A Picture of the Big Apple

Abstract

n section York, U.S.A., of Mandela's Earth and Other Poems, Wole Soyinka sculpts verbal portrait of New York City and projects an image of United States. He adopts an overtly ritualistic approach and refuses to take any definite ideological position. Maxim Gorky's representation of NewYork in The City of Yellow Devil foregrounds Marxian image of money as universal whore that corrupts all, and is basically critique of capitalism from solely socialist perspective. So are Vladimir Mayakovsky's poems about US. On contrary, in O. Henry's New York, capitalism is conceived of as politicoeconomic system with human face and guarantee of personal freedom. Brendan Behan's New York is celebration of friendliest, the greatest city on face of God's earth, and the wonder of world (13, 12). What appears contemptible and despicable to Gorky, Soyinka, and Mayakovsky about New York is perceived by O. Henry and Brendan Behan, both humorists, as spice of life. The approach adopted by Soyinka rather suppresses humorous. Whatever differences do appear in diverse portraits of city, one thing stands out clearly: New York is great. It does not matter that some of writers try vainly to hide fact. The city leaves strong impression on their minds, which is why they care to write about it. Rapturously enamored of city, Brendan Behan's wife likens it to a fancy fair and considers anybody who is not impressed by its skyline either half blind or simply liar (Brendan 13). Broken down into five units and conceived as an initiation rite, poem York, U.S.A. takes form of travelogue. It reads like Soyinka's covert retort to Joseph Conrad's Heart ofDarkness and similar colonial texts about Africa. It is extremely difficult, if not indeed impossible, to determine what part of picture represents poet's direct experience in US and what part derives from books and other sources of information about country. Aptly titled Initiation, first unit takes poet-protagonist through airport rituals. Its first stanza introduces most of problems discussed in poem. The aircraft noise, disordered echoes of feet of disgorged passengers walking away from plane, multilingual queues, COLOR CODES signs, tight tunnels, and duty-free shops coupled with huge billboards initiate poet into menace of noise, history of genocide, slavery, and other forms of methodical madness that