Tag: writers

It wasn’t only that the imports and nature of mega cities and mega narratives dominated the literary discourse of the 37th edition of the Association of Nigerian Authors’ international convention this year in Lagos, it was also time for writers to go soul-searching on the true ideals of sentiments and issues that should constitute genuine concerns for writings. Edozie Udeze reports.

The theme Literature; mega cities and mega narratives which formed the central focus of this year’s Association of Nigerian Authors’ (ANA) 37th international convention could not have come at a better time and season.  As authors from different parts of the country gathered at Ikeja, capital base of Lagos State, the total concept was to recapture the theme’s very essence in the lives of writers and how these sentiments of a mega city have informed the centrality of their writings.  But before the lecture proper was delivered by Professor Karen King-Aribisala of the University of Lagos, other sensitive issues bordering on the concepts of writing and authorship and the society, were highlighted by different speakers and guests.

For Bisi Fayemi, wife of the Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi, it is the duty of writers to write to be heard.  Before unveiling the convention, Fayemi called on writers to be conscious of their society in whatever ideas they wish to convey.  “For me”, she began, “I write to maintain my identity; it is basically for me to satisfy myself.  I write to bear witness to issues around me; to teach and to instruct.  You have to defend the things that happen around you; the things you see and experience.  As writers, it is our duty to unearth issues of politics, religion and hate, all the problems that trouble the society.  Whether in form of poetry or prose or drama, it is our work to see how we tackle the issues to make for a better and saner society”, she said.

As a writer, Fayemi was at home with her colleagues as she charged them to dig deeper to handle the economy, ensuring that they focus on social, environmental and infrastructural development.  “When you do these, the volumes of your works will speak for you and you will have your reward here on earth”, she teased.

In his capacity as the chairman of the occasion, prolific playwright, dramatist and former president of ANA, Emeritus Professor Femi Osofisan cautioned writers to be wary of how they write.  “I am happy to see ANA grow from strength to strength”, he enthused as he briefly recounted those early days of the association.  “There are many bad leaders in our society who kill and maim.  We write about them.  But we also have some good leaders.  We have to also write about their good works so as to encourage the younger ones to stay and not to run away from here”.  His words seemed to have sychoronised with Aribisala’s caution in her speech concerning negative narratives.

But the president of ANA, Mallam Denja Abdullahi traced the origin of insecurity in Nigeria and how everyone’s life is endangered including those of writers.  “From all over the country, people feel unsafe”, he said.  “Yet it is the duty of writers to write.  When we remember the days of Mamam Vatsa and Ken Saro-wiwa, when the military were in power we remember the responsibilities of writers to do their duties.  Then they were killed by the military.  No one seems to be safe these days.  The state is in trouble.  But that does not mean it will change the fortunes of the association.  We have to continue to stand on our own.  For it is the role of ANA to project the image of writers.  You can see that writers, in spite of the nature of the state, have made efforts to be here.  We will have to work until we are self-sufficient, until we build a solid and stronger writers’ body”.

He lampooned leaders, mainly members of the National Assembly for their insensitivity to the plight of the people.  “Elections are full of the mad frenzies of leaders.  This sort of development is not good for our democracy, for the whole nation.  Like Christopher Okigbo said: ‘we remember thunder when they share the meat’; thunder of unmerited positions and stolen mandates which are prevalent in the society.  Writers are not meant to be partisan, and political, but we are stakeholders in this whole political set-up.  So, we have to write”.

Abdullahi took time to commend members who have taken to the murky waters of politics.  He believes, however, that they will make the desired change that will give birth to a new society.  An elated Abdullahi hopes that with the re-entry of Dr. Wale Okediran, a former president of ANA into the Oyo politics, it may yet usher in new moments of glory for ANA and its fortunes.

