beginning of serious scholarship on african literature. he was there
at the beginning to study market literature, popular literature,
narratives that fell away from our consciousness perhaps in the 80s,
and now with the work of karin barber are experiencing a resurgence.
during all these years emmanuel obiechina was there teaching and
administrating higher education in africa, coming to harvard to
teach, and attending conferences. i had the great fortune to spend
time with him recently at a conference in honor of the retirement of
michael echeruo in syracuse. there we learned he was part of the
first generation of ibandan graduates in 1961, rubbing shoulders with
chinua achebe and his fellow writers. he taught at the university of
nsukka in 1967, an inauspicious year to begin a career in what was to
become a war zone. he continued for a good part of his career in
nsukka, rising to the position of deputy chancellor; but he also was
a fellow in cambridge, taught in american universities, kansas,
harvard, colgate, pittsburgh. and he continued to write about
african literature, especially Culture, Tradition, and Society in the
West African Novel.
i cannot imagine a better example of the african elder. an erudite,
gracious, warm man; courteous and so handsomely dressed in nigerian
fashion; insightful in all his interventions in the conference, and
great to converse with after. i felt such happiness in finally
getting to spend time with this wonderful man, only to have him taken
away so soon afterwards.
we the older members of the community of african literature scholars
owe a debt to emmanuel obiechina for forging the way for our critical
studies of african literature, and for bringing so many scholars
along the path. but that's the external debt. when we encounter such
a wonderful person and share our thoughts and feelings with him, we
incur another special debt that it is hard to articulate; better
expressed by the expression of a salutation, a recognition of someone
special who has touched us and merits our respect and thanks
ken harrow
Kenneth W. Harrow
Distinguished Professor of English
Michigan State University
harrow@msu.edu
517 803-8839
fax 517 353 3755
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