SORRY YOU'VE BEEN TROUBLED. By Omoseye Bolaji

SORRY YOU'VE BEEN TROUBLED
By Omoseye Bolaji

Text of a speech

(Introductory remarks; acknowledgement; thanks...) . I am gratified that our hosts today have dubbed me as something of a writer who has had experience in both Nigeria here, and in South Africa, and who has had books published in both countries. Grudgingly I accept this description!   

From inception I must apologise that (as usual!) I would rather approach this address in a "higgledy-piggledy" fashion, if you'll pardon the phrase. Later on I shall try to field questions from you - something that essentially frightens me! But that would be later.    

It is taken for granted that literature in Nigeria and South Africa is exceedingly rich, vibrant, fecund and scintillating. It has been so for many many decades despite the usual frustrations that festoon the vista of writing, reading books, and its ilk. 

South Africa and Nigeria have produced many fine, great writers. The list runs into hundreds, so do not expect a comprehensive data base from me. I shall just mention the names of some authors here who are ineluctably outstanding. 

South Africa first. We know that great writers like Peter Abrahams and Sol Plaatje, and even Es'kia Mphahlele (above) were pioneering black writers in the country. Over the decades, many more writers have emerged, including Lewis Nkosi, Mongane Wally Serote, Don Mattera, Miriam Tlali, Sindiwe Magona, Zoe Wicomb, Mandla Langa, Vonani Bila, 

In Nigeria our fabled writers are numerous indeed - D O Fagunwa, Amos Tutuola, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Chukwuemeka Ike, Ola Rotimi, Chimamanda Adichie,

Femi Osofisan, Niyi Osundare, John Munonye, Wale Okediran, Zulu Sofola, (Flora Nwapa), Ben Okri...             

In both countries outstanding writers continue to emerge quite regularly. Some appear to be more feted or celebrated than others even if their talent might not necessarily justify this; but that's literature for you. Critics and pundits can make or unmake, reputations (of writers) can plummet, or suddenly soar... Emily Bronte during her times was not regarded as such a wonderful writer; such was also the fate of Herman Melville

whilst alive. Now they are larger than life in literary profile!

As I have said,one sometimes gets a situation where the literati apparently reach a consensus, and laud a particular publication to high heavens. There might be a few dissenting voices, but they will be drowned by the general acclaim. Temporarily at least.             

Nowadays in consonance with modern technology there are many ways of

"pushing" a book to the extent that it might be a roaring success;social media for one, where quite hilariously, hundreds of people or more might applaud a work they never read, and actually buy copies for their personal libraries. And such authors might go on to claim that they are "acclaimed". Other writers might just appear to be supine and

leave their work to ordinary market forces.   

There are many such excellent books, with little or no hoopla around them.One of my favourite books is Deepest Springs, written by South African female author, NMM Duman. It is a stunning work of fiction, some justifiably call it a masterpiece; but the author, who always comes across as diffident and even a recluse, hardly makes any noise about this superb work. Hence I have heard many people claiming she is "not

celebrated"; but the critical attention she has received from informed sources speaks volumes.          

Ah, African women can write -and how! Here I have mentioned the likes of Sindiwe Magona and MiriamTlali of South Africa; and we might note here that Nigeria's Flora

Nwapa mirrors SA's Tlali in that she was the first black woman to publish a novel in her country too. Nowadays Nigeria's Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is recognised as one of the best writers in the world,

and justifiably so.    

Let me briefly mention a South African writer here, Zakes Mda, who also belongs to the top drawer of writers anywhere in the world. Mda can hold his head high anywhere in the  world (like his compatriot, Mandla Langa). Mda's string of novels mark

him out as a genius, and I will like you guys here to do more research

on him, and better still, try to read at least one or two of his

books.  

In Nigeria we all know Chinua Achebe (above) and Soyinka, and their many books; or rather the old/er generation do. Most of you here are

young, and I wonder how many of you have read these world class

writers...? How many of their books have you read?...

One must admit that it has been quite a painful process to see a large number from the pantheon of Africa's outstanding writersdeparting this world over the last few years. In Nigeria the demise of  Chinua Achebe was earth-shaking considering his status as arguably Africa's number 1 writer of all time.  

