What i wrote was in order as far as i am concerned and is not hostile but a statement of fact. I live in the bastion of political correctness. Here i wish to be able to call a spade a spade. Adaobi is representative of a new generation of african intellectuals if she has won a commonwealth prize. There is ideology and politics involved in these matters. This is the point. It were someone else i would not even make a comment. She is not the first make this kind of careless statements in the Western media. I wont name names. Some of the new writers have no ideological training period, much unlike the old masters she was trying to compare the younger ones with. And that again is a fact, not hostile. And not to forget that she published her piece in the NYT. DO you think NYT just publishes anyone? They published her because she is seen as the face or one of the faces of african writing. I believe you work in business/economics etc; if you refer to me as expert, pray what you? Not an expert? Actually no one will argue with you when it comes to your areas of specialty. But you are quick to berate and wag your fingers in a patriarchal fashion all the time. "you dis yeye literature experts; make u na take time o". wag of finger. Why, pray does any economy/business practice needs experts?
Since you are an economist/business expert you might also not read the ideological undertones in that tiny piece she wrote. Trust me it might come to haunt her literary career in the future - because she is venturing into the area of discourse. Better she listens now and be careful how she frames public statements. What she is doing is performing "blackness" all over with that piece. I do not have time to go into it now. Or do you think the NYT people do not know what they are doing? They will publish her of course. it is her words. She is a poster-child etc. And i wont dignify a piece like that by responding to it in the NYT. I should also add that USA/Africa like most internet listserves is a private forum, not as public as NYT. I assume the matters in here is between members. So sometimes one needs to speak as freely as one wants without control and censorship from folks like you.
AE
On 12 December 2010 18:19, Anunoby, Ogugua <AnunobyO@lincolnu.edu> wrote:
"This is very ignorant commentary. What is wrong with these young writers? One noisy novel and she becomes a literary critic, making unfounded assertions about African literature. Where did the young woman get her PhD in African lit from? Best to ignore her."'
" This is a young writer who might be taken as representative of a new generation of intellectuals in Nigeria or even Africa. What she did was ill-advised. She is not well-equipped to discuss the topic,"
ae
The depth of intolerance exhibited by some Forum participants is scary and a real cause for worry.
Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani's article, published in New York Times (12/12/10) is no more than her opinion on the state of African literature. Her position is not "representative" and she did not claim it to be.
There is no denying however that Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka are giants of African literature. Their different literary stylesliterary e (there are others by the way) have become models for aspiring African writers. Both men have fans, and followers who actively try to create themselves in the image of either writer in the hope that they too may be successful. Adoabi to this extent therefore was stating the obvious and may not be fairly criticized for a stating well-established fact.
Adaobi is also in order in my opinion to make a case for other styles and trajectories in African literature. She holds out Ngugi wa Thiongo whom she admires as she has a right to, to be another great African writer with a different literary style in her opinion. What is wrong with that? Why should anyone be rightly insensed by the expression of an opinion on a subject that is clearly imprecise and does not subject itself to one hundred percent unanimityto To seek difference or to counter-position for their own sake has not usually helped many human causes or led toenduring and measurable improvemennts of the Arts and/or Science. Anyone who disagrees with Adaobi is advised to challenge her in a counter article. The New York Times is still in business. They should successfully resist the temptation to deprecate persons and opinions that they disagree with if they wish, to enrich and not unreasonable undermine sensible conversations on issues that Adaobi and others bring up for public discourse.
One does not have to agree with Adaobi to acknowledge that she is as qualified as anyone else to comment on the state and future of African literature. It must not be forgotten that African literature is not a homogenous whole as some "experts" pretend that it is.
oa
________________________________________
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Amatoritsero Ede [esulaalu@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, December 12, 2010 3:59 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - African Literature: The curse of the Nobel Prize
Mr Ogbunwezeh,
My name is not 'Edeh' but Ede. You read me literally. You miss the sarcasm in that statement of mine. The moral is that if one is going to make 'representative' commentary in a global public space like NYT, one has to know what one is talking about and not make a fool of oneself. This is a young writer who might be taken as representative of a new generation of intellectuals in Nigeria or even Africa. What she did was ill-advised. She is not well-equipped to discuss the topic. It is also said that sometimes silence if golden. You sir, are the mediocre one here, who cannot even read the subtext of a simple line... Go away with your nigerian buffoonery. Your rejoinder below betrays your a simpleton's mind. I lived in Germany for 8 years, studied there and know the language and mindset... dont make examples of Germany to me. Germany thrives on expertise whether it is gained formally in the classroom of not.
