MY LITERARY CENTS by Audilia Wakesho Mwamburi

Teaser on 3 Must- Read Literature Pieces

Some of the glaring optimism that is highlighted to us is:

In  Nadine Gordinmer’s endless unshrinking bravery in her novels to speak into the human thoughts by drawing associations of what is personal and communal  in seeking freedom. A good example is in ‘No Time Like the Present’ that explores the bridging of the gap from pre to post apartheid in South Africa which elevates the greatness of what freedom is against the social turmoils which might seemingly be pronounced but is rather a question of having a personal reformation. 

In Edward Said’s Orientalism, he consistently yet aggressively debunks the notion of the superiority of the west and terms it as an indicator of the east being brainwashed. Let us  have hold on this, it is a clear description of what we the African youth tend to have been trained to think and act as inferiors hence a dire need for us to seek solace on our uniqueness as Africans is!

In Wole Soyinka’s poems in ‘Shuttle in The Crypt’ though on the surface might seem to be irrelevant to the understanding of questions of our age or times, as it repeatedly exposes the personal deep-seated anger for his nation at that time in quote ‘unjustified confinement’. It is a reminder to history, for us -the African youth to appreciate what our people at that time endured to fight for a safe haven in Africa that we so enjoy today. The least we can do is to optimistically make our African nations better and not grapple into complaints!

In Micere Githae Mugo’s ‘My Mother’s Poem..’ and Chimamanda Adichies notable works (example- Purple Hibiscus, Americannah, A Feminist Manifesto and many others)  share the same ideologies to bring forth an individual’s freedom and a re-defined new identity within the constructed social and cultural groups though from a feministic point of view. The underlying message is the aspect of us African youth to be bold enough to redefine things that deem us ‘not enough’!

In Mukoma Wa Ngugi ‘s ‘Logotherapy’ and Ebenezer Agu’s ‘A Triangle of Time and Aging’ both pay homage to the journey that one has taken personally in finding a meaning to life and finding a voice to give forth appreciation to the littlest things around us whilst being optimistic to what life brings! This is also heavily seen in Yvvone Owuor’s ‘The Dragonfly sea’. I cannot reiterate further what The Daily Nation Kenya stated - it is a story that -open quote” offers a new journey of liberation, discovery, reflection and even new imagination’ end quote.  

To mark my conclusion, the youngest African youth writer, Safia Elhilo in her remarkable work that albeit speaks volume to any person that recalls being a kid - the ear-piercing book, ‘ Home Is Not A Country’ honestly, after reading this book is when I got to understand how often we forget we have an unfathomed great power to draw what we want our lives to be- a question of how easily we predestine our future! 

My question is therefore: How do we want our African Literature to be -will it still be relevant to our future generation, a century from now? 

Allow me to pause and say; African youth lend an ear, indeed lend an ear ,and see that African Literature is a go -to Literature as a source of solace!

’21st century African Youth; is a person I perceive to be a representation of a timeline between dependence and independence yet fully aware of what he/she wants by communicating candidly at times, might seem somewhat  dismissive but at the very core of their communication, there is a an admirable level of wanting a platform to be listened to and being taken seriously. Let me reiterate Ojaide remarks on contemporary young poets…:recent echoes of globalized Africa;’ basically that's who a youth is.  It is hereby that I challenge the African youth to take a deliberate departure from considering themselves as being the undermined or societal victims and position themselves to be perpetrators of anything imaginable as Africa’s visionaries.

It is with this understanding of the Afrij being visionaries that they need to have a clear conscious understanding of what African literature really is aside from the predisposed concept  of it being a colonial literature that we have grown to know and learn since our childhood days. 

‘I therefore posit : that- African literature is a source of refuge and solace’; the father of African literature, Chinua Achebe has over and beyond emphasized in his works, to name a few, ‘No longer at ease’, ‘Things Fall Apart,’ ‘Arrow of God’ and ‘ A Man of the People’ about the need for we Aficans to forego our fears and worries of being the inferior humanity and take an inner look at how great we are as a people, as a culture and the diversity we characterize in our various ethnicity. In the aforementioned books, all the main characters are faced with a challenge or put  in a position that takes them back in deeply knowing what is African, hence forging a way forward into new possibilities. Achebe’s plot lines are entwined in with stories within a story, mainly fables that are to primarily bring in a focal point on the essence of the African youth to alleviate fear and seek comfort in what is African. I am mostly in love with Achebe’s assertive standpoint in ‘An Image of Africa’ essay that calls into question the misrepresentation of Africa as a …open quote; ‘so hopeless and so dark, so impenetrable to human thoughts, so pitiless to human weakness’ end quote. This is worth mentioning to us the African youth of the 21st century in lending an ear into taking any pessimism that lures us into demeaning African literature and to take on the optimism of our Africa as a source of refuge and solace which is predominantly reinforced by our African authors.

African literature is literature that goes beyond the borders of nationality, ethnicity and geography but one that is universal yet appealing to the personal depths of inner self. In this definition,I therefore set aside the idea of looking and expressing truths from a group perspective but from an individual perspective. An individual who at the sound of these words will make deliberate effort to be vulnerable yet open-minded to view better yet, read literature as an ordinary everyday language in expressing their pessimistic ideologies of life with an optimistic challenge to live freely by reaffirming a sense of self .

Secondly , relevance, the relevance herein connotes to the aspect of one reading literature materials and getting perked up by insights, ideas,thoughts, expressions,feelings,attitudes that are purely and relevantly African,The relevance here is to act as a call to action by embracing,appreciating what is uniquely us and about us.

Lastly, questions of our times; I will try to use some of African literature works either a novel or a poem and enthuse us to picture, imagine , listen, feel or try to get a grip on the issues and concerns about our times. Our times here, signifies ‘this very present time we are living in- the 21st century ! whilst making comparisons of where we have come from and drawing conclusions of what’s next -. I will intentionally single out the young people of Africa today. ( Notably,’young’ in this context is fluid in nature hence immeasurable within the parameters of age)