I find it exhilarating when I see women penning books like
this. It is so inspiring. In this case, it is even more interesting as it is a
white woman writing a study of, or appreciation of a black writer, an African, Chief O Bolaji
(a Nigerian like us, if one can rub that in)
One can see that the author does
her home work very well, and meticulously touches on many aspects of four
Tebogo adventures. Petro is not condescending, she appreciates many virtues of
the detective, but is never afraid to criticise him. At least she admits that
Tebogo is rather good at what he does, that he is 'famous'.
'Fame' is subjective
or relative anyway; but what one can stress is that the reading culture in
Africa is so poor nowadays, and we should encourage the young ones to read more,
and even do some research on characters like Tebogo Mokoena on the
internet...the same way we were urged to do research on a character like
Okonkwo, made famous by Achebe.
After all, the internet is there now, so why
can't the younger generation use it more fruitfully? Which reminds me - it
seems some commentators on this work always complain that this study is
confined to only the first four works in the Tebogo series. We cannot blame the
author for this, since these were the books written by the time the impressive
study was done/published.
Although of course it would be much welcome if this
book was updated. But already even with this one, we get a very good idea of
the series. How many of the readers can claim to have read all the books in the
series anyway?
- M CHUKWU
·
Originally
posted on goodreads
Wooow, congratulations Mme Petro for this beautiful work. Your book title takes me back to the book of Malome Omoseye Bolaji, of Tebogo and Bacchae, meaning Tebogo and friends which I own and still remember it vividly.
ReplyDeleteFirst impressions count. A fine, fine cerebral work.
ReplyDeleteFirst impressions count. A fine, fine cerebral work.
ReplyDeleteThe excellence of this book struck me too when it first came out years ago. I believe I contributed a few paragraphs too, by way of an Introduction to the work. I am happy that the book is now in many international libraries, including Harvard College in America
ReplyDeleteGood to see this here. It is a very interesting blog. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that even now – many years after the publication of this book – a similar rather comprehensive study has not been done on the Tebogo books – testifies to the quality of this work. Over the years, commentators like myself have tentatively reviewed new Tebogo works briefly as soon as they came out; but this can in no way be compared to this original sterling study. There is a lesson somewhere there!
ReplyDelete