African Literature & Literary Biography
There is a gap in the study of African literature, and African scholars or scholars of African literature need to step up to the demands of this literary niche: Literary Biography.
There was once a time when Eurocentric critics like Adrian Roscoe and Charles Larson charged African literature of being the product of short-distance runners; the novels were always too short to command serious attention, these critics argued, and they thus relegated the literature only to journalistic, and anthoropological documents about a continent beleagured by many problems. Well, they were writing in the 70s and 80s, and now things have changed.
The literature has matured; Africa is now celebrating 50 years of one of its landmark novels, Things Fall Apart. This novel, together with many others written in English, French, Portugueese, Gikuyu, Shona, and dozens of other languages, have produced proteges that have elevated the literature to widespread attention. As the literature has explanded, so too has the diversity of its scholars. We have a large corpus of works deserving of serious non-fictional attention, and scholars need to start publishing biographies of these authors, catch them before it's too late. Let's not continue the trend of taking an African author seriously once he passes away (as in the cases of Dambudzo Marechera, Christopher Okigbo, Solomon Mutswairo, and others).
Biographical works should be written about writers like Charles Mungoshi, Chenjerai Hove, Mariama Ba, Dambudzo Marechera, Chinua Achebe, Ngugi Wa Thiongo and others. As literature departments worldwide expand or shrink, a need will arise for resources of African literature, and scholars who have written dissertations and theses on these famous authors should consider large-scale studies that present information to future scholars. This is not something new, of course, especially considering that authors from other continents tend to demand much shelf space in libraries because of all the biographies written about them.
The attention Chinua Achebe is receiving for his first novel is commendable and all the conferences should be followed up with publications of the papers presented, and publishers should approach some of Achebe experts to agree to make biographical proposals (I'm sure Achebe wouldn't mind) and start working on them; that's just the right (literary)thing to do.
If you ever find yourself wondering what the benefits of this venture would be, never hesitate to contact me. In fact, you might inspire me to start working on one of these authors's biography, or I would have already begun by the time we talk.
There was once a time when Eurocentric critics like Adrian Roscoe and Charles Larson charged African literature of being the product of short-distance runners; the novels were always too short to command serious attention, these critics argued, and they thus relegated the literature only to journalistic, and anthoropological documents about a continent beleagured by many problems. Well, they were writing in the 70s and 80s, and now things have changed.
The literature has matured; Africa is now celebrating 50 years of one of its landmark novels, Things Fall Apart. This novel, together with many others written in English, French, Portugueese, Gikuyu, Shona, and dozens of other languages, have produced proteges that have elevated the literature to widespread attention. As the literature has explanded, so too has the diversity of its scholars. We have a large corpus of works deserving of serious non-fictional attention, and scholars need to start publishing biographies of these authors, catch them before it's too late. Let's not continue the trend of taking an African author seriously once he passes away (as in the cases of Dambudzo Marechera, Christopher Okigbo, Solomon Mutswairo, and others).
Biographical works should be written about writers like Charles Mungoshi, Chenjerai Hove, Mariama Ba, Dambudzo Marechera, Chinua Achebe, Ngugi Wa Thiongo and others. As literature departments worldwide expand or shrink, a need will arise for resources of African literature, and scholars who have written dissertations and theses on these famous authors should consider large-scale studies that present information to future scholars. This is not something new, of course, especially considering that authors from other continents tend to demand much shelf space in libraries because of all the biographies written about them.
The attention Chinua Achebe is receiving for his first novel is commendable and all the conferences should be followed up with publications of the papers presented, and publishers should approach some of Achebe experts to agree to make biographical proposals (I'm sure Achebe wouldn't mind) and start working on them; that's just the right (literary)thing to do.
If you ever find yourself wondering what the benefits of this venture would be, never hesitate to contact me. In fact, you might inspire me to start working on one of these authors's biography, or I would have already begun by the time we talk.
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