Meditations on African Literature

Dubem Okafor, ed. Meditations on African Literature. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2001. xiv + 208 pp. Tables. Bibliography. Index. $59.95. Cloth.

A barrage of convoluted language greets the readers of Dubem Okafor's Meditations on African Literature. For those like myself who prefer a less bombastic form of scholarly writing, I suggest a quick leap over Okafor's contributions to those of the other eleven contributors. In all fairness, however, if the reader enjoys this style of writing, there are bits and pieces of intellectual stimulation to be gleaned from Okafor's observations.

Meditations on African Literature brings together twelve scholars of African literature and culture, nine of whom are Nigerian. Emmanuel Obiechina's "The Dilemma of the African Intellectual in the Modern World" is the focal point for many of the essays in this collection. The reader is treated to two studies of this writer, first an analysis of the essay and second, an examination of Obiechina's philosophical comments as they relate to that topic. Other contributions explore a diverse selection of subjects, ranging from the ever-present controversy over language (Okafor's "The Cacophonous Terrain of Nigerian/African Literature"), to Bernth Lindfors's controversial dissection of literary statistics in "Who Counts? DeCiphering the Canon," to a poststructuralist literary discussion in Biodun Jeyifo's "One Year in the First Instance." The other essays deal with African writers such as Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Thomas Mofolo, and Grace Ogot.

In addition to the Obiechina connection, there is also the dual intellectual continuum of Chinua Achebe's works and poststructuralist critical theory that weaves through these essays. For many African and non-African scholars, it is nearly impossible to discuss African literature, especially post-World War II African literature, without including Achebe. In fact, Okafor refers to Achebe as "the master" (x). However, in this collection, the Nigerian writers discuss African literature, Nigerian literature, and Chinua Achebe all in a single breath. Thus, for the student of Nigerian literature, this book is quite interesting.

The second emphasis-poststructuralist critical theory-is not as prevalent. Contemporary poststructuralist critical theory is found in African criticism, but in these selections the contributors appear to use the various critical approaches outside of the typical postcolonial format. Therefore, instead of essays discussing the postcolonial cultural-political environments from the Edward Said-Marxist-sociological perspective, the authors apply these theories more to a literary examination of language, theme, and character, especially women characters. The essays that specifically discuss the female character and feminist issues are Chimalum Nwankwo's "Historicity and the Un-Eve-ing of the African Woman: Achebe's Novels," Peter Nazareth's "The True Fantasies of Grace Ogot, Storyteller," and Michael J. C. Echeruo's "The Anglo-African, the 'Woman Question,' and Imperial Discourse." The assessment of the female character by these African scholars offers an intriguing approach to gender studies. It is not unusual to find the colonialist or imperialist defining non-Western women, but in these essays it is African men attempting to take on this role. How would an assessment by African women scholars have differed? Okafor does not give us an opportunity to find out.

Nwankwo's perspective on feminist issues such as the oppression of women illustrates the African male perspective. With Achebe's female characters representing the focal point of his discussion, Nwankwo contends that these characters are portrayed as traditional Igbo women, descendants of the Igbo Supreme Being, Chukwu, who is neither man nor woman, and therefore is not a descendant of the Westernized Biblical Eve (80). This approach, he maintains, negates Western feminism because the Igbo woman has no link to Eve. The argument has its flaws, not the least of which is its retailoring of feminist concepts to fit Nigerian male concepts. But in any case, it is provocative.

Perhaps the three contributors most familiar to Africanists in the United States are Bernth Lindfors, Isidore Okpewho, and Biodun Jeyifo. Okpewho's essay "On The Concept: 'Commonwealth Literature'" explores the diversity and complexity of literature produced within the British Commonwealth (primarily African literature). The intricacies of this literature are intriguing, whether it be British literature, world literature, African literature, or the now frequently trademarked "Commonwealth" literature.

Lindfors's essay will be of interest to literary types with a curiosity for business and science. He uses a variation of early semiotic and structuralist theories in trying to decide which African writers are really popular and therefore important; he asks, "How can the reputation of one [African writer] be measured against the reputation of another in an objective manner so that the relative importance of each can be ascertained quickly, accurately, and dispassionately, without the least trace of subjective bias?" (45). The formula for the Famous Authors' Reputation Test (which Okafor, not Lindfors, abbreviates as FART) illustrates who gets published and who gets recognized. If that question is important to the reader, then this essay will help-if not, skip it. (Why did Okafor include this essay? Because of Lindfors's international status?)