Review
by: Tiisetso Thiba
The
year 2018 started (specifically in South Africa) with the agony of losing one of the legends of literature
Professor Keorapetse Kgosietsile, who had breathed and eaten poetry and grew the
literature for better... but his legacy will continue to recite poetry eternity.
Back
to the main subject, early this year two heavy weight writers Ishmael Soqaga an
avid pan-Africanist and lover of African
Literature whose work has been featured in various blogs, published in
different journals and editor of Further Glimpses Into African Literature whose
first edition was published in 2015. This new book is stated to be a sort of sequel
to the earlier one.
The
Associate editor is a writer who needs
no introduction to the industry, Chief O. Chief Bolaji who has written and published more than 30
books, he has been a journalist and editor in various publications for many
years here in South Africa before he went back home to Nigeria. He received
many accolades regarding his outstanding work and he has been a mentor to many
emerging writers and his advice makes those writers realized their dreams by
publishing their books.
The
book Further Glimpses Into African Literature cover is very attractive with Giraffe
reaching the top of the tree while the sun is resting and displaying a beautiful
orange colour. And the book is dedicated to man of letters Flaxman” Moalusi
Jacob Qoopane who died in 2017. Moalusi was well known as Flaxman to society,
writers and book lovers at large. Many people knew Flaxman as a journalist and
literary gallery owner situated in his home in Bloemfontein. This gallery
attracts many people from afar to come and have a glimpse of his terrific work.
He has been around in this industry for many decades and while in exile during
apartheid time he continues to write poems, books and articles and continue to
do so when he came back home.
Bolaji
and ‘whiz’ Soqaga combined the reviews and literary profiles written on different
African writers like, Ferdinand Oyono, Wole Soyinka, Charles Mungoshi, Ellen
Banda-Aaku, Vonani Bila, Keorapetse Kgositsile and Flaxman Qoopane to name
minimal. Apparently, many of the writers books reviewed in this book are late, and few of
them are still alive like Tiisetso Thiba (this reviewer!) and Vonani Bila to name a few.
I
believe wordsmith Soqaga is not aware that, in this freshly book he has done
reviews in most African female writers
than in African male writers and is where I find his soft spot and that is not
wrong to be precisely and it can be his preference and I know he is open to
whole African literature. While Bolaji tries to strike a balance of his reviews
by adding a share equal reviews and literary profiles.
“However,
in contrast today Africa experiences hiatus in literature. Such situation
apparently attracts many questions as why literature in the past was
affectionately appreciated by wide population in Africa and the world. In
Contrary, what is happening today in African literature is completely
incoherent” Soqaga stated a burning point in literary profile of Shehu Sanni,
who is a much revered politician and activist of human rights from Nigeria.
Today technology is affecting African literature because rather using that
technology to read books they are using it for all sorts of wrong reasons.
This
book, considering its thematic corpus, is supposed to be more than 72 pages, as
Africa is very rich with the works of writers who are late and alive whom I
believe should be included in the book. Though the work of this two renowned
writers is continue to impress the world and be used in various university.
With the brilliant writing style of Chief Bolaji one will definitely agree that
he has iota many books and seen the moons in the literature passing by.
This
type of book needs to be published annually to enrich knowledge of society
about the African writers and their work because I believe others will agree
that other writers profiled in this book they never heard about them before,
though their works speaks volumes in the whole world.
