TENDAI HUCHU (Zimbabwe)

By IM SOQAGA

So far as world literature is concerned, African literature has featured successfully in the world of letters.  Unanimously, literary pundits have commended African literature as one of the extraordinary dimension in the world.  From inception, African modern literature has been profoundly impressive.  

As many will consent and will of course recall how over the years African writers have contributed imperatively in popularising African literature in the world.  Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart, The Interpreters by Wole Soyinka, The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet born by Ayi Kwei Armha, Es’kia Mphahlele Down Second Avenue, Peter Abrahams Mine Boy,  Weep Not, Child by Ngugi wa Thiong’o, God’s Bits of  Wood by Ousmane Sembene to name but few-hypnotize the world exceedingly.

On the other hand African female contemporary writers have concurrently contributed enormously immaculate in African literature.  African mothers like Bessie Head, Grace Ogot, Buchi Emechete, Ama Ata Aido, Mariama Ba, Lauretta Ngcobo etc.  Can any shun the spectacular achievement that will invariable remain an awesome inspiration?  In 1986 Professor Wole Soyinka became the first Black African writer to be conferred with the prestigious Noble Prize in Literature.

Apparently, it is gratifying to see young writers continuing to do excellent in advocating African literature.  The current situation which is the digital era is probably daunting.  The influence of modern technology is very potent and it can be adverse if it is not use appropriate.  Many people in the world today rely on technology, in schools technology is part of the school curriculum. 

Fundamentally, students need to fathom and grasp this opportunity and be familiar with the technique of using technology for relevant purpose.  Internet provides requisite researches for the empowerment of the mind.  Inevitable, many schools in Africa are still following the old method of colonial type of education.  For example, it is hardly to found African books written by African writers being part of the curriculum or syllabus in school.  How many African people who know that Professor Soyinka is the first Black African writer to be awarded with the Noble Prize in Literature?  How often Africans communicate about African literature generally? 

Do televisions, leaders, academics and general population of Africa ever emphasise African literature? Yes!  We are living in the digital world where Smartphone’s are dominating quotidian activities of people in the world.  Smartphone’s are equally convenient in providing animating information that is pertinent and illuminating about literature.  Books are ineluctable and it can be impossible to be replaced by any alluring technology.  However, technology is significant in furnishing heady details about African literature.  To reiterate, it is not easy to found colossal number of books churn out by sublime African writers in African schools, libraries and so on.  This is the worrying situation because African literature is popular in the West; therefore for one to be informed, it is essential to appreciate the value of technology.

Tendai Huchu, the charismatic young Zimbabwean writer is the apposite paradigm in these circumstances.  Many young writers throughout the African continent are contributing resoundingly in literature.  Their invaluable contribution is noteworthy because it is optimal for Africa and its people.  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi, Noviolet Bulawayo, Mukoma Wa Ngugi, Charmaine Kolwane, Matshidiso Taleng, Leke Giwa, Henry Ozogula, Jah Rose, T. Thiba, Tendai Huchu etc are prodigious young African writers.

Specifically, Tendai Huchu is one of the sublime and outstanding young African writers.  His scintillating two books The Hairdresser of Harare (2010) and The Maestro, The Magistrate & The Mathematician are tour de force.  As a Zimbabwean writer his contribution in literature is exhilarating.  Can the world expect another Dambuzdo Marechera?  Tendai Huchu deserves to be acclaimed with the sterling work he is doing. 

It is completely riveting to see Africa produces such assiduous and salubrious writers of the character of Tendai Huchu.  One can easily say, with lot of ecstasy that African ancestors are with African people, because early pioneers and catalyst of African literature are rapidly leaving this world.  Tendai Huchu has sum up what constitute literature in digital era:  “I do think, though, that in this digital age, the short story may gain an edge, and it is thriving online.  There’s probably more digital literary magazines out there than there are reader”.  Substantially, it is satisfying to see young writers slake literary appetite in this wise.  

Excitingly, it is a ravishing thing to see them carrying on the work which the pioneers and catalyst of literature have already been doing.   Tendai Huchu is the inspiration and sagacious young writer, his first novel, The Hairdresser of Harare, was released in 2010 to critical acclaim, and has been translated into German, French, Italian, and Spanish.  His multi-genre short fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The Manchester Review, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Gutter, Interzone, AfroSF, Wasafire, Warscapes, The Africa Report and elsewhere.  His new novel is The Maestro, The Magistrate & The Mathematician.

MBELLA SONNE DIPOKO (Cameroon)

Cameroonian writer Mbella Sonne Dipoko (1936 - 2009) was often largely depicted as an erotic writer of sorts; whereas the simple truth is that he was a very good novelist and poet.

