Wole Soyinka, Salutations to the Gut

Craig McLuckie (Okanagan College)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 8.2.3: Anglophone African Writing and Culture: Subsaharan.
Vol. editors: Helen Rachel Cousins (Newman University), David Firth (University of Manchester)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1963 - 2002

Places

Nigeria (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Essay / Lecture (literary)

Resources

Salutations to the Gut, a small 84-page booklet, has some delightful phrasing: “‘sokoyokoto’ (lubricate-the-husband), ‘koniilo’ (he-shall-not-budge)” (4). The cultural specificity of these terms permits Soyinka to celebrate Yoruba culinary delights, with a passing comparison to other cultures: “These elevate the Yoruba above the common herd of gluttons, prepare us for the adventure of direct experience with the leading race of lyrical gastronomes” (5). The humour is tongue-in-cheek, with much of the essay disguised as a search for the religious principles that guide the Gut: “We know the body will survive without Head sustenance, but the Stomach, the god that rumbles and thunders when sacrifice is late, this god …

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378 words

Citation: McLuckie, Craig. "Salutations to the Gut". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 February 2004 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=14897, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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