Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Naipaul's Latest Book on 'The Masque of Africa: Glimpse of African Belief'

What in Chukwu's name is responsible for our constant relapse into
Nobel mania? That Prize was not established to promote and support
cultural activism amongst Napaul's practitioners of "primitive"
cultures. I have always believed and have said it to whoever cares to
listen that the Nobel and other such prizes are used to promote
puppets of European imperialism. Achebe for instance, in my opinion,
does not need the Nobel or any of such Prizes. He has grown beyond
that.

Chidi Anthony Opara

http://www.chidiopararesume.blogspot.com

On Sep 1, 5:09 pm, kenneth harrow <har...@msu.edu> wrote:
> dear cornelius
> what country did you say you were living in?
> i am still waiting for the brilliant nobel
> committee to explain to me why a nobody like
> golding gets the nobel while africa's great
> writers have not: where is achebe on the list of
> nobelists? why was borges not awarded? i would
> put 10 african authors ahead of golding in a
> flash, starting with the likes of farah, ngugi,
> even okri, compared with le clezio; and without a
> shadow of a doubt assia djebar.
> explain that to me: golding over djebar????
> it is pretty obvious to me that the 3d world gets leftovers, as the man said.
> i am not sure what i would say in response to the
> question, why do we still care? was sartre right in saying no to the prize?
> ken
>
> At 09:42 AM 9/1/2010, you wrote:
>
>
>
> >Ogbuefi Cornelius:
>
> >You are a total "a mo ran bi ni Oyo - asking
> >rhetorical questions bordering on provocation
> >like an Oyo man. You know the answer to the
> >questions you are wahala-ing Ken about. And you
> >are making Naipaul's racism, the worst kept
> >secret in the literary world, sound like
> >something that Ken alone has noticed ("Do they
> >see this racism that you see..."!). Naipaul's
> >racism is not Ken's making. Unlike Ken sha, I
> >have never stopped reading Naipaul because one
> >must keep the enemy close. Anyone who has been
> >reading Naipaul should know that his
> >skin-headism is irredeemable. I wonder why you
> >lumped him with Rushdie? The Satanic Verses is
> >not Naipaulian. Now to your questions:
>
> >  But does the Selection committee of the
> > Swedish Academy need to have their heads
> > examined ? YES, for giving the prize to Naipaul.
>
> >  Do they see the racism that you see in the
> > unrepentant Naipaul ­ or  do you think that
> > conscious as he is, he  is simply unaware of it
> > ? No, the Nobel Committee did not see Naipaul's
> > racism car il n'y a de pire aveugle que celui
> > qui ne veut pas voir. Naipaul is aware of his racism.
>
> >Was it a mistake to award him the Nobel Prize? YES
>
> >and should we tolerate the Swedish Academy awarding such prizes to
> >writers such as Sir Vidia? NO, but you can do
> >natting about it. A lion's liver is vain wish for dogs.
>
> >  or should the prize be withdrawn now or even posthumously? YES
>
> >Pius
>
> >--- On Wed, 1/9/10, kenneth harrow <har...@msu.edu> wrote:
>
> >From: kenneth harrow <har...@msu.edu>
> >Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series -
> >Naipaul's Latest Book on 'The Masque of Africa: Glimpse of African Belief'
> >To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
> >Date: Wednesday, 1 September, 2010, 2:44
>
> >dear cornelius
> >i do not have time for deep reflections now as 2
> >course preps for tomorrow are still to be undertaken.
> >first, i read the early, trinidad novels of
> >naipaul, and then on to bend in the river, among
> >the unbelievers. after that i pretty much stopped.
> >i will rely on your reflections to answer the
> >question i posed: what would a racist author
> >look like? i am not really interested in
> >obtaining the answer from the nobel committee,
> >but rather from the engaged scholars here on
> >this list, and other experts in naipaul. you
> >know his work much more than i do. enlighten us.
>
> >he wrote of 3d world intellectuals as attempting
> >to become civilized by imitating the real thing,
> >english intellectuals who were not afraid to
> >assert the primacy of their venerable
> >civilization. he bought the crap lock stock and
> >barrel, and those who were not up to the task
> >were mere mimic men. africa then became the site
> >for the feebleness of imitation, the failed
> >assimilation policies of the colonizers who
> >never really meant it, and of a barbarism closer
> >to conrad's imagery than say achebe's. there is
> >no humanity in the naipaul africans; the indians
> >of africa were cynics out for a buck, making
> >their way through the savages; naipaul opened a
> >cynical eye onto the political scene, and that
> >was enough for the superior tastes of europeans
> >who don't know a thing about actual african people to be wowed by him.
> >there was nothing left; no love, no beauty, no
> >humanity, no possibility except to follow his
> >own path to the hallowed halls of oxford, or was it cambridge.
> >he was interviewed by an ayatollah in Among the
> >Believers, and asked where he came from. he
> >stated, the islands. but, he tells the reader,
> >the real answer would have been england, oxford,
> >the real home for an intellectual like himself.
> >the islands were long since left behind.
> >i could have continued reading his entertaining
> >books, but my time was limited. was i to spend
> >the valuable time on him, or on soyinka's