Aribisala traced the histories of mega cities, mega narratives as they concern literature and then drew attention specifically to Lagos.  She said, ‘As we have seen, the negative mega narrative is rooted in deception.  It is a narrative which manipulates language to obfuscate truth.  The same process is evident in the current spate of reality show today like Big Brother.  In fact, their very designation as reality shows is falsehood.  Rather than conveying reality, they are, like art forms, orchestrated form of reality”.

But beyond that, Aribisala reasoned that the nature of a mega city makes it possible to harbor all sorts of characters, mainly the bad ones.  This gives room for writers to feed on these characters and their idiosyncrasies to produce mega narratives.  These narratives are more often than not riddled with negatives and stories of social norms and misnomer.  “Moreover, literature, as exemplified by George Orwell’s 1984, is used to promote negative morals and value systems”.  She gave examples of some works of Nigerian authors that utilized the sentiments of the mega city of Lagos to offer mega narratives.

These works include Chinua Achebe’s No Longer at Ease, Cyprian Ekwensi’s Jagua Nana, Soyinka’s The Interpreters, Leye Adenle’s Easy Motion Tourist, Ben Okri’s Dangerous Love, Teju Cole’s Everyday is For The Thief.  Others are King-Aribisala’s The Hangman’s Game, El Nukoya’s The Baron of Broad Street, Toni Kani’s The Carnivorous City and more.  In each of these books attention was paid to the happenings that constitute the ambiance of the mega city; the more the population, the more tendencies for bad things to happen.  People come from all over to constitute all sorts of ills and wickedness that make writers write more on negatives rather than on positives.  She said “mega city writers create characters who, while lured by the opportunities the city offers its inhabitants, nevertheless discover that its allure and bright lights are all a ruse when they are confronted with the overwhelmingly negative realities of urban life”.

In other words, writers derive their titles from those events, the social issues of the mega city.  In fact, “the vey titles and content of mega city fiction to reveal a yearning for a positive mega narrative that will empower the lives of the characters.  Novels such as Noo Saro-wiwa’s Looking for Transwonderland:  Travels in Nigeria, express the hope of the protagonist for a wonderland.  She is seen searching for a positive evaluation of Nigerian cities, among them, Lagos”.

Aribisala’s contention is that in as much as mega cities offer events and scenes for mega narratives or stories, writers should be careful not to use those to create further tension in the society.  She said.

“Given the overwhelming negativities associated with the mega; with mega cities and mega narratives, how can we employ mega narratives for the benefit of humanity?  We cannot do away with universal overarching belief systems.  They guide and assist us in our inter-personal relationships for good or for ill.  Can the much touted ideology of unity within diversity actually become a reality?  Literature, our narratives, should strive relentlessly to pursue the mega-narrative of our common humanity and destiny.  Literature, as stated in the constitution of the Association of Nigerian Authors, should “encourage the commitment of authors to the ideals of a humane and egalitarian society”.

The objective, while being specific to Nigerian writers, is a universal mega narrative ideal.  As Joyce Cary remarks, “all novels are concerned from first to last with morality.  All writers have, and must have some picture of the world, and of what is right and wrong in that world”.

Can the ideal of a humane and egalitarian society be envisaged in mega cities?  Can it be realized in our global world?  As we have seen, the mega-narrative is essentially deleterious to the human race.  In this digital age, it is especially inimical.  The speed of accessing information is so rapid that one has insufficient time to truly ponder arguments, facts, and truths.

“Moreover, the Western world is advantageously positioned to control and manipulate our lives and realities, given its access to superior technology.  This makes the mega-narrative a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands, and the hands with even the best of intentions, are often the wrong hands.  Even when a micro narrative asserts its own overarching belief-system, dangers also abound.  This is because there are dangers in believing that the micro is better than the mega.  The micro narrative can easily become another negative mega narrative.  There is a choice of being ruled by a good, positive, mega narrative or a bad, negative, mega narrative.  Invariably, to suit our interests, we turn good narratives into bad narratives.  In this regard, might is right, mega is right.  These presumptions promote violence.  They lead to Christians killing Muslims; Muslims killing Christians; Protestants killing Catholics and Catholics killing Protestants.  They lead to revolutions where ruling elites like the Russian Czars are murdered in the service of a communist mega narrative ideal.  And so it continues”.

