In his important book, Forms of Attention, the English scholar and critic, Frank Kermode, has suggested that the fate of literature, the survival of literature, depends ultimately on the degree to which it continues to be talked about. Consistent with the title of the book, Kermode also makes the qualification that a lot depends, not just on literature continuing to get talked about, but also on how it is talked about, on the “forms of attention” that individual authors and entire literary traditions receive. The works and career of Soyinka amply demonstrate that it is also of significance who talks about literature or the corpus of a particular author with regard to its sources, impact and legacy.