But Achebe was not the only one. South Africa in particular winced as so many fine writers gave up the ghost over the last few years. Es'kia Mphahlele is a literary

legend - author of the fabled Down Second Avenue, and his passing was

such a thumping loss. The exit of Lewis Nkosi was also very much the

definite end of a world class African writer.        

And the magnificent poet, Denis Brutus died. And Laureta Ngcobo, one of the

pioneering great female writers of South Africa. Nadine Gordimer,

Nobel Laureate. Andre Brink, deserving of the Nobel, also died. And

the magnificent female writer, Assia Djebar from north Africa. 

In Nigeria, apart from Achebe, the remarkable writer, Obi B Egbuna also

departed for the great beyond. And Festus Iyayi died in a

heart-rending car accident. I am not sure enough is being done to

honour the legacy of these great wordsmiths; more worrying still,

whether in SA or Nigeria, the younger generation is hardly familiar

with the works of those who have passed on. I remember - harrowingly -

trying to enlighten many young South Africans (in their own country!)

of the major literary works of Mphahlele just after he died.     

In Nigeria, to my infinite horror I have discovered that by far the

majority of the youth have not even read just one of the fantastic

novels of Achebe; so never mind Chukuemeka Ike, or Elechi Amadi, or

Dillibe Onyeama. It is like we now revel in horrifying ignorance about

our literary successes over the decades.   

We have to pull out all the stops for our literary icons to be honoured in Africa, as is done overseas where major writers have many schools, streets, libraries etc

named after them. And statues and museums...literary societies

concentrating on their work and studies. In South Africa more progress

has been made in this wise, with writers like Sol Plaatje having

public buildings and even a municipality named after him. As we speak

now a dynamic literary activist like Pule Lechesa is ensuring that his

country and world at large realise and appreciate the awesome literary

legacy of the Sesotho writer, K P D Maphalla.

Okay - you have requested for some experiences I garnered in South

Africa in regards boosting reading and writing - so let me briefly

tell you about what I found exhilarating when I edited one or two or

more publications in that country. My longest stint, though was with a

newspaper called Free State News.   

It gladdened my heart so much, that because I went out of my way to encourage literature, writers et al in the publication(s), young and highly talented

aspiring writers began to emerge.     

Virtually all of them would find time to visit my offices, meet me and discuss the

latest feature, interview, review or critique of a "local book" that

came out in the newspaper. Now looking back at it, it is almost

frightening the number of talented writers that one unearthed in the

process. Most of them would go on to publish their own books too over

the years.        

Such authors included Lebohang Thaisi (poet and critic), Job Mzamo (skilled poet), Camagu (short story writer), Pule Lechesa and Ishmael Soqaga (more about them a bit

later), Teboho Masakala ( skilled writer of short stories, who has now

published at least 6 books of his own!), Raselebeli "Magic" Khotseng (sublime poet), George Rampai (award winning

novelist), Charmaine Kolwane (more about her later too), Tiisetso

Thiba (fine poet), Hector Kunene (versatile writer), France Nthejane,

among many others.  

It is a thing of joy to discover" excellent young writers, but the situation becomes priceless when some of such

writers later branch out and become superb literary activists, and

even publish other writers in the process. Yes, publish books like the

late revered Ken Saro Wiwa used to do.  

Hence Pule Lechesa and Charmaine Kolwane (a lady) in particular, continue to make

waves, continuing to write even more books, and publish other budding

writers. They are proving to be wonderful, remarkable fillips for

African literature. The cliche that the sky is the limit - now often

modified to say that the sky might not even be the limit for them,

holds true. 

As for Ishmael Mzwandile Soqaga, he has to be singled out too, as his passion for research, for reading, for literature etc, is more than exemplary. How well I remember how I made his acquiantance!     

Actually in the beginning one might even have thought that he was stalking me(!) if I was the type who worried about such things, but I instinctively knew that he was just being

friendly, especially with we "African foreigners" at the time. He

would take time out to learn a medley of African language greetings;

and he would discuss Africa and its writing with me.

And he would personally approach me and buy my very latest book

whenever such came out. He would read them almost religiously to the

point that he would even be quoting from them - passages that I, the

author, hardly remembered!       

It was a great pleasure to see him writing, and publishing his own books too over the years; his first book was actually a study of some of my own works. He began to

average publishing one new book every year.

