Our good friend Obi Nwakanma has a lot to say about the state of Nigerian Literature today. Not sure I agree with him, he seems to be doing the same thing over and over, romanticisizing the past. I don't know, Nigerians are writing A LOT, it is just that a few people imagine themselves to be authorities on the subject of Nigerian writing and they seem to want to talk about it obsessively, me being one of the a few people, lol! I get the sense that Obi Nwakanma has not been reading much of contemporary Nigerian writing lately. He sure is reading some fairly ancient books. A couple of years is a long time in the life of Nigerian literature
It is interesting that even as Obi Nwakanma examined historical Nigerian literature, he ignored the works of the female writers of the era - Buchi Emecheta, Flora Nwapa, nee Nwakuche, etc.. The more I read his piece, the more inchoate it comes across. He takes himself too seriously. Literature does not belong on the shelves of libraries. Libraries are dying anyway ;-)
Your thoughts? Read him here...
- Ikhide
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