If Stories Were Babies...

Many years ago, Lewis Nkosi of South Africa asked Chinua Achebe which of his novels was his favorite, and he replied that choosing one as the best was like declaring that one of your children was better than the other, and he did not feel that that was a fair decision to make. Yet he still managed to say that he enjoyed writing Things Fall Apart, and there you have it, Things Fall Apart has served him well.

What if readers really treated all stories like babies? So that each time they saw a novel or collection of short stories they would look at it and say, "How cute?" and want to play with it, want to do child talk with it? Surely, there would be more books bought and writers would be proud parents of that which should always be culturally beautiful....

And indeed, Things Fall Apart, even after fifty years of childhood, is very beautiful.

Comments

nadine said…
This is such an enlightening concept.I enjoyed reading your unique way of putting this!
I never would have thought of comparing the two.
I have a sweet baby of my own
www.eloquentbooks.com/TheTreasuredDream
February 5, 2009 at 12:39 PM
Emmanuel Sigauke said…
Thanks nadine. The concept helps us remember that ideas are delicate and need nurturing until they can thrash out on their own. I will check out your site.
February 5, 2009 at 1:35 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Abuja Writers' Forum Call for Submissions

Wordsbody has announced the following call for submissions: CAVALCADE literary journal, devoted to publishing original stories, poems,one-act plays, reviews, critical essays and art from an African perspective,will debut in October 2008 with a special edition. The tri-annual journal, a project of the Abuja Writers' Forum (AWF), is now seeking submissions for the second and third editions. Deadline: October 30, 2008 See more details here: Contribute to Cavalcade.
Read more

Roland Mhasvi's Flowers

Image
This is the cover of my copy of Roland Masvi's Flowers of Yesterday, a collection I reviewed in 1996 for The Herald. I was going through my old stuff when I saw this book in my old collection.  As I was flipping through the pages, I saw the cut-out for the original review, which in part reads: "This is a collection of highly esoteric poetry..., which can be charged of what Afrocentric scholars have described as 'piles of esoterica and ostentatious erudition'... The language is to the ordinary reader opaque, the imagery is inaccessible and the symbolism is surprisingly unusual but invitingly novel...real food for scholars."   The review just reminds me of the Chinweizu days, when we, as university students, had rediscovered African literature and its theory. Talking about Afrocentricity had a certain appeal, and we were looking at a lot of writing through the lenses of this newly-discovered Afrocentricity. Looking back, perhaps there was more in Mhasvi's poe
Read more

FREEDOM, a poem on South Africa by Afzal Moolla

Freedom The shackles have been cast off. Chains broken. People once squashed, under the jackboot of Apartheid, are free. Free at last! Freedom came on the 27th day in that April, 1994. Freedom from prejudice. From institutionalised racism. From being relegated to second-class citizenship. Freedom came and we danced. We cried. We ululated as we elected our revered Mandela. President Nelson Mandela. Our very own beloved 'Madiba'. Black and white and brown and those in-between, All hues of this rainbow nation, rejoiced as we breathed in the air of freedom and democracy. Today we pause. We remember. We salute. The brave ones whose sacrifices made this day possible, on that 27th day of April, 18 years ago. Today we dance. We sing. We ululate. We cry. Tears of joy and tears of loss. Of remembrance and of forgiveness. Of reconciliation and of memories. Today we pause. We acknowledge the tasks ahead. The hungry. The naked. The destitut
Read more