Festus Iyayi (1947 - 2013)
was an award-winning Nigerian writer who
published at least four impressive novels. He utilised a realistic
style of writing, powerfully depicting the social, political and moral
milieu in which both the rich and poor live and work in. Iyayi studied
in the former USSR, and garnered his Ph.D from the University of
Bradford, England. Later he would churn out world class works. In 1988
he won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for his novel Heroes. .
His published works include: Violence (1979), The Contract (1982),
Heroes (1986), and Awaiting Court Martial (1996). Academic Niyi Osundare wrote thus, inter alia, in the wake of Iyayi's death: "For many of his
readers, Violence remains his all-time classic. In this unforgettable
novel, Iyayi invites us to a Fanonian aetiology of violence, its
actuation, and awful ramifications. In this heart-rendering story, we
meet a millionaire who never labours for his money but uses it to take
advantage of the moneyless; we meet young people so desperate, so
poor – no, impoverished – that they are forced to sell their very
blood for money for the very basic essentials of life. We encounter
the uncommon courage and stoicism of the poor and lowly and the
callous bestiality of the rich and powerful. In the annals of African
fiction, only Ousmane Sembene’s God’s Bit of Wood and Ngugi wa
Thiongo’s Petals of Blood have dissected Africa’s social reality in
such gripping detail and with such committed panache. I love all
Iyayi’s works with a passion, but for me, Violence remains for him
what Things Fall Apart is for Chinua Achebe: a magnificent story
ennobled by unforced lyricism and spontaneous narrativity. Violence
marked a new accent in Nigerian fiction when it appeared in the late
1970’s. In many ways, it is the harbinger for the likes of E.E.Sule’s
Sterile Sky published about three decades later..."
published at least four impressive novels. He utilised a realistic
style of writing, powerfully depicting the social, political and moral
milieu in which both the rich and poor live and work in. Iyayi studied
in the former USSR, and garnered his Ph.D from the University of
Bradford, England. Later he would churn out world class works. In 1988
he won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for his novel Heroes. .
His published works include: Violence (1979), The Contract (1982),
Heroes (1986), and Awaiting Court Martial (1996). Academic Niyi Osundare wrote thus, inter alia, in the wake of Iyayi's death: "For many of his
readers, Violence remains his all-time classic. In this unforgettable
novel, Iyayi invites us to a Fanonian aetiology of violence, its
actuation, and awful ramifications. In this heart-rendering story, we
meet a millionaire who never labours for his money but uses it to take
advantage of the moneyless; we meet young people so desperate, so
poor – no, impoverished – that they are forced to sell their very
blood for money for the very basic essentials of life. We encounter
the uncommon courage and stoicism of the poor and lowly and the
callous bestiality of the rich and powerful. In the annals of African
fiction, only Ousmane Sembene’s God’s Bit of Wood and Ngugi wa
Thiongo’s Petals of Blood have dissected Africa’s social reality in
such gripping detail and with such committed panache. I love all
Iyayi’s works with a passion, but for me, Violence remains for him
what Things Fall Apart is for Chinua Achebe: a magnificent story
ennobled by unforced lyricism and spontaneous narrativity. Violence
marked a new accent in Nigerian fiction when it appeared in the late
1970’s. In many ways, it is the harbinger for the likes of E.E.Sule’s
Sterile Sky published about three decades later..."
Studies
Festus Iyayi's Heroes : two novels in one by Fírinne Ní
Chréacháin ( Book )
Ideology
and the dialectics of action : Achebe and Iyayi by
Onyemaechi Udumukwu ( Book )
Onyemaechi Udumukwu ( Book )
