, in 1997 he was sentenced to death for antimilitary activities, a sentence that was later lifted. In an interview with Vinson Cunningham, Soyinka stressed that his art and political beliefs were linked by the same drive, describing himself as a "closet masochist", for whom peace only came once problems were addressed. "What the novel does for me as a medium of expression is to assuage the masochist in me, because the novel is very taxing—taxing in the sense that it's tempting to go in so many directions". Octavo. Original orange boards, spine lettered and ruled in gilt. With dust jacket. Ghosting to spine, ends bumped, lower edges a little rubbed and marked, trivial crease to lower outer corner of rear cover; jacket lightly rubbed, spine panel slightly sunned, a few creases and tiny chips at top edge, unclipped: a near-fine copy in very good jacket. Vinson Cunningham, "The Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka Discusses his First Novel in Nearly Fifty Years", New Yorker, 2 Nov. 2021; Thomas Lask, "Books of the Times", New York Times, 11 Aug. 1972.