A Peculiar Tragedy

A Peculiar Tragedy is a critical biography of John Pepper Clark, better known as J. P. Clark, one of the foremost of Nigeria's first generation writers that include the Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka and famous novelist Chinua Achebe. Indeed, they're often seen as a troika, with Clark sitting at the apex of poetry, Soyinka at that of drama and Achebe prose. In many ways this book is about the relationships that developed among the three, starting from their days in the 1950s at the University College, Ibadan. It's also a critical analysis of the quantum of work Clark produced over time against their social and political circumstances. Adewale Maja-Pearce dwells on the Nigerian Civil War and the impact it had on the lives and work of the writers as Clark backed the federal forces, Soyinka went to prison for dissent while Achebe joined the secessionist Biafra.