The convention was apt for writers to rob minds on story ideas, knowing exactly the very issues that call for attention at this moment in the socio-political history of the country.  Even though most delegate were not happy with the level of arrangements by the host state, they were nonetheless grateful for the opportunity to converge for this annual ritual.  In attendance were Mabel Segun, the matriarch of Nigerian literature who came in company of aides, Soji Cole, winner of this year’s NLNG Nigerian Literature Prize, Akin Adeoya the chairman of the LOC, Professors JOJ Nwachukwu-Agada, Akachi Ezeigbo, Ngozi Udeh and more.  It was a time to see Lagos; to savour its vast beauty in ugliness; its many yawning sentiments giving room to massive and mega literary narratives.  Some authors even termed it mega trouble, mega narratives.  And indeed they could be right, for this indeed is Lagos.

In the last two weeks, two great American writers passed on at an age that is considered ripe and good after well lived lives. The first was Tom Wolfe. He died on May 15 at the age of 88 and Philip Roth who died on May 22 at 85. The two might not be popular with some of us but they were both great and profound.

I first came across Wolfe in the eighties as a student. His book New Journalism caught my attention. The title of the book attracted me to it and I remember going to the school library daily to read chapter by chapter until I read the whole essays there in. It was an impressive collection that tries to justify or convince one that journalist must acquire the craft of fiction writers to make their stories compelling to readers.

After reading it I became addicted to his writings and tried to lay my hands on everything thing he ever wrote. Three of his books – Bonfire of Vanities, The Right Stuff and A Man in Full – are proud trophies on my bookshelf today. He signified for me what use journalism could be deployed to and made to serve the good of man and the cause of literature for humanity. He was once asked whether if giving writers advances was a boost to their creativity. He belongs to that school of thought that believes big money could be a hindrance to creativity. According to him, “Writers who strike it big probably shouldn’t have as much money as they get. Being pressed was what kept (Charles) Dickens going in full fit. I find it very hard if I have money in my bank account. I was kind of wallowing in my success after Bonfire of Vanities. A foreign publisher would invite me to some country I’d never been to and I’d go and have a wonderful time. It became a disease.”

Perhaps many writers would disagree with him that having money kills creativity. However, he lived life in full. He was always dressed sartorially with his signature bow tie and white suit. His dressing throughout his life time did not conform with the archaic picture of a journalist or writer who was a deviant and one who dressed anyhow.

Roth, on the other hand, is a writer I am not too familiar with. I can only boast of having read two of his books, and that was years ago. It was in those years I was just getting immersed in reading American writers after having read James Hadley Chase, Harold Robins, Sidney Sheldon and a host of others.

When his death was announced on May 22, I had to quickly read up on him and reacquaint myself with his literary oeuvre. A website described him as “the last of the great white males: the triumvirate of writers — Saul Bellow and John Updike were the others — who towered over American letters in the second half of the 20th century. Mr. Roth wrote more novels than either of them. In 2005 he became only the third living writer (after Bellow and Eudora Welty) to have his books enshrined in the Library of America.”

Both writers won critical acclaim and awards at home: Wolfe among others won National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, National Book Award Finalist, and Washington Irving Medal for Literary Excellence. On his part, Roth won two National Book Awards, two National Book Critics Circle awards, three PEN/Faulkner Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Man Booker International Prize.

The two have no doubt earned their prestigious place in the annals of world literature and would continue to live in the hearts of their readers and new converts. For instance, Roth’s death has made it necessary for me to hunt for his books and see why he once denounced being Jewish but American. However, he eventually wrote books to confirm his Jewish heritage. Truly, writers don’t die.