Apologies for my misspellings below. Please just ignore it when I misspell pidgin or apollonian. You get the gist, I hope.
Kenneth Harrow
Dept of English and Film Studies
http://www.english.msu.edu/people/faculty/kenneth-harrow/
From: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Kenneth Harrow <harrow@msu.edu>
Reply-To: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Date: Tuesday 30 August 2016 at 10:14
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - What went wrong?
Another point on this. Soyinka’s prose/poetry have grown over the years. He can be very very allusive, and you have to read carefully to catch what he is saying, as you would with other modernists (like joyce for instance). He can be hard, like a good poet. He can be, often is, hilarious—like his “sit down strike” in The Interpreters, which is something you won’t forget.
But he is only one kind of writer.
Achebe’s “traditional” writing, w proverbs, rich metaphors, clarity… between him and Soyinka is what, in the old days, would have beencalled apollian vs Dionysian prose (Nietzsche).
Those styles are quite different from kourouma, whose humor, playful indigeneity, takes closer to the miracles of pikgin writing, which is something I love when it is good.
All these styles are absorbed by readers—let’s say African readers, who themselves are inspired to write. As they succeed they generate generations of writers, like adichie imitating achebe in Half a Yellow Sun, and something we can call the tradition of African writing is creating. As the authors, and readers, themselves might have also heard oral stories as they grew up, that aspect will also play into the drama and nuance and style.
All that has come as African publishing grew from the 50s on.
You can imagine how sad I would be at the prospect of dismissing all, or any, of this as European because English or French or Portuguese languages are used. A great writer uses it all; denies none of the linguistic features that mark their style. A good cineaste does the same, and you get the same split, say between mambety and sembene, with the former closer to Soyinka, to the Senegalese humor and biting sarcasm and inspiration, and the latter to ameliorism and engaged writing, but also hilarious at times.
The key to all this, for me, has to do with African audiences/readers/spectators being able to read African authors or filmmakers. It is by far the most important point, but the entire creation of a tradition depends upon it. We all want to be readers of everything that is good; but if we were denied good African writing because of difficulties of publication and distribution, then cultural losses would be huge. We have to thank people like falola who actively encourages scholars to publish, amatoritsero ede, with his online journal, and so many others who face insuperable odds in getting the word out. And hard as that is, making films and getting them distributed in Africa is even harder—thank god Nollywood has broken the almost impossible barriers on that.
Enough for now.
Let's put aside any bickering and work collectively on just this one thing: how can we work to enhance publications of African texts (fiction or nonfiction) or films. Both are quite important, and in my older age I hope to be able to help there, as an answer to toyin’s call.
I am senior editor for a list of books on African lit and cinema for msu press. We are publishing in the next few weeks novels by olympe bhely-quenum and boubacar boris diop, the latter one of my favorite authors all around. Publishing and translating books written in African or non-english languages requires more money than a press disposes of. We need to work hard to figure out how to raise funds to get good translations published as well.
As for films, the ALA film studies group now has undertaken to explore ways of finding startup funding for African films. I would be very willing to help work on that project as well, to try to figure out how to make platforms actually work for the filmmakers so they can get funding for the next films. That’s the practical reality of it: we need funds for publishing and for creating/distributing films if an African literature and cinema is to grow.
ken
Kenneth Harrow
Dept of English and Film Studies
http://www.english.msu.edu/people/faculty/kenneth-harrow/
From: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of "meochonu@gmail.com" <meochonu@gmail.com>
Reply-To: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Date: Monday 29 August 2016 at 21:30
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - What went wrong?
"I think we have to ask people to read, like ikhide, read voraciously, and the words will sink in till you want to be writing yourself."
Ken,
I totally agree. You have to read good prose if you want to write well. I'm a sucker for sumptuous, elegant prose. I tell my students this; I tell them that they can write their way into my heart and an A. I have my favorite writers, including some people on this list. Has anybody read the prose of the Nigerian scholar, Ebenezer Obadare? I read him and savor his good writing. Okey Ndibe writing is one of the purest, elegant proses you will ever encounter. I don't just read good scholarly writing; I also read good journalistic writings and literary essays. Those are probably my favorite because they are shorter and more compact.
On Mon, Aug 29, 2016 at 4:15 PM, Kenneth Harrow <harrow@msu.edu> wrote:
Having read Mouth Sweeter than Salt, I can attest to toyin’s wonderful, engaging style…and to his modesty.
Good prose style is not really taught in school. You have to have a feel for language, actually love words and their sound, their sweetness, or sharpness. We can listen for it, admire it, and play with it. Those averse to this are losing out on one of the great joys of life. I had a friend who was an important writer in England—of Pakistani origins. To improve his work he studied Chekhov closely. I think we have to ask people to read, like ikhide, read voraciously, and the words will sink in till you want to be writing yourself.
ken
Kenneth Harrow
Dept of English and Film Studies
Michigan State University
619 Red Cedar Rd
East Lansing, MI 48824
517-803-8839
harrow@msu.edu
http://www.english.msu.edu/people/faculty/kenneth-harrow/
On 29/08/16 16:29, "Toyin Falola" <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com on behalf of toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:
The moderator has come again, to borrow from Fela:
If you read pieces from Moses, Farooq, Bolaji, Buba and Obi, you enjoy them for the pleasure of the language. I don't always agree with the contents, to be sure, but I have hosted dinner just to enjoy the language.
My own prose is mediocre as I did not have the pleasure of having parents to send me to a good school. I don't even know my father!
So the question is at what point did we lose it?
How come these folks can write so well, and in that same space today, many can no longer do?
For aspiring politicians this is not a Buhari issue!!
At what point did Nigeria get it wrong?
TF
Sent from my iPhone
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