FURTHER GLIMPSES INTO AFRICAN LITERATURE

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.