The Bookshelf was thus delighted over the last few weeks to get confirmation that a “new” literary genius has emerged in the Free State, namely Phinithi Ntelekoa. Of course the young man has been writing for many years, but it is only now that his great talent, and some of his work, is coming to the attention of those who really matter. And he is being encouraged!
It is always unwise to over-praise a new talent, but it seems to be agreed that Phinithi is set for greatness judging from samples of his work, an interview now on the internet (part of it reproduced in this paper recently)…in fact the lover of literature is advised to read the full text of the interview with Mr Ntelekoa on the internet and judge for themselves. There are also other samples of his work we have read, and one cannot but be excited over such a talent.
Personally I think Phinithi’s writing and diction is too elevated at the moment, and would appeal only to a few highly knowledgeable men (and women) of letters. If he is going to have mainstream success as a writer, I think he should work on writing in a more simple manner, like poet Denis Brutus did long ago. But then again, should Phinithi sacrifice his natural ‘difficult’ style for more acceptability? Such are the posers that make literature interesting!
(From The Bookshelf Column; Free State News. Nov 30, 2012). By KA Motheane)
Friday, November 30, 2012
Phinithi to the fore!
The history of what many call “Black Literature” in Africa can be very fascinating; from the period our writers began to make their mark and become respected to a worldwide audience (around late 50’s to the 60s) This was the time the likes of Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Es’kia Mphahlele etc were rather young men.
What is interesting is how, even in those early days these great writers were able to help each other, unearth new talent. By the mid sixties for example Chinua Achebe was already world famous, and the editor of Heineman’s African writers series. He met Ngugi wa Thiong’o who respectfully handed him one of his manuscripts to read. Achebe read it and recommended that it should be published soonest. Thus was the career of the great Ngugi launched.
Yes, we know at that time, African writers were few and far between, but they still emerged on a regular basis; decades later even in the Free State here, promising writers continue to emerge, encouraged by the established ones. Hence nowadays we see talented writers or critics like Pule Lechesa, Raphael Mokoena, Hector Kunene etc confessing that their literary careers received a major boost after meeting a giant like Omoseye Bolaji. That is the way it should be.
The Bookshelf was thus delighted over the last few weeks to get confirmation that a “new” literary genius has emerged in the Free State, namely Phinithi Ntelekoa. Of course the young man has been writing for many years, but it is only now that his great talent, and some of his work, is coming to the attention of those who really matter. And he is being encouraged!
It is always unwise to over-praise a new talent, but it seems to be agreed that Phinithi is set for greatness judging from samples of his work, an interview now on the internet (part of it reproduced in this paper recently)…in fact the lover of literature is advised to read the full text of the interview with Mr Ntelekoa on the internet and judge for themselves. There are also other samples of his work we have read, and one cannot but be excited over such a talent.
Personally I think Phinithi’s writing and diction is too elevated at the moment, and would appeal only to a few highly knowledgeable men (and women) of letters. If he is going to have mainstream success as a writer, I think he should work on writing in a more simple manner, like poet Denis Brutus did long ago. But then again, should Phinithi sacrifice his natural ‘difficult’ style for more acceptability? Such are the posers that make literature interesting!
(From The Bookshelf Column; Free State News. Nov 30, 2012). By KA Motheane)
The Bookshelf was thus delighted over the last few weeks to get confirmation that a “new” literary genius has emerged in the Free State, namely Phinithi Ntelekoa. Of course the young man has been writing for many years, but it is only now that his great talent, and some of his work, is coming to the attention of those who really matter. And he is being encouraged!
It is always unwise to over-praise a new talent, but it seems to be agreed that Phinithi is set for greatness judging from samples of his work, an interview now on the internet (part of it reproduced in this paper recently)…in fact the lover of literature is advised to read the full text of the interview with Mr Ntelekoa on the internet and judge for themselves. There are also other samples of his work we have read, and one cannot but be excited over such a talent.
Personally I think Phinithi’s writing and diction is too elevated at the moment, and would appeal only to a few highly knowledgeable men (and women) of letters. If he is going to have mainstream success as a writer, I think he should work on writing in a more simple manner, like poet Denis Brutus did long ago. But then again, should Phinithi sacrifice his natural ‘difficult’ style for more acceptability? Such are the posers that make literature interesting!
(From The Bookshelf Column; Free State News. Nov 30, 2012). By KA Motheane)
Great article. Ya lebohileng ke nna Ntate Motheane.
ReplyDeleteI can't say if the following should be a caveat squarely leveled at the above superb article or generally just out of personal observation.
I think as writers, more so African, we can be extremely insular to myriad of further afield (not in a literal geographical sense) literature available to us. We've somewhat managed to circumscribe the term "literature" to some conventional linearity which kinda lends itself to rendering our much vaunted FS literary reputation brittle. I think there's an email correspondence between myself and Omoseye Bolaji where I inveighed this very anomaly.
For analogy, if literature was a natural composite of diverse terrain (from rain forrests to savannah) with inland aquatic wilderness (delta etc), to mountains clad with snow, we'd probably be confined to a "nice and safe" patch of land, in contrast with the far reaching continent of acres, somewhere down in the valley - and yes, maybe teeming with its own unique, rich fauna and flora.
Justice Malala (one of my favourite writers) has already done a marvellous analysis on this area, and he was hated (and ostracized) for it. It was symptomatic of the mob-mentality the human race is so pathetically susceptible to. Everybody (well, almost) hopped onto the bandwagon without some prior investigative-journalism. We wanted what we are fond of as black writers: unreserved heavy patting...not no depthy analysis.
Now, just to extend my terrain metaphor, and before I drift any further, if as writers our focal point is say an oak tree - taking from Justice Malala's "anthropological" commentary on black writers - shouldn't we dim it constructive should someone suggest say the "coral reef" as our next point of exploration?
Where exactly am I going with all these ecological metaphors? Quite frankly, Africa needs more Sci-Fi writers; fantasy writers with a touch of Aesopian style or the more popular Utopia/Dystopia (all within the parameters of Sci-Fi genres).
J.R.R. Tolkien, Bloemfontein born writer, (author of "Lord of the Rings" Trilogy) is said to be "likely the most well-known fantasy author having almost single-handedly launched the genre in novel format." I want to be able to talk about the layered symbolism in The Matrix (movie) with my fellow black writers without accompanying "genius" labels; the pleroma (and cretura), the greek mythology, neo-philosophy, mysticism, concept of form-follows-function in programming...the list goes on and on. I did not do math nor science in matric. But, access to literature on this very subjects is just a touch-screen away. So, I sincerely hope that when we ask a writer to tone down a lil bit, we do so squarely semantically and not being too patriotic at the expense of the "explorer" in a writer. When I write about Semiology it's not to be a poser but rather to bring to my fellow readers a sample of species from places further afield. I want you to peruse an essay on semiotics, not a dictionary...unfortunately, the latter is the case with most of our readers.
May newspapers, bios and novels make 50% of our collection of literature.