> >latest, on the newest nigerian stars, on the
> >latest senegalese film? stories of naipaul's
> >horrific views of black people continued to be
> >circulated, comments that a colleague from the
> >netherlands relayed to me, confirming the worst
> >impressions of racist beliefs. i do not have
> >time to devote to him while i still have an
> >unread assia djebar novel to read. i commend
> >djebar to us all; she is beauty itself; he is the opposite
> >ken
>
> >At 06:37 AM 8/31/2010, you wrote:
> > > Professor Harrow & Co,
>
> > > I'm seeking some more direction from you.
>
> > > At this very moment I'm strangely reminded of Ulli Beier of whom I
> > > heard an anthropologist joke that he was he was leaving Nigeria for
> > > Papua New Guinea, which he described as “ another area of darknessâ€
> > > Some people see, have seen Naipaul and Rushdie as the Wild West's
> > > literary attack dogs who in fiction and non-fiction peer into our
> > > backwardness, to wage war on cherished religious and cultural values
> > > and the life lived outside of  the pale of Western Civilisation, the
> > > Western Civilisation of which  when asked, Mahatma Gandhi said “I
> > > think it would be a good idea.ââ€
> > > I erroneously referred to “Among the the Believers† as post -Salman
> > > Rushdie, because itt has been around for so long; perhaps it even paved
> > > the way for “ The Satanic Verses† and
> > enjoenjoyed even greater popularity
> > > after Rushdie's controversial novel.
>
> > > We all agree that V.S. Naipaul is an engaging writer, perhaps a great
> > > writer, one that we do not neglect and some of us seem to be forced to
> > > read, just because he visits some of our natural habitats. Is that not
> > > so?
>
> > > The Nobel Prize committee awarded Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul
> > > the Nobel Prize in Literature for largesse of spirit, not  for for
> > > being a racist or for being “one of the great racist writers of our
> > > t time “ but  "for having united
> > perceptive narrativeve and incorruptible
> > > scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed
> > > histories".
>
> > <http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2001/naipaul....>http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2001/naipaul....
>
> > > After the award he has not rested on his laurels but suitably
> > > encouraged and rewarded has continued in the same vein, turning his
> > > lights on and exposing other areas of darkness with even greater
> > > intensity ( insensitivity?) and gained an even greater audience.
>
> > > Can he also be accused of rank dishonesty in his “Beyond Belief:
> > > Islamic Excursionons among the Converted Peoples†?
>
> > > I got a coppy of his “ Half a
> > life† from his Sws Swedish literary agent for
> > > Christmas, 2001 or 2 .She was at the Noble Banquet and  may have a
> > > soft heart for him and seems to to think that he's a nice bloke.
> > > That's women for you, can have a  soft spot for every kind of
> > > scoundrel. Beauty and the Beast.
>
> > >  But does the Selection committee of the Swedish Academy need to have
> > > their heads examined ? Do they see the
> > “racism† that yot you see in the
> > > unrepentant Naipaul ­ or  do you think that conscious as he is, he  is
> > > simply unaware of it ? Was it a mistake to award him the Nobel Prize
> > > and should we tolerate the Swedish Academy awarding  such prizes to
> > > writers such as Sir Vidia or should the prize be withdrawn now or even
> > > posthumously?
>
> > <http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUK257&q=No...>http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUK257&q=No...
>
> > > On Aug 30, 4:43Â pm, kenneth harrow <har...@msu.edu> wrote:
> > > > i need to simplify in responding here, to
> > both friends cornelius and ikhide:
> > > > the problem is not that naipaul mounted
> > > > criticisms of africa or africans. but that all he
> > > > sees of africa and africans is evil. perhaps we
> > > > can say that there were real flaws in black
> > > > culture after the american civil war, and that
> > > > depicting the legislatures in the south as
> > > > dysfunctional was an accepted critique. but  if
> > > > all one sees are subhumans in those who represent
> > > > the flaws, one is generating racist stereotypes,
> > > > not simply critiquing. there has to be a
> > > > difference between the two, between a critique
> > > > generated from the perspective that those being
> > > > critiqued are still human like all humans, and
> > > > another that evokes their animality and evil
> > > > natures as those of inferior beings, as meriting
> > > > being spit upon, as those whose vaginas merit
> > > > being spit upon....naipaul's scene, not mine, in bend in the river.
> > > > if naipaul is not a racist, maybe griffith's
> > > > birth of a nation isn't, and the greatest emblems
> > > > of racism are merely humorous criticisms.
> > > > maybe not.
> > > > tell me how to read someone who consistently
> > > > represents dark skinned people as inferior, if not as a racist.
> > > > ken
>
> > > > At 08:40 AM 8/30/2010, you wrote:
>
> > > > >I have not yet read Naipaul's latest but from the comments on this
> > > > >page and the Guardian's review, my expectations are great:
>
> > > > ><http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/2
>
> ...
>
> read more »- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

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