In Nigeria here these days, few people buy newspapers, hence

although we boast some of the best newspapers in Africa and the world,

relatively very few get to read the contents, including superb

features on literature. The youth are deprived of feeding their minds

in this wise. The priority is to put something in the stomach, not try

to buy expensive newspapers.     

Here again, South Africa has the advantage, as the country has an incredible number of free newspapers that hundreds of thousands of people can read; such

newspapers and copies distributed across libraries, government

buildings, even shops...the youth take advantage of such largesse and

bask in the stories, including lovers of literature. That's how many

of the writers I have referred to earlier were inspired and

discovered.     

It can be interesting the extent to which some lovers of literature can go - some might dub them eccentric, but

actually it's passion! I remember the first time I met Skietreker, the

vibrant SA poet and d.j...he just came to me and unfolded a dazzling

montage of newspaper features on books, writers, and literature; most

of them published initially by me! (My publications). I was impressed

that this young man (Skietreker) could love literature so much that he

would even go as far as to compile and cherish such stories.

As impressive as "young" Skietreker's montage on literature was

(is), it is small beer indeed when compared to icon Flaxman Qoopane's

Literary Gallery which continues to attract world class writers and

visitors in general. Mr Qoopane who has a lifelong love for books and

literature, was of course my very close companion and "boss" in South

Africa for many many years.    

But it all goes to show us all how exciting, ennobling, and defining literature can be. These days here in Africa, everything seems to have fallen apart. Everything,

including the culture of reading and learning. Even our libraries are

largely coming apart at the seams!

The discovery - and explosion - of the internet has been a terrific, phenomenal boon and fillip for lovers of literature and researchers around the world. Gone are the days of very slow,

diffident, inadequate research on writers and books, especially in

Africa, where specialised libraries and literary museums are thin on

the ground. 

But with the internet - and intelligent use of social media - literature grows by leaps and bounds now. Even in the beginning, with the email system getting into its stride, the internet

was nothing short of miraculous in boosting literature, even in

Africa.  

For example, I fondly remember, many years ago when I was based in South Africa, how I got to make the acquaintance

of Aryan Kaganof the renowned (white) writer, poet, polemicist and

film producer. One day, out of the blues, I just received an email

from him expressing his admiration for my literary work, and Free

State (SA) writing in general. He had been reading about me on the

general internet (Google) and he wanted to learn even more about us.

"Pls send your photo, Mr Bolaji!" he urged, "as I want to put it on my

own particular blog (internet)". 

Well, at that time I hardly knew what blogs were all about - but it was gratifying that at least

it had to do with the internet, which anybody in the world would be

able to access! As is my won't, I did more research on Mr Kaganof on

the internet, and it was clear that apart from being a very prolific,

highly talented writer, he was also an incredibly modest and acclaimed

man of films and documentaries. This is a woefully inadequate

description, hence I urge you all to do your own internet research on

Ogbeni Aryan Kaganof!!!    

Anyway, the point is that one got to correspond with many wonderful writers globally through the internet.Deon Simphiwe Skade (writer and critic) became a close acquaintance

thanks to the general internet, as did many others like the cerebral

international scholar and researcher, Achal Prabhala.  

And thanks to the internet again, one day I suddenly received a correspondence from Winnie Mokhomo (Gauteng, SA) who told me that she was a film-maker and was desirous to make a particular film

documentary on me. She wanted to know all about me, my books, my chieftaincy award (below) etc. As part of this project she subsequently travelled

to where I was based then (Bloemfontein, SA) till the documentary was

finished. The internet continued to come up trumps. 

With the advent of social media, writers around the world were ignited with

even more global elan, but alas my own observation is that in Africa,

social media is often trivialised and misused - including re

literature. The main objective of social media should be to boost and

complement pure literature, not the dross we are often confronted with

these days on social media.          

Writers, especially the young ones should realise that spending extraordinary time/hours on

social media daily posting their latest photos or boasting about

themselves, or where they are "right now" in no way develops reading

and books, and is actually childish and dangerous. Great world writers

over the centuries would never have produced the wonderful work they

are revered for now, if there was social media in their time and they

were always posting trivial matter there, instead of focusing on their

(books') major plots, theme, characterisation etc.    

