In this new book, it is remarkable how many sweeping, far-ranging literary allusions author O Bolaji resorts to whilst paying this heart-felt tribute to his friend and literary colleague, Kunle Apantaku. My intention here is to briefly point out some of these references.
Bolaji mentions a raft of literary protagonists, most of them among the best the world has ever seen. These writers, African and Eurocentric, include Wole Soyinka, Kola Onadipe, Cyprian Ekwensi, Chinua Achebe, Ama Atta Aidoo, Ben Okri, Dillibe Onyeama, R.L Stevenson and Herman Melville.
Other wordsmiths mentioned in this new book are William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Philip Roth, John Steinbeck, Bessie Head, Dambudzo Marechera, Ayi Kwei Armah, Sol Plaatje, Njabulo Ndebele, Melvyn Bragg, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Enid Blyton, Sidney Sheldon, William Shakespeare, Nostradamus (the great seer), Frantz Kafka, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Flaxman Qoopane, and Ishmael Mzwandile Soqaga.
Reminiscing on their youthful writings long ago (he and Kunle) Bolaji states:
“Now looking back on it, it is rather strange that we considered ourselves as “old” at that time, and even the themes of what we wrote reflected this: love, philosophy, sex, crime etc. There is a very impressive corpus of African literature anchored on children’s books. Even in those days, the outstanding African writers like Chinua Achebe, Cyprian Ekwensi, Ama Ata Aidoo and Ngugi wa Thiong’o had penned some children’s works. But although we had read countless Eurocentric works of this ilk some years ago (the Enid Blytons, Biggles series, Three Investigators, Hardy Boys and the like) we now firmly considered ourselves – even at 15 – as mature, rather wizened wordsmiths!
“I have always maintained that the youth must devour pertinent literature (Children’s books) when they are very young – let’s say from around 4, 5 upwards. Nothing can be more exciting than reading such books at the right age. In this wise, I must pay a brief special tribute to one of the all-time greats of Black African writing pertaining to children – Kola Onadipe.
“His books were – are - extraordinarily interesting for the young ones, with works like the exhilarating The adventures of Souza. Mr Onadipe (now deceased) was a very prolific author of such books for the young; his published titles include The adventures of Souza, The boy slave, Koku Baboni, Sugar girl, The magic land of the shadows, The forest is our playground, The return of Shettima, Footprints on the Niger, Sunny boy, Sweet mother, Around Nigeria in thirty days, Call me Michael, Halima must not die : and other plays for schools; Happy birthday : queen for a day; Mothers-In-Law, The Other Woman, A pot of gold, Beloved daughters, The king is naked : and other stories, The mysterious twins; and Binta : beautiful bride…”
Do writers belong to the loony bin? Are they a crazy breed? Here are Bolaji’s views on this:
“We think of excellent (now dead) African writers like Dambudzo Marechera and Bessie Head, who were also “oddities” in their own way. Their idiosyncrasies and “weird” behaviour have been chronicled by scholars over the years. Lunacy also seems to loom large in the magnificent novels of Ayi Kwei Armah (especially in Fragments)
“How many times over the years have I heard African writers complaining in this vein: “Few people appreciate writers; they think we are crazy. We Blacks just want to enjoy material things, not things of the mind. Why can’t we wordsmiths be appreciated?”
“But it is not only “Black Africans” who might view writers with suspicion. Consider the case of Herman Melville, American, now world famous for his fantastic novel, Moby Dick in particular. Yet during his lifetime he was often derided; family members even prevailed upon his wife to leave him, “the madman”. Incredibly, here is how a national publication (The New York Day Book) commented on the great Melville in those days (1852):
“A critical friend, who read Melville's last book, Ambiguities, between two steamboats accidents, told us that it appeared to be composed of the ravings and reveries of a madman. We were somewhat startled at the remark, but still more at learning, a few days after, that Melville was really supposed to be deranged, and that his friends were taking measures to place him under treatment. We hope one of the earliest precautions will be to keep him stringently secluded from pen and ink..."
Bolaji in this book also remembers how Kunle used to mention then-young writers, Ben Okri, and Dillibe Onyeama. Bolaji concedes that Okri is by far the more famous now, adding:
“But here is a brief literary sketch of Onyeama for record purposes: The writing career of Dillibe Onyeama, a Nigerian, has straddled five decades - though he was only born in 1951. Author of the famous book, Nigger at Eton, Onyeama was reputed to be the first Black African to study at that institution (Eton College). He went on to publish over twenty books and has contributed prodigiously to African publishing after returning back to Nigeria.
“His other published books, over the decades, include John Bull’s Nigger (1974), African Legend, The Return, Juju (novel) Secret Society, Boomerang (short stories), Notes of a so-called Afro-Saxon, Godfathers of Voodoo, Female Target, The Night Demon, The New Man, Revenge of the Medicine Man, Book of Black Man’s Humour; and God, Sex and the English man (2012). Readers of Onyeama’s books insist that in works like Juju, he matches the best of Eurocentric mystery/thriller fiction…”
Whilst adumbrating on diverse literary styles Bolaji writes;
“Take three disparate writers for example, all Nobel-award winners in literature; William Faulkner (USA), Ernest Hemingway (USA), and Wole Soyinka (Nigeria). Their approach to writing is completely different; you might say the simplistic, “journalistic” approach of Hemingway is the complete opposite of that of the dense, profound, intricate style of Soyinka. Faulkner might not be as complex as Soyinka, but he is certainly streets ahead of Hemingway in this wise. And what about the “streetwise” John Steinbeck (American too) who also won the Nobel Award?”
Thereafter Bolaji quotes Faulkner with great relish (even making it come out in bold type in this book);
Bolaji is also happy to reproduce what distinguished British writer, Melvyn Bragg has written as regards literary criticism:
“…the teaching and programming of literature has let loose armies of ‘readings’ and interpretations which – whatever the quality –have threatened to divert the attention from the novel itself, to the theory erected around it,”
There is a lot more – Bolaji even deprecates and undermines his own contributions to literature over the decades – but it is appropriate that Bolaji ends his tribute to Kunle by making an allusion to William Shakespeare. Better still let us reproduce the very end of this book:
“Olakunle Olubukola Apantaku was one of the finest literary talents Africa has produced. It does not matter that due to strictures etc of his time he could not publish much during his lifetime. And so what? The great European writer, Kafka (Franz Kafka) published very little during his lifetime; and it was only later on, posthumously that those who had been close to him began to publish the bulk of what he had written.
“Now we come to the terminal stage where we spew the clichés: Rest in peace, Kunle.
Or in Yoruba:
Sun re oo…O di’gba ose…
Ah, but Kunle also revered Shakespeare. So as Horatio says in Hamlet: “…and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest…”
In effect, Kunle Apantaku and international literature are intertwined in this illuminating new book.
