'There is a lot of focus on books from all over Africa and the world; authors include Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Kunle Ajibade, Ayi Kwei Armah, Dambudzo Marechera, Bessie Head Ifeoma Chinwuba, Lewis Nkosi, Futhi Ntshingila, Es’kia Mphahlele, Gabriel Okara, Kola Onadipe, Emmanuel Obiechina, Ola Rotimi, Mbella Sonne Dipoko, Cyprian Ekwensi, Peter Abrahams, Kofi Awoonor, Kole Omotosho, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Dillibe Onyeama, Mariama Ba, Charles Mungoshi, Mabel Segun, Kenneth Kaunda, Siphiwo Mahala and NMM Duman. Others (mainly from Europe) include works by the likes of William Shakespeare, George Orwell, John Grisham and Sidney Sheldon. Others in this ilk include Nadine Gordimer, Joseph Conrad, Namitha Gokhale, Joyce Cary, Leslie Meir, Leonard Woolf, Betty Tootell, and Maria Sharapova. Bolaji writes on all these, and more here.'
Cameroonian writer Mbella Sonne Dipoko (1936 - 2009) was mainly depicted as an erotic writer of sorts; whereas the simple truth is that he was a very good novelist and poet. His novels in particular disturbed a number of critics, reviewers and readers because of the rather explicit sexual content therein. That was way back in the 60s when some felt that a "serious, committed African writer" should not dwell too much on such things. As Paul Theroux suggested then decades ago, African writers were supposed to write "about solid tribal wisdom, ghoulish rituals and the inscrutable cruelty of colonialism - not to mention the inclusion of semi-profound proverbs and the utterances of very old men with dry skin and wizened faces." Yet, even way back in the 60s (and early seventies) other distinguished African writers wrote about sex in some detail in their works; for example Ayi Kwei Armah ( especially in Fragments), Chinua Achebe (A man of the People), ...
Hearty Congratulations!
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ReplyDeleteSomething to celebrate
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ReplyDeleteWhat a book! Mr Bolaji at his best and most "literary". I loved many of the features especially the focus on Camara Laye's books; and the one zeroing in on Palmer''s great work on early African novels
ReplyDeleteThe great man at his best ... doing what he loves most... basking amidst a medley of books
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