167. Madmen and Specialists by Wole Soyinka

Title: Madmen and Specialists
Author: Wole Soyinka
Genre: Play/Political
Publisher: University Press PLC
Pages: 77
Year of First Publication: 1971
Country: Nigeria

Wole Soyinka's play Madmen and Specialists have made me think twice about this genre. This is the first book I can boldly say 'it went over my head. I never got it.' Perhaps it was the mentality I carried into the book: I went into the book knowing that Soyinka's plays have deeper meanings other than its superficial mirth he creates with verve, which burdened me so that after three days of labouring through a 77-page book, finally turning over the last page, I still could not put the various issues together to create one coherent idea. This play, which was written when the author was in prison during Nigeria's Civil War, is sad and gloom, unlike The Lion and the Jewel

The story opens with a quartet of mendicants: Aafa, an arrogant, sarcastic and self-style leader of the four, Goyi who was somewhat positive or optimistic and appreciative and had a contraption that held him in stooping position, Blindman and Cripple wagering parts of their bodies in a dice game. These four beggars had become afflicted during the war and had now set up their camp on a route that led to Dr Bero's house and would do anything to get people to give them money including faking paroxysms. Together with Dr Bero, the quartet had formed the Cult of As. Dr Bero, who was once a physician had become a Specialist in torturing people during the war. This had had a psychological effect on him. Back home he had kept their raving and demented father in a room, like an oubliette, and had tasked the quartet mendicants to keep watch and prevent his sister from entering the room in which their father was kept, even though Si Bero did not know the condition their father was in and also did not know that his brother had retuned from the war. However, overlooking them were two old women: Iya Agba and Iya Mate, who had helped Si Bero keep her brother's practice going in his absence. The Cult of As, under the influence of the demented Old Man had become cannibals for it was the idea of legalising the eating human flesh that pushed him, the Old Man, to join his son in the war. 

Later, when Si Bero saw that her brother had arrived from the war, she asked him of their father. He initially lied flatly but she found the lie and persistently questioned him. Dr Bero was furious that the old women were living in that part of his compound and wanted them to leave and was even more furious when they demanded payment for helping Si Bero keep his concern going and yet would not state the form in which the payment should be. Here it was clear that even though Dr Bero was furious and threatened to sack the women, he never really was able to do carry it. Back in the room where the Old Man was hidden, a political discussion was going on amongst the quartet and the Old Man. They talked about politicians and their tricks, about promises that are broken just as they were spoken and they talk about whom to kill. Finally, Goyi would be trapped and offered for food. During all these, Dr Bero was thinking of ways to kill his father; perhaps they were both mad men and specialists.

The story seems to be about the political inefficiencies, the selfishness of the politicians, their greed and their double-barreled mouths that say a thing today and another a different day. It is about the inhumanity of their thought; as to what makes them do what they do, that went unanswered and I'm not sure Soyinka intended to ask or answer that question.

Have you read this book? Tell me what you think. Let this be an open review. I really would want to get more from this.
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Comments

  1. To be honest I didn't even get the review. I wonder how the play would be like.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree with you. Shows how I really didn't get it.

      Delete
  2. I did not understand the play very well especially the issue of As. Is it a god? Is it the Old man?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This book is complex and difficult to grasp. In fact, I had similar problems.

      Delete
  3. I just finished reading this as part of a University assignment and then tried to find something useful in the internet.
    Seems most people have similar problems understanding it.

    I particularly like the puns, and how the reader got to know more and more of the situation as the play progressed. It's like a fog that slowly clears.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I believe you'll be among the few who get this book.

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    2. Respected Sir,

      I am in need of that book could you send me a copy.
      if you wish send me a mail to sskumar.kumar19@gmail.com
      thank you

      Delete
  4. This little book held me for almost two days, you just can't read with speed.
    However, the slice I got;it tries to restate the popular biblical saying that you reap what you sow, "We put back what we take, in one form or another. Or more than we take. It's the only law."
    Bero deserted his profession for lust for power in the end he is psychologically affected, both him and his father turns cannibals hunting each other.
    Si Bero is seen as representing the natural course of humanity and wisdom.
    In the end we see father and son payback but much more than they have taken out of life.

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  5. I am playing Iya Agba in this play on the 19th&26th of july. Its been exciting decoding and coding the mysteries in it.

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  6. Please mail me a download link or a copy of this book if you have it, I will appreciate it. God bless you all

    ReplyDelete

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