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Stony Brook, January 25, 2009
To Whom It May Concern
Dear Madam/Sir :
It is with the highest interest that I read about Gerd Meuer's collection of manuscripts, correspondence, photos and other materials, memorabilia of his relationship with Wole Soyinka. Gerd Meuer is Wole Soyinka's friend of more than forty years, a tireless companion and chronicler of the Nigerian writer, and as such he has had a very close relationship with him, as evidenced by Soyinka himself in his memoirs Ibadan and You Must Set Forth At Dawn. Mr. Meuer has been in relation with Soyinka both during some of the most difficult moments in the writer's life, during Soyinka's first trials and emprisonmcnts, and during his global celebration, when the author was awarded the Nobel Prize.
Wole Soyinka is not only the first African writer to win the Nobel Prize in literature, he is also one of the most prominent writers from the continent, and certainly one of its most versatile. It is therefore needless to say that the scholarship and interest in his work has reached levels unprecedented in the study of African literature so far. A Soyinka scholar myself, having written my dissertation on the Nigerian author, I can testify how daunting the research on him is. This is not only due to the restless life of the author, but also and mainly to the fact that his life is scattered around globe.
But a Soyinka archive is of the outmost importance for writers as well, and this more so, since the manufacture of a writer, as it appears in personal relationships, in exchanges, and in political, social and cultural networks, is a learning tool of the highest value. More than any African writer's, Soyinka's life is a testament to the last fifty years of African history, and a symbol of a writer's courageous, challenging and unbent spirit. Without any doubt, scholars of his work and writers will benefit from Gerd Meuer's collection of materials that will help illuminate an essential writer's vision, and I fully support his efforts to trust them to your institution.
Yours sincerely,
Patrice Nganang
Department of Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies
State University of New York, Stony Brook
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