Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: How Achebe Ruined African Literature

oa
these are great questions we have been grapplying with for decades. i agree with everything, except the very last sentence, where you seem to think world literature has a higher or broader, more expansive reach than african literature. i would recommend looking at moretti on world literature, where he acknowledges the loss in addressing the non-native speaker, across translations, which entails a necessary distance from the text.
meaning: if i read a japanese novel, not knowing any japanese besides thank you, and not much japanese history before world war II, how could i understand all the references that are part of the discourse and universe of the japanese.
for moretti, or bakhtin, there is some virtue in seeing a text as an outsider. but there is always enough loss that one could easily mistake humor for something else. i see that all the time when i teach bekolo's films to my students, especially quartier mozart, where i am dying w laughter as they don't even crack a smile.
i am very very suspicious of world literature as something that operates like globalization, the major flows (money, culture) operating as a corporate interest, not at all as a higher value. and i do not believe in universal values or qualities in literature or anything else. that notion died with poststructuralist thought 40 yrs ago.
what's left? the expropriation, by the dominant cultural norms, established now by the dominant economic forces, of african literature. this is the point: it isn't a disinterested judgment that states achebe is world literature: it is a publishing industry where the major publishers estimate, on a cost-profit basis, what will sell best, not who is the most valuable or interesting author.

as for what is african literature, that question is equally applicable to who is an african.
i would love to hear answers to those questions. you lay them out really well. ikhide has already responded at least once to the latter question. i would love to hear answers to the first.
i think we are struggling with that question a lot these days, whereas 40 years ago we didn't need to ask, we knew the answers.
times have changed.
ken

On 4/1/14 10:56 AM, Anunoby, Ogugua wrote:

CAO's assertion below got me thinking.

What are "African ingredients"? When is Literature, African Literature and when is it not? Is African Literature always and inevitably defined by the writer, geography, history, the subject (African experience), or one or a combination of the above?  Is this the same for Asian, American. European, and South American Literature? Is West Indian Literature African literature? Would a literary work by and African (by origin) on European life/experience be African or European Literature? Basil Davidson was not African by origin but is acknowledged by many as a pioneer of African History.

What is English literature for example? Is it literature in the English language? Is it literature by an English writer? Is it literature on the English experience? Is literature by a Tunisian writer, Arab or African literature or both? Is everyone on the same page on what African Literature is, should be, or is believed to be?
If the writings of William Shakespeare are English first then European Literature as many English people believe them to be, are the books of the Bible and the Koran therefore  Hebrew/Jewish and Arab/Arabian Literature respectively? Shakespeare's subject/theme I remind us, was not always English. Was he therefore writing English literature as some characterize him? Would Shakespeare agree with this characterization? The Bible and Koran's purpose/themes are recognized as universal today but they were originally insular.

Achebe said himself that in writing "Things Fall Apart", he felt compelled to tell Africa's story from the African perspective. He chose to write in the English language because he sought to reach the widest possible audience. He was right we now know. Is Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" English literature or African Literature or both?  Some who wish to undermine the greatness of the man and his work say African Literature. I would say it is World Literature.

  

 

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Chidi Anthony Opara
Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2014 4:27 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Cc: USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: How Achebe Ruined African Literature

 

Literary productions without adequate African ingredients cannot be called African Literature, even if the producers are of African descent.

 

CAO.

On Monday, 31 March 2014 15:50:07 UTC+1, funmiara wrote:

Ladies and Gentlemen:

 

I detest the so-called experts not versed in African Literature and are shunning out ideas on the issue.  African lit encompasses Oral literature, writers from all over the CONTINENT, etc. 

 

African Literature is not ONLY about Teju Cole, Taiye Selasi, NoViolet Bulawayo, Chimamanda Adichie, etc, African literature includes Helen Oyeyemi, Aminatta Forna, Dinah Mengestu, Alain Mabackou, Assia Djebar, Mariama Ba, Oyono, Ngugi Wa Thiong''o, and more from all over the CONTINENT. 

 

We should avoid living in a bowl. 

 

 

 

Funmi Tofowomo Okelola

-In the absence of greatness, mediocrity thrives. 

http://www.cafeafricana.com

http://www.indigokafe.com

 

 

 

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--   kenneth w. harrow   faculty excellence advocate  professor of english  michigan state university  department of english  619 red cedar road  room C-614 wells hall  east lansing, mi 48824  ph. 517 803 8839  harrow@msu.edu