It's so sad that some of our greats such as Dick Gregory lately passing us by, quietly on, almost surreptitiously...
Many thanks, Professor Kenneth Harrow for bringing the passing of the tragic Yambo Ouologuem to our attention.
A little question to you professor: What happens with what could pass off as quotations from the vast reservoir of the Western - Eastern Parnassus / heritage when absorbed consciously /unconsciously say in a written stream of consciousness / internal dialogue - such as some of the stuff from popular song, from Plotinus, Heraclitus or Jesus, a little less common than " love your neighbour as your self" , " I am the resurrection and the life" etc how is the distinction made between what is common and belongs to all of us and what may be disembowelled and laid out as " plagiarism" ?
On Sunday, 15 October 2017 22:40:18 UTC+2, Kenneth Harrow wrote:
One of africa's most famous early authors has died. Yambo ouologuem, author of Devoir de violence (Bound to Violence). As important a novelist, in the history of african literature, as I know. Devoir came out in 1968, and it was astonishing. The critics did not want to believe an African could write with such style, as so discredited him as a plagiarist. His defense of the plagiarisms was almost as powerful as the novel. His work was part of the revolutionary spirit of the times, not only in his attacks on power—what we'd call colonial, neo-colonial, and postcolonial—but on sexual taboos, and on negritude. Attacks on the veneration of historical figures who were depicted as virtual slave owners. Attacks on a world of privilege, of domination, of corruption—as seen from below, as seen from the perspective of what he termed "la negraille." He was a true man of trash, in the sense of disruption, disturbance, and daring.
And then he quit writing. Returned to northern mali, became as religious advocate, and disappeared from view. We need to salute him as one of the signposts of African literature, and remember what he accomplished with the few writings he provided.
Maybe he could be compared with Rimbaud.
If irele were alive, he could tell you all what he meant. I hope others will step into irele's footsteps, and provide their testimonies about him, so that his passing does not occur in silence.
ken
Kenneth Harrow
Dept of English and Film Studies
http://www.english.msu.edu/
people/faculty/kenneth-harrow/
From: <apela-inf...@asso.
univ-lorraine.fr > on behalf of Bani Diallo <cnlpd...@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Bani Diallo <cnlpd...@gmail.com>
Date: Sunday, 15 October 2017 at 12:29
To: <apela...@asso.univ-lorraine.fr >
Subject: [apela-infos] Disparition de Yambo Ouologuem
Chers membres de l'APELA,
J'ai une triste nouvelle à vous communiquer : Yambo Ouologuem, le premier lauréat africain du Prix Renaudot, s'est éteint dans la nuit du samedi 14 octobre 2017 à Sévaré.
Que son âme repose en paix !
Bien que déinscrit de la liste APELA, pour des raisons d'ordre technique, j'ai tenu à diffuser cette information, au moment où les obsèques officielles du défunt sont en cours de préparation.
Mamadou Bani Diallo
Tél. : (223) 76 48 31 29
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