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 (Birmingham 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

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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 cannot be slighted” (15). The search includes several…

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378 words

Citation: McLuckie, Craig. "Salutations to the Gut". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 February 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=14897, accessed 23 April 2024.]

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