The powerlessness experienced in the face of the invisible is powerfully suggested by a passage in Soyinka's prose preface to his poem sequence Chimes of Silence (in A Shuttle in the Crypt). Held in solitary confinement, unable to see other human beings, he claims a certain power for himself by stealthily snatching illicit glimpses of the sights that are denied him:

'At first there is a peep-hole on the living. It sneaks into the yard of lunatics, lifers, violent and violated nerves, cripples, tuberculars, victims of power sadism safely hidden from questions. A little square hole cut in the door, enough for a gaoler's fist to pass through and manipulate the bolt from either side. Enough also for me to - casually, oh so casually - steal a quick look at the rare flash of a hand, a face, a gesture; more often a blur of khaki, the square planted rear of the guard on the other side.'

Fragmentary as this vision is, it gives an identity to the enemy; and what can be 'known' can be fought. And it is knowledge of the enemy, Soyinka argues, that is denied us by the quasi-state.

The recording of this second lecture took place at the School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS) in London, before an audience that included many SOAS students and academics, some of whom come from parts of the world where struggles to maintain power have resulted in extremes of cruelty and the spread of fear. However, Soyinka was not only concerned with a desire for power motivated by political hatred and ambition. The will to dominate is not always attached to or driven by a cause. He spoke of the "silent thrill of power" that is experienced by the school bully or the child tormenting an insect, and received enthusiastic laughter from his audience in response to his references to the power-relishing personality of the tax collector!

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Content last updated: 07/07/2004

About the author

Lynda Morgan completed her Ph.D thesis on South African settler fiction at the School of Oriental and African Studies (the University of London), and her main literary interests continue to be in African literature and colonial/postcolonial studies. She publishes papers in these areas, and regularly contributes to national and international conferences. In August she will deliver a paper on South African and Australian settler fiction at the ICLA Congress in Hong Kong. She is also a published poet.

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