reflections on the world
Browsing the archives for the Literature category.
Those interested in new Nigerian writing will do well to check out the latest issue of Sentinel Nigeria magazine. It has a poem of mine among several refreshing works of Nigerians of different age and convictions. There are also some two poems from Peter Akinlabi whom I’d interviewed for the particular issue. All comments welcome. Enjoy.
Find it here.
I had a mojito today, for the very first time, like many other things I report on this blog. Thanks to the prodding and generous encouragement by a colleague in the department, I am discovering not just a new palatal delight, but a new lesson in (literary) history. Olga says it’s invented by Ernest Hemingway. Wikiepdia says it’s only Hemingway’s favourite drink. The indisputable fact however is that the man Ernest Hemingway liked his mojito very well that he went to a bar called La Bodeguita del medio and wrote “My mojito in La Bodeguita, My daiquiri in El Floridita” on the wall there. It can still be seen today in his own handwriting.
A few more things about the bloody author. He was born in Oak Park, Illinois, he wrote Old Man and the Sea, A Farewell to Arms, among many other books. He liked his alcohol, and he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. He was in Africa where he was injured and almost killed in a plane crash, and he committed suicide, the bloody guy, in 1961. He also “invented” the mojito.
The drink is made of : white rum, sugar (traditionally sugar cane juice), lime, sparkling water and mint. As opposed to KT Martini made only of Sherry wine and soda, the mojito is limy and less intoxicating. I guess that makes the mojito more family oriented, or so? Or maybe not. We need to find an independent assessor. In any case, I’m glad to find in Ernest a kindred spirit of the muse, the wine and the restless feet. Let’s take out the suicide and we may have something close to a match. Now I need to find someone to send me any of his books for free whether electronically or physically. \
Do you need my address?
I came across this in the shelves of my professor’s library a few hours ago. It is a special edition of Drumvoices Revue (Spring-Summer-Fall 2004) that featured a set of Nigeria’s Third Generation writers. Introduced by Nigerian poet Remi Raji who was then in the United States, the section in the publication was a result of earlier collaboration between this University and the one in Ibadan. Even the cover said as much, with Lola Shoneyin taking a choice spot in the corner. Other writers featured in it were Toni Kan, Tade Ipadeola, Francis Egbokhare, Toyin Adewale-Gabriel, Unoma Azuah, Obi Nwakanma and Angela Nwosu.
Drumvoices Revue is a publication of the Eugene Redmond Writer’s Club and edited by Eugene B. Redmond itself. I’m going to find out if they still publish works. Those were good times when Eugene came to Ibadan seeking new voices around Nigeria, and seeing the book brought back good memories.
One word: nostalgia.
“I feel it’s best to look at this story critically from two angles. The first is the merits of the writing, which should of course remain paramount. In this, Tubosun does very well. He captures the dry absurdity of a potentially terrible situation, and the ending is remarkable in its pathos. I believed both the matter-of-fact and slightly sympathetic tone of the nurse, and I believed the narrator’s feelings when he hoped he did not have the illness, but suspected that, because of his life and where he lived, he might. Tubosun alternates between writing with very plain, ordinary language, such as when a conversation occurs, and larger, quite grand sentences which seek to encompass the tumultuous shifts of emotions experienced by the narrator. He is adept at both, and perhaps most importantly, knows when to use which. When the narrator talks to the nurse, the writing becomes short and sharp because the narrator himself is tense with anticipation, he must be calm, because if he is not – collapse. When he retreats within himself, his conscious is allowed to expand, and so, too, does the writing, Tubosun’s sentences uncoiling like languorous snakes willing to take their time to reach their destination.”
Culled from Damian Kelleher’s review of my story in African Roar. Read the rest here.
Kinna Reads http://kinnareads.wordpress.com/
A blog written from Ghana on issues relating to reading and literature. From the blog description: “On this blog, you will find a good mix of reviews and commentary on novels, short stories and poetry. I love poetry, can’t live without it 
Basically, this blog reflects my reading life.”
(Thanks Tayo for the link)
The anthology of twelve stories in which my short story appears was launched over the weekend in California. Here is one picture from the event at Eso Won books, the only physical bookstore to stock the book so far. More news and pictures about the Launch is here on Emmanuel Sigauke’s blog.
To buy the book online, check Amazon here, and the ebook versions here.
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I read the 2010 Caine Prize-winning short story yesterday. “Gore” is the first word that came to my mind afterwards.
Olufemi Terry’s Stickfighting Days is a moving story that one never forgets in a hurry for its description of raw violence among (pubescent) boys in an imaginary dump site. I’ve read a few stories of raw violence that moved me. One of them was Fola by my friend Olumide Abimbola. It is a short family story with enormous prospects that I believe should be expanded to a standard short story length. It definitely comes to mind right now, but Terry’s offering takes us deep into an isolated world free of societal interference. There is no redemption at the end, just violence, and perhaps some jungle justice that must serve as the only catharsis afforded the reader.
Benson Eluma has written a review aimed at the insularity of the lives of the characters of the story. My friend’s observations in his review take the dialogue on literary craft and responsibility of the writer to a different direction and force us to ask a different kind of question. For me however, it is the stark violence without a chance for a real redemption that puts me off the story. It is not a deficiency as far as craft is concerned. The story is very well written and I don’t think I’ll be reading it again. Read the review on Nigerianstalk. You can read the story itself here.
Alton, IL
Kitengela hopes to see you again…