His novels in particular disturbed a number of critics, reviewers and readers because of the rather explicit sexual content therein. That was way back in the 60s when some felt that a "serious, committed African writer" should not dwell too much on such things.

As Paul Theroux suggested then decades ago, African writers were supposed to write "about solid tribal wisdom, ghoulish rituals and the inscrutable cruelty of colonialism - not to mention the inclusion of semi-profound proverbs and the utterances of very old men with dry skin and wizened faces."

Yet, even way back in the 60s (and early seventies) other distinguished African writers wrote about sex in some detail in their works; for example Ayi Kwei Armah (especially in Fragments), Chinua Achebe (A man of the People), and even Soyinka. Naiwu Osahon (in Sex is a Nigger) was more or less in a special class of his own.

A lot of hypocrisy has always surrounded sex, in general. Nowadays many aficionados of literature would worry about some "explicit sex" in published works; though of course even an acclaimed novelist like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has been panned by some critics for "excessive sex" in her works.

But back to the 60s when Mbella Sonne Dipoko was at his peak as a writer. Unashamedly he admitted that he personally loved sex, and enjoyed writing about it in his well-written books. In a rather famous interview (with Cameroon Life magazine) Dipoko said:

“I became, for many years what you might call a travelling lover, a dreamer searching for God between the women’s thighs – those days, when I was at the height of my intimate powers.

“You had to see me! I was like an angel stuffing recoilless erections into just where they are most needed – into the fleshy folds of winter! But I did it with rosy summers too, and each divine thrust was like stuffing your women with yet another trump card of desire! And, there was no Aids stalking through the world just to scare sensible chaps off sex…”

* Courtesy of Black African Literature blog

Major works by Mbella Sonne Dipoko

A few nights and days (1966)

Because of Women (1969)

Black and White in love (1972) 

ASSIA DJEBAR (Algeria)

Think about outstanding female writers from north Africa over the years. Chances are at least two female protagonists would spring to mind: the late Alifa Rifaat (from Egypt); and Assia Djebar (from Algeria). 

Assia Djebar was recognised for decades as a western-educated Algerian feminist, intellectual and spokesperson for Algerian women. Her body of powerful writing and publications reflect this.

Djebar as a top-notch intellectual ultimately won the Neustadt International Prize for Literature; and also the Yourcenar Prize. Yet she published her significant early works at a very young age, in her very early 20's - works like La Soif (1957) and Les Impatients (1958). Other works include Les Enfants du Nouveau Monde (1962) and Vaste a la Prison (1995). Djebar's works were translated into many international languages.

She was born in Cherchell, near Algiers, in 1936. Her writings were to stamp her out as essentially a defender of women's rights in her native Algeria. She achieved international renown as an academic, also going on to lecture at New York University.

Literary pundits, upon hearing of her death, expressed admiration and appreciation of her life and work - including the upliftment of women in North Africa in general. Leke Giwa for example said: "Assia Djebar was a brilliant writer, judging from English translations of her work. It has been quite numbing for African and international literature that she and world-class (South African writer and academic) Andre Brink died around the same time at the same weekend". 

Jane Hiddleston, writing about Assia Djebar, has said: “(Djebar) is "frequently associated with women's writing movements, her novels are clearly focused on the creation of a genealogy of Algerian women, and her political stance is virulently anti-patriarchal as much as it is anti-colonial,”

Suggested Reading

Islamic Culture and the question of women's human rights in North Africa: a study of short stories by Assia Djebar and Alifa Rifaat. By Naomi E. Nkealah

COLIN DIYEN (Cameroon)

One of the beauties of African literature is that all the countries have a number of talented writers who produce tantalising works on a regular basis. Colin Diyen for one is a talented writer from Cameroon who has published many works.   

His works generally attest to his versatility and fecund bent. In The Earth, Mungongon and the dwarf revolt, the author re-creates an alternative, bustling world with King Awobua an intriguing personality. 

On the other hand, in a work like Husband Consultant, Monsieur Diyen rather dishes out amusing, pensive reflections touching on male-female relationships, and idiosyncracies.   

Colin Diyen studied in Moscow at the Patrice Lumumba People's University, sequel to attending St Joseph College Sasse (Buea) and CCAST Bambili. Then he began to write - and write.    

Suggested Reading:

Perspectives on Written Cameroon Literature in English. By Shadrach Ambanason.       

Books by Colin Diyen

Ring Road "Safari". 

The earth fights back.      

Earth in Peril.   

Husband Consultant. 

Daddy.              

Wife Consultant. 

In the service of Satan.  

The Earth, Mungongon and the dwarf revolt

Earth