Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth

1. Oke Konran-Imoran
 
 
Papa Davina, also known as Teribogo, preferred to craft his own words of wisdom. Such, for instance, was his famous Perspective is all.
 
The early-morning Seeker, his first and only client on that day and a very special, indeed dedicated session, looked up and nodded agreement. Papa D. pointed: Move to that window. Draw back the curtain and look through.
 
It was somewhat gloomy in the audience chamber, and it took a while for the Seeker to grope her way along the wide folds to find the middle parting. She took the heavy drapes between both hands and waited. Papa Davina signaled to her to complete the motion, continuing in his soothing, near-meditative tone: When you step into these grounds, it is essential that you forget what you are, who you were. Think of yourself only as the Seeker. I shall be your guide. I do not belong to the vulgar traders in the prophetic mission. The days of the great prophets are gone. I am with you only as Prescience. Only the Almighty God, the Inscrutable Allah, is Presence Itself, and who dares come into the Presence of the One and Only? Impossible! But we can come into His Prescience, such as I. We are few. We are chosen. We labour to read his plans. You are the Seeker. I am the Guide. Our thoughts can only lead to revelation. Please pull the curtain apart. Completely.
 
The Seeker moved along with the other half. Daylight flooded the room. Papa D. s voice pursued her.
 
Yes, look out and tell me what you see.
 
The Seeker had come up on the opposite incline, which was total, unrelieved squalor. On this face of the hill, however, what leapt instantly to her gaze was a far more eclectic jumble. Far down below were scattered ledges of iron sheets, clay tiles, and rusted corrugated tin rooftops, pocked here and there, however, with some isolated but neat rows of ultramodern high-rise buildings. Threading these zones of contrasts were snarling lines

WOLE SOYINKA was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986. Born in Abeokuta, Nigeria, in 1934, he is an author, playwright, poet, and political activist whose prolific body of work includes The Interpret­ers, his debut novel that was published in 1965, and Death and the King's Horseman, a play that was first performed in 1976. So­yinka was twice jailed in Nigeria for his crit­icism of the Nigerian government, and he destroyed his U.S. Green Card in 2016 when Donald Trump was elected president of the United States.

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S MUST READ BOOKS OF THE YEAR ONE OF THE GUARDIAN'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR

"Though his work has spanned multiple genres poetry, plays, memoirs and essays [Soyinka's] new novel manages to chart fresh territory. . . . Chronicles combines elements of a murder mystery, a searing political satire and an Alice in Wonderland-like modern allegory of power and deceit."
Los Angeles Times

"It is Soyinka s greatest novel, his revenge against the insanities of the nation s ruling class and one of the most shocking chronicles of an African nation in the 21st century. It ought to be widely read."
Ben Okri, The Guardian
  
"A biting satire that looks at corruption in an imaginary contemporary Nigeria, Chronicles is also an intriguing and droll whodunit. . . . A brilliant story that takes on politics, class, corruption, and religion from the very first chapters. It highlights Soyinka s lush, elegant language."
Publishers Weekly