In Lieu of A Book Review
Oseloka Obaze*
Chinua Achebe: On the risks of being a writer
Tuesday 20 November 2007
Characteristically, Chinua Achebe used a moment of personal high honor, not to gloat, complain or recriminate, but to sketch underlying need for public support of writing and creative arts. In thanking President O. Aldon, James, Jr., the Board and members of the National Arts Club (NAC) in New York City, for honoring him with The Medal of Honor for Literature, the legendary author did not dwell on his past, present or future glory or his fixations as an author. Rather, he used the Thirty-ninth Annual Dinner and Literary Award Dinner on Friday 16 November, to warn his fellow literary icons, friends, and admirers, of the pitfalls of taking for granted the public support, which any writer ought to have, if they strive to write anything worthwhile and particularly, anything that might engender political debates of sorts.
Professor Achebe did not need to dwell on his own importance or literary accomplishments. There was no need to. The distinguished and eclectic gathering of more than 150 personalities said it all. And the accolades did flow from the right quarters and with the expected cadence and flourish. True to his universal acclaim, the various nationalities of humankind a broad range of age groups and people from all occupations were ably represented. Besides his immediate family, close friends and relations also joined Achebe at the black tie event. Present also, were some Nigerian authors, Chike Momah, Okey Ndibe, and Chimamanda (My God won’t falter) Adiche to whom clearly, Achebe had been a friend, mentor and inspiration.
However, Achebe’s literary peers were perhaps the most eloquent and noticeable. Clustered around the same table with the honoree and his lovely wife Christy Achebe, were authors, Toni Morrison, Michael Thelwell, poet Breyten, Breytenbach, as well as Brown University President, Ruth Simmons, and Bard College President Leon Botstein, who also served as the Master of Ceremony for the event. Nadine Gordimer could not be physically present, but sent in her written homage, in which she ungrudgingly showered well-deserved kudos on Achebe, noting in summation; ‘His genius as a writer is his gift to us of his utterance of the life of the African past, its defeat of colonialism and the revelation of the African present, with its achievements despite hazards including those imposed by the greed of world powers’.
The well-attended evening event began on schedule, after a one-hour of the most interactive reception and conviviality. It was kicked off by Cherry Provost, who along with Johanna Garfield and Robert Kornfeld, co-Chair of the NAC Literary Committee. As she rightly surmised, she did not have to say much about the honoree, since the selected speakers for the evening had been charged to do so. As if to prove her right, they did not disappoint.
Leon Botstein, reputed for his classical musical prowess, was sonorous in spearheading the commendations for Achebe. Gloating politely, he basked on the providence of Bard College and his enduring vision, in deciding to snap up Chinua Achebe as a member of the faculty of his college. In mesmerizing and profoundly lucid language, Botstein informed the audience that the decision had been well founded. Achebe’s being at Bard was not predicated on what he would do for the college, but on what Bard College felt, it could contribute toward preserving and protecting Achebe, a literary icon of unquestionable renown, who was already a priceless gift to humanity. Botstein then facetiously but jokily, shot an arrow across the Ivy League club’s bow, by noting that those in the club had the self-serving tendency of believing their own rhetoric and self-importance. It was only thereafter, that the audience became aware that Bard had won the right-of-host–and-abode for Chinua Achebe over the more prestigious Ivy League Princeton University.
The other tributes that followed; those by Ekwueme Michael Thelwell, Ruth Simmons and Breyten Breytenbach were no less impressive. Each pursued a different angle and rationalization, but always ended with an affirmation of what a jewel Chinua Achebe was, not just for the literary world, but also to humankind and posterity. The respective speakers tended to agree with Gordimer, that ‘Chinua Achebe has not feared to challenge, with the ideals and practice of justice and humanity, those post-colonial, independent regimes in Africa who abuse personal power in every way from banning political opposition to corruption’.
Professor Thelwell, for his part, did not find enough time to toast his dear friend and colleague- Ikejimba. He, therefore, had to be contented with reducing and redacting the finer details of what has become his life-long serenade of Chinua Achebe – the Eagle of the Iroko, which he did so well in his opening address during the 12 February 1990 symposium on the life and works of Chinua Achebe, at the University of Nigeria Nsukka. In an insightful moment, Thelwell recalled that Somali novelist Nuruddin Farah had once written a very glowing and reverential tribute to Chinua Achebe, thus affirming Achebe’s place as the doyen of all African writers. He then observed, that had any acclaimed American author written the same tribute about John Updike, there would be considerable suspicions as to the motive.
There were other notable points of commendation by Thelwell. However, concisely and with new adlibs, tidbits, anecdotes and various terms of endearment, Thelwell stated all over again what has become his refrain about Chinua Achebe. His words; ‘I know no contemporary writer, in any language and out of any culture, whose oeuvre – in sustained excellence of craft; meaningful literary innovation; clarity of vision and purpose; cultural importance and international acceptance; as well as in universal popular affection and respect—approached that of China Achebe’. Were he given the time and day, Thelwell would have owned most of the evening. He would have been justifiably and acceptably the lone speaker. However, he had to surrender the rostrum at some point, though before stepping down, he made the audience clearly aware that his engrossing stories about Chinua Achebe were far from finished.
