Wole Soyinka is one of today's most admired and respected African playwrights. He commands a worldwide audience, was elected as a foreign honorary member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and in 1986 won the Nobel Prize for Literature. In this volume, twenty-six internationally recognized writers--including John Updike, Amiri Baraka, Martin Esslin, Derek Walcott, Bernard Knox, G. ilson Knight, David Bromwich, and James Olney--contribute essays on Soyinka and his work. All turn their considerable skills upon Soyinka's oeuvre, helping the reader to understand precisely how his subtle artistry works. This definitive volume is indispensable for students of Soyinka's work, opening up Soyinka's African literary world to the Western reader.