The news of the passage of Harry Garuba heard from Town Crier, Toyin Falola, is devastating and unsettling. Harry Garuba's intellectual lattern was lit at the Ibadan Faculty of Arts Foyer in the 1980s where friends and defenders of the Humanities usually gathered like angelic "cabals" to make poetry more potent than the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. That milieu at Ibadan was like an army of literary Ozidis ready to breach the old Benin Moat (wall) of an earlier generation of verbal and metaphorical engineers of the soul as Russian aestheticians described literary artists decades ago. Harry was one of the 'infidels' against poetic orthodoxy and Euro eccentrics who thought nothing good could come out of the Nazareth of iconoclastic imagination. Just before Harry sprouted, the brood of poets and critics spurned by Ibadan already included the bearded, "baritoned" Omafume Onoge in Sociology, Abiola Irele in French, Kole Omotoso in Arabic Studies, Femi Osofisan and Yemi Ogunbiyi in Dramatic Arts, Isidore Okpewho, Molara Ogundipe, Sam Asein, Biodun Jeyifo, and Niyi Osundare in English. Odia Ofeimun was the Akaraogun nearly lost in the forest of the Social Sciences of European theorists but usually rescued whenever he hibernated in the Arts Faculty and "argument joints" around.
Garuba proved right the aesthetic dictum that whoever criticises correctly can also create enduringly. He was in the poetry group that met regularly to prune verses and curb excessive flights of fancy. His works appeared regularly in the OPON IFA chapbooks Osofisan edited. He was to edit a poetry volume for young voices published for a conference of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), I think in Calabar in 1989.
Soon after that cockcrow the exodus of writers and thinkers hit Ibadan. The deluge took away nearly everyone on the raft of literature and criticism - Irele, Okpewho, Osundare, Garuba. He drifted to South Africa just when the frost of apartheid was thawing and had a memorable career there. Omotoso had made South Africa more charming as a destination with his book, Season of Migration to the South. Those of us held hostage in the homeland for lack of ambition saw Garuba "live" infrequently. But his audacious views echoed through tge vast globe in print and conferences. Like in Kofi Awoonor's "Song of Sorrow" death has done us unfairly in the Ibadan corner of literature and criticism. Gone to the great beyond now are Omafume Onoge, Sam Asein, Abiola Irele, Akinwunmi Isola, Isidore Okpewho; Molara Ogundipe, and now, gangling Harry Garuba.
There is a Midwest silver lining that gets obscured in the narratives of multiple voices in the creative vineyard: a good number of the writers and scholars from 1960s come from the lands of minority tongues of the Delta-Edo cultural geography - Pius Oleghe (Achebe's contemporary) Frank Aig-Imoukhuede, Mabel Segun (nee Imoukhuede), J. P. Clark, Neville Ukoli, Sunday Izevbaye, Sam Ogude. Fred Agbeyegbe, Abiola Irele, Joe Ihonde (Hotel de Jordan), Sam Asein, Isidore Okpewho, Eseoghene Barret, Biodun Jeyifo, Sam Ukala, Tanure Ojaide, Funso Aiyejina, Odia Ofeimun, Tony Afejuku, Harry Garuba, Ogaga Ifowodo, Anote Ajoulorou, Evelyn Osagie. For the bereaved global family of poetry and literary criticism, perhaps it is morning yet on creativity day.
GG Darah
Sent from my iPhone
--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/20B61282-4848-40CA-AA9F-877BF34DA583%40austin.utexas.edu.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Look at the way my acquaintance Wesley Virgin's biography launches with this SHOCKING AND CONTROVERSIAL video.
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of fact, Wesley was in the military-and soon after leaving-he unveiled hidden, "SELF MIND CONTROL" tactics that the CIA and others used to get everything they want.
These are the same secrets tons of famous people (notably those who "come out of nothing") and elite business people used to become rich and famous.
You probably know that you use less than 10% of your brain.
Mostly, that's because the majority of your brain's power is UNTAPPED.
Maybe that conversation has even occurred IN YOUR very own head... as it did in my good friend Wesley Virgin's head seven years back, while riding a non-registered, trash bucket of a vehicle without a driver's license and $3 on his banking card.
"I'm very fed up with living paycheck to paycheck! Why can't I turn myself successful?"
You took part in those types of conversations, isn't it so?
Your success story is going to happen. All you have to do is in YOURSELF.
Watch Wesley Virgin's Video Now!
You should see how my colleague Wesley Virgin's report launches in this SHOCKING AND CONTROVERSIAL VIDEO.
ReplyDeleteWesley was in the military-and shortly after leaving-he revealed hidden, "MIND CONTROL" secrets that the CIA and others used to get whatever they want.
These are the EXACT same secrets many famous people (especially those who "come out of nothing") and elite business people used to become wealthy and successful.
You probably know how you use less than 10% of your brain.
That's really because most of your brainpower is UNCONSCIOUS.
Maybe this expression has even occurred INSIDE OF YOUR own brain... as it did in my good friend Wesley Virgin's brain seven years ago, while driving a non-registered, trash bucket of a car without a driver's license and $3 in his pocket.
"I'm very fed up with going through life payroll to payroll! When will I become successful?"
You've taken part in those thoughts, ain't it so?
Your own success story is waiting to start. All you need is to believe in YOURSELF.
Watch Wesley Virgin's Video Now!