Yes, African writers must wake up and smell the coffee and focus on

tried and tested, genuine literature - the primary books (works) of

writers, and any pertinent reviews/criticism thereof. This can easily

be accessed via the real substantive internet (eg Google) which is

visited by serious researchers and writers worldwide everytime.

The truth is, no serious researcher or writer will be visiting social media to do "research" on books and writers, as the same would

realise for example that they can not even easily latch onto the

occasional literary gems or glimpses that might be embedded or

surreptitiously submerged under the "archives" of social media.

There is a number of specialised sites pertaining to books and

literature on the internet, including Google Books and other

international sites where people are encouraged to read and discuss

books.    

However goodreads stands out for sheer class and

comprehensiveness. It's a bit like Wikipedia in that the site

encourages book lovers, experts, aficionados from around the world to

revel in the world of literature. The only difference is that

goodreads focuses exclusively on the world of books, with millions of

books being included and discussed.      

 Not surprisingly there is a relative paucity in regards books published by African

writers especially in Africa. The western world highlights in massive

fashion the works published in their own niche, and our (African)

works meretriciously get short shrift.      

But this is not a criticism of goodreads which goes out of its way to include, highlight

and review all books, even hundreds of African works over the decades

and centuries. If our books seem to be relatively ignored there - as

witness tens of thousands of ratings for popular western works on the

site - then it means we Africans are not reading our own works enough,

and our own academics, researchers and pundits are not making their

presence felt enough on goodreads. After all if a book is written in

(an) African languages, it's those who know the language who should

review such works for the world to read!       

And this is another praiseworthy feature of goodreads - one can review works in as

many languages as possible, not only in English, Spanish or French.

The bulk of the reviews, understandably is in English, though. Anyway

my point is that we Africans should take advantage of world class

literary sites like goodreads, and review, discuss and critique our

own works there too regularly.         

These days it is very easy to be despondent about the future of books, especially in Africa here, where fewer people are reading things like published novels, plays,

and poetry. Often I am personally moved to believe what renowned

American author, Philip Roth has said:

"I think it (reading) is going to be cultic. I think always people will still be reading them but it will be a small group of people...".

Yes, I myself tend to be despondent in this wise too, and I even

plumb the depths of despair intermittently. It is as if in our African

societies, one should apologise for loving literature, for relishing

creative reading and writing; as if one should genuflect to others,

and say: "Sorry you've been troubled". Imagine that..."Sorry you've

been troubled"! Should we apologise for embracing literature and

literacy in Africa?   

But then again, I am also filled with exceeding palpable exhilaration and glee, pure joy when I think about fantastic young literary writers and catalysts in Africa, some of whom I myself inspired and encouraged over the years. Hector Kunene. Pule

Lechesa. Charmaine Kolwane. Ishmael Mzwandile Soqaga (above) . Teboho Masakala.

Tiisetso Thiba (below). Skietreker. Omight Adebayo...they themselves are now

inspiring countless others magnificently.    

   

Allow me to round off by stating that it behoves the likes of myself - I - to

continue to try to provide guidance in this wise to you the younger

ones who profess to love the power of the written word. I can only but

appeal to you - read, read, read; read from the extensive published

corpus (books) of great African writers; use the modern miracle, the

internet, to intelligently do more research and augment your readings

on literature. And...sorry you've been troubled? Thank you!!
* O Bolaji 2016

 

OMOSEYE BOLAJI: Selected books published by him

  

Fiction

Impossible Love (2000)

The ghostly adversary (2001)

People of the Townships (2003)

Tebogo Investigates (2000)

Tebogo and the Haka (2008)

Tebogo and the Epithalamion (2009) 

Tebogo and the Pantophagist (2010)

 Tebogo and the Bacchae (2012)

Poetry

Snippets (1998)

 Reverie (2006)

 Poems from Mauritius (2007)

Biographies/Tribute

The story of Collins Mokhotho (2000)

Molebogeng Alitta Mokhuoa (2004)

Kunle Apantaku (2013)

Drama

The Subtle Transgressor (2006)

Literary Essays/General

Thoughts on Free State Writing (2002)

 Miscellaneous Writings (2011)

 It Couldn't Matter Less (2013)

 Far Up! Far Out! Far More! (2014)

Cognoscenti (2016)