Amatoritsero
On 12 December 2010 15:34, franklyne ogbunwezeh <ogbunwezeh@yahoo.com<mailto:ogbunwezeh@yahoo.com>> wrote:--- On Sun, 12/12/10, Amatoritsero Ede <esulaalu@gmail.com<mailto:esulaalu@gmail.com>> wrote:
Mr. Edeh,
Does one need a PhD to enter an opinion on an issue? Your question betrays the Nigerian mindset which canonize paper qualification over and above competence. It is really a sign of mediocrity.
Many of the guys driving German industry have no PhDs. They are simply very competent. Competence trumps over our pretences to titles.
Franklyne Ogbunwezeh
* ************** *************** ****************** *************** ***********
What constitutes a disservice to our faculty of judgment, however, is to place obstacles in the way of assembling truth's fragments, remaining content with a mere one- or two-dimensional projection where a multidimensional and multifaceted apprehension remains open, accessible and instructive.
Wole Soyinka, Between Truth and Indulgences
From: Amatoritsero Ede <esulaalu@gmail.com<mailto:esulaalu@gmail.com>>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - African Literature: The curse of the Nobel PrizeTo: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Date: Sunday, December 12, 2010, 10:18 AM
This is very ignorant commentary. What is wrong with these young writers? One noisy novel and she becomes a literary critic, making unfounded assertions about African literature. Where did the young woman get her PhD in African lit from? Best to ignore her.
Amatoritsero
www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa<http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa>On 12 December 2010 10:14, Toyin Falola <toyin.falola@mail.utexas.edu<http://mc/compose?to=toyin.falola@mail.utexas.edu>> wrote:
In Africa, the Laureate's Curse
By ADAOBI TRICIA NWAUBANI,
New York Times, December 11, 2010
Lagos, Nigeria
THE Nobel Prize in Literature was presented to Mario Vargas Llosa at an awards ceremony on Friday in Oslo. This reawakened the disappointment felt by many fans of African literature, who had hoped that this would be the year for the Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o. But there's actually reason to celebrate Mr. Ngugi's loss. African literature is better off without another Nobel ... at least for now.
A Nigerian publisher once told me that of the manuscripts she reads from aspiring writers, half echo Chinua Achebe and half try to adopt Wole Soyinka's style. Mr. Achebe and Mr. Soyinka, who won the continent's first Nobel in literature in 1986, are arguably the most celebrated black African writers, especially in terms of Western accolades. But their dominance causes problems in a region where the common attitude is, "If it already works, why bother to improve on it?"
Here, each successful seller of plantain chips spawns a thousand imitators selling identical chips; conformity is esteemed while individuality raises eyebrows; success is measured by how similar you are to those who have gone before you. These are probably not uniquely African flaws, but their effects are magnified on a continent whose floundering publishing industry has little money for experimentation and whose writers still have to move abroad to gain international recognition.
An Ngugi Nobel would have resulted in the new generation of aspiring writers dreaming of nothing higher than being hailed as "the next Ngugi."
This would be a shame. Of course, it would be a relief to know that there's at least one more option for young writers besides becoming the "next Achebe" or the "next Soyinka." But what African writing needs now is real variety and adventurousness - evolution, not emulation. Messrs. Ngugi, Achebe and Soyinka are certainly masters, but of an earnest and sober style. What about other styles?
As a lover of humorous books, I'm often saddened that I can find hardly any by African authors. Fans of lighter literature or commercial fiction often make the same complaint. I know some young writers who are experimenting in these and other genres; an Ngugi award could have pushed them back to the old tried and tired ways.
I should say that Mr. Ngugi remains one of my literary sweethearts, and he's hardly a conformist. Many fans have extolled his brave decision to write in his mother tongue, Kikuyu, instead of English. If he truly desires a Nobel, I can't help but wish him one. But I shudder to imagine how many African writers would be inspired by the prize to copy him. Instead of acclaimed Nigerian writers, we would have acclaimed Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa writers. We suffer enough from tribal differences already. This is not the kind of variety we need.
I'd rather we miss out on this year's Nobel party and are able instead to celebrate the accomplishments of more literary groundbreakers in the future. African writers will achieve more greatness when they are rewarded for standing on the shoulders of their elders to see farther ahead, instead of worshiping at their elders' feet.
Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, an editor at the Nigerian newspaper NEXT, is the author of the novel "I Do Not Come to You by Chance."
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Toyin Falola
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