Elegant Ruth Simmons was superlative in her tribute to Achebe. She noted that while she and Toni Morrison may have failed in their mission to bring Achebe to Princeton, her relationship with Achebe had grown stronger. She disclosed that it was her encounter with Achebe’s work, and subsequently meeting him, that had helped her define her role as a person and as an educator. One would have heard a pin drop, while she spoke. So gripping was her eloquence and so captivating, were the things she said about Chinua Achebe.
Before NAC President O. Aldon, James unveiled Achebe’s portrait(see above), which will henceforth hang on Club’s prestigious 1840s home and awarded the Medal of Honor, South African poet Breyten Breytenbach did the honors of speaking for many of his peers and the world at large, when he addressed Chinua Achebe with his most fitting honorifics- onye nkuzi- the Teacher! He did not need to say more. Moreover, every guest had been availed of a copy of Achebe’s ruminations, Home and Exile. Therein, Achebe had laid bare in three elegant essays, the anguish of his choice profession and the challenges brought about by the controversial impact of his first novel Things Fall Apart, and those of others, in attempting to correct past Eurocentric distortions of African values.
If the speakers before him had been emotive, Breyten Breytenbach chose to deliver a solemn yet illuminating tribute in the name of his peers, from Wole Soyinka to Ngugi, in thanking Achebe for his leadership and for blazing the trail. In doing so, he did not romanticize African literature or its paths to the present. Without mincing words, he pointed out that before Achebe came along, portrayal of Africa was fraught with misconceptions fueled by colonialist notions and even hard-held beliefs in some quarters and acceptance in others, that Africans could not justifiably tell their own stories as well as Joseph Conrad did in his Heart of Darkness. The vehemence of such a disposition notwithstanding and the lurking dangers of being a writer hardly an impediment, Breytenbach thanked Achebe for being a worthy herald and teacher.
Achebe in turn seized on the exposé to make his entry and remarks in acceptance. He did not dwell on the merits or challenges of writing, including writing in a language that was not his mother tongue. He did not hover around the accolades and benefits of writing, either. Nor did he focus on the more public and notable personal challenges he had faced. Rather, he elected to speak on a commonality most writers shared and were therefore, consciously aware of. He underscored the invaluable and critical role clubs like NAC played in supporting and sustaining literary creativity against all odds. He drew on three lesser-known but very poignant personal experiences to buttress his point.
First, he recalled how, ‘in 1958- forty-nine years ago and counting a few days shy of fifty years- Thing Fall Apart had been published’ and had received wide reviews; ‘some good, some not so good and one that was very bad’. Of the latter, he recounted how a lady, whose name he said he remembered very well (but did not dignify by mentioning it publicly), had trashed his book and consigned it to the dustbin. In the piece titled, “Hurray to Anarchy” the lady had asked her readers if they would prefer dealing with Chinua Achebe and his “raffia-skirt wearing types’ or with some ‘Bright Negro Barristers’. Lamented Achebe in a voiced so pained, it seemed the review had been published the night before; ‘I remember the reviewer very well, for she wrote for an obscure right wing British newspaper. However, I could not understand this woman. I could not understand the vehemence of the raffia-skirt lady and why she would not allow a young African man who had just published his first novel to enjoy telling his story his own way’.
Secondly, he recalled how his book,
The Man of the People got him into trouble with the Nigerian military. He
had intuitively included a fictional coup and counter coup plots in the novel
only ‘to scare the politicians, but it became real’. Life began to imitate arts
when a few months after the publication of his novel, there was a coup and then
a counter coup in Nigeria, just as he had ‘prophesized’. Some soldiers irked by
the unfolding reality, came looking for him to determine which was mightier –
his pen or their guns. Noting that ‘that is how risky writing can be’, Achebe
disclosed that he and his family had to go into hiding. Finally, he recounted
how several months later the same military government invited him to receive an
honorary degree from one of the four universities in Nigeria then. However, just
two days before the event, the authorities cancelled the university’s
commencement ceremony, where he was to receive the award. He surmised that there
were some, who were obviously not comfortable with his writings.
In reiterating his gratitude to NAC for honoring him, Achebe urged them not to relent their support for creative arts, noting that; ‘There are those whose lives depend on clubs like this. The support you give is important. Don’t stop.’ While Achebe may not have pointed out the risks of being a writer in so many words or graphic details reminiscent of the fatwa on Salman Rusdie, he surely did point to the underlying need for such support and more importantly, to the challenges many writers face either from right wing and left wing extremists or from repressive governments. One suspects that there was quite a bit more left unsaid. Then, for a master storyteller, who said he wondered whom all the evening accolades were for, brevity and even reticence in such a moment, are welcome corollaries to the enigma, acclaim and his legendary status.
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Mr. Oseloka Obaze, an aspiring writer, is a founding member of the Kwenu.com Book Review Forum, which is dedicated to the promotion of books with Igbo and Afrocentric themes. He is also a supporting Member of the African Writers Endowment (AWE). From 1999 to 2005 he served on the editorial board of INYEAKA, the journal of Songhai Charities, Inc., a New Jersey community-based charity founded and run by Nigerians based in New York Tri-state area in the United States, first as its founding Publisher and later as the Editor-At-Large. He is also on the editorial board of The Amaka Gazette, the journal of the Christ the King College, Onitsha Alumni Association in America. His collection of poems, “Regarscent Past: A Collection of Poems” was among the top three finalists in the poetry category in the African Writers Endowment Publishing Grant Program for 2004. His novel, “Happy Eulogy” will be published in 2007. He reviews books and arts strictly as a hobby.
© Copyright 20 November 2007.