Download Telephone Conversation: A Poetic Satire on Racial Discrimination by Wole Soyinka and more Exams English in PDF only on Docsity! Class: B.Sc. Home Science Semester: II Subject: English Language and Communication Skills Unit: II (Poetry) Telephone Conversation -Wole Soyinka The price seemed reasonable, location Indifferent. The landlady swore she lived Off-premises. Nothing remained But self-confession. 'Madam' , I warned, 'I hate a wasted journey - I am African.' Silence. Silenced transmission of pressurized good-breeding. Voice, when it came, Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled Cigarette-holder pipped. Caught I was, foully. 'HOW DARK?'...I had not misheard....'ARE YOU LIGHT OR VERY DARK?' Button B. Button A. Stench Of rancid breath of public hide-and-speak. Red booth. Red pillar-box. Red double-tiered Omnibus squelching tar. It was real! Shamed By ill-mannered silence, surrender Pushed dumbfounded to beg simplification. Considerate she was, varying the emphasis- 'ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT' Revelation came 'You mean- like plain or milk chocolate?' Her accent was clinical, crushing in its light Impersonality. Rapidly, wave-length adjusted I chose. 'West African sepia'_ and as afterthought. 'Down in my passport.' Silence for spectroscopic Flight of fancy, till truthfulness chaged her accent Hard on the mouthpiece 'WHAT'S THAT?' conceding 'DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT IS.' 'Like brunette.' 'THAT'S DARK, ISN'T IT?' 'Not altogether. Facially, I am brunette, but madam you should see the rest of me. Palm of my hand, soles of my feet. Are a peroxide blonde. Friction, caused- Foolishly madam- by sitting down, has turned My bottom raven black- One moment madam! - sensing Her receiver rearing on the thunderclap About my ears- 'Madam,' I pleaded, 'wouldn't you rather See for yourself? About the Poet: Wole Soyinka is among contemporary Africa's greatest writers. He is also one of the continent's most imaginative advocates of native culture and of the humane social order, it embodies. Born in Western Nigeria in 1934, Soyinka grew up in an Anglican mission compound in Aké. Though raised in a colonial, English-speaking environment, Soyinka's ethnic heritage was Yoruba, and his parents balanced Christian training with regular visits to the father's ancestral home in `Isarà, a small Yoruba community secure in its traditions. Soyinka recalls his father's world in `Isarà, A Voyage Around "Essay" (1989) and recounts his own early life in Aké: The Years of Childhood (1981), two of his several autobiographical books. Aké ends in 1945 when Soyinka is eleven, with his induction into the protest movement that during the next decade won Nigeria's freedom from British rule. The political turbulence of these years framed Soyinka's adolescence and early adulthood, which he chronicles in his most recent autobiographical work, Ibadan, The Penkelemes Years, A Memoir: 1946-1965 (1994). As a dramatist, he was influenced by J.M. Synge and many of his writings reflect mythologies popular among his tribe Yoruba. Some of his drams include The Trial of Brother Jero, Jero‟s Metamorphosis, The Strong Bread and A Play of Giants. Wole Soyinka was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986. His literary essays are collected in Myth, Literature and the African World.
