TWO NIGERIAN [LITERARY] SPIRITS IN LONDON

Guest Blogger

“ If music be the food of love, play on;

Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,

The appetite may sicken, and so die."

Duke Orsino

TWELFTH NIGHT: Act 1, Scene 1.


The two Nigerian literary spirits in London, UK, Ben Okri and Omohan Ebhodaghe have been likened to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 27 January 1756 - 5 December 1791 and Ludwig Van Beethoven, 17 December 1770 - 26 March 1827. Wolfgang was a prolific composer of over 600 works of the classical era while Ludwig carefully chose his works.

Ben Okri ( 15 March, 1959 ) was born in Minna, Niger state of Nigeria to an Igbo mother and an Urhobo father called Grace and Silver Okri. He schooled at Urhobo college in Warri and later returned to England in 1978 for a study of comparative literature at the university of Essex. He did not complete his BA degree programme due to lack of finances. He later became poetry editor for the West Africa magazine as well as worked for the BBC. He was a vice-president of English PEN. He is laconic in the use of language. He was homeless in his early days as an author in London and an issue that galvanized him into owning his own house. He takes fame rather too seriously. He is Eurocentric. He is overwhelmed with the central theme of death. A second generation Nigerian author, he lives in London, UK. His works, that included nine novels, are:

(1) FLOWERS AND SHADOWS

(2) THE LANDSCAPES WITHIN

(3) INCIDENTS AT THE SHRINE

(4) STARS OF THE NEW CURFEW

(5) THE FAMISHED ROAD

(6) AN AFRICAN ELEGY

(7) SONGS OF ENCHANTMENT

(8) ASTONISHING THE GODS

(9) BIRDS OF HEAVEN

(10) DANGEROUS LOVE

(11) A WAY OF BEING FREE

(12) INFINITE RICHES

(13) MENTAL FIGHT

(14) IN ARCADIA

(15) STARBOOK

(16) TALES OF FREEDOM

He has been awarded various prizes including the 1991 Booker prize. He received an OBE and as a further FRSL. He has honorary doctorates from the university of Westminster in 1997, the university of Essex in 2002 and the School of Oriental and African Studies of the university of London in 2010.



Omohan Ebhodaghe ( 16 February, 1961) was born in Lagos state to Jacob Osakwe and Alice Otekpen Ebhodaghe both of whom are of the village of Idunwele in Ewu of Edo state, Nigeria. He had his secondary schooling in Delta and Edo states before completing his degree in English and Literature at the university of Benin in 1984 and a postgraduate diploma in Education at the university of Lagos. In 1995, he did a short course in copy-editing for publishers at the Bookhouse Training centre at Wandsworth town, London, UK. He had worked as a schoolteacher in Benin city and Lagos. He contributed articles, poems and stories to newspapers and magazines. He was the 1993-4 publicity secretary of the Association of Nigerian Authors, Lagos state chapter. His abiding central theme is everlasting life. His language usage is complex, elaborate and sophisticated. He experienced an initial and treatable mental health issues as a fulfilled spiritual vision of his childhood global outreach that somehow enabled him to be a London, UK, successful writer. He does not take fame that seriously. He is Afrocentric. He is a member of the Society of Authors, UK. A third generation Nigerian author, he lives in London, UK, courtesy of a British Council, Lagos office assistance. His works are:

(1) TWENTY NIGERIAN WRITERS: PORTRAITS, co-editor

(2) HIGHTOWER: Ibhayu poetry

(3) IN THE MIDST OF LOAFERS


His forthcoming works are:

(4) A HEART OF THEIR OWN

(5) ONLY FOOLS DIE

(6) A CASUALTY OF TIME

(7) PHOTOCOPIES & ORIGINAL

(8) A HEALING FREEDOM

(9) MAKING NOISE, MAKING HISTORY

Ben Okri and Omohan Ebhodaghe both write and talk about the spirits. One uses the magical realism style and the other deploys dramatic realism to achieve his goal. While Ben Okri’s interest centred around Abiku in Yoruba language or Ogbanje in Igbo language as exemplified in Azaro (Lazarus) the spirit-child of his best known work THE FAMISHED ROAD, 519 pages, Omohan Ebhodaghe focuses on the Christian God Jehovah that Okoekpen Okonofua Junior the student in the epic novel IN THE MIDST OF LOAFERS, 945 pages and the spiritual lord Okonofua in PHOTOCOPIES & ORIGINAL, 960 pages both show. John Pepper Bakederemo Clark, Wole Soyinka, John Munonye, Amos Tutuola and Daniel Olurunfemi Fagunwa amongst others had written on the Abiku myth before Ben Okri. Omohan Ebhodaghe is the first person from Nigeria to write the (first and second) long-awaited and expected great Nigerian novel of over 900 pages, 46 lines per a page.