Monday, October 17, 2011

DEON'S DEBUT WORK


By OMOSEYE BOLAJI

Every so often in our continent, genuine, sterling literary talent emerges whether it is from Nigeria – a formidable land of literary aficionados – or South Africa here. These days, it is even easier to foretell the advent of such outstanding writers, thanks to improved technology like the internet.

Hence, there was no need to be a transcendental soothsayer to realise that South African writer, Deon-Simphiwe Skade has that special stuff that separates the wheat from the chaff as it were, in respect of literature. Over the last few years, Mr Skade, who is still a young man, has been churning out superb reviews of both books and music.

His perspicacious reviews were always far-removed from the mundane; he somehow fuses a great, avid knowledge of eclectic literature with philosophical divulgations and effusions, interspersed with what South Africans call Ubuntu (humaneness)

The corollary of this is that when Deon published his first book a week or so again in South Africa, there was some fizz, enthusiasm and delectation amidst the literary fraternity, both black and white. The pundits knew instinctively that the book would be good.

On my own part, I was preparing to get a copy for myself when I got a pleasant surprise from Deon. He had mailed a copy of his book to me from his Cape Town base the moment it was published! In his "artistic" way he called it "a belated birthday gift" for me! And how welcome and tantalising the gift was!

Meanwhile, the pundits were already burrowing into his book and essentially favourably reviewing his debut work. Deon’s book is a collection of well-written short stories jostling alongside complementary poems. Titles are: An old flame that went out, My Epidemic, your Epidemic, Last Night, It’s a Secret, Class Act, Her Attitude, His Face Others are - A Broken Man, Matters of the Heart, In Need, Yesterday, Suspension, Time Keeps Its Own Time, It never rains but Pours, and Our Today, The Future.

The disparate stories here are essentially told in the first person, with the author showing astonishing skill and empathy with his characters, male and female. Arguably, this reaches a peak in the story, Class Act.

The author is famed for his propensity to call himself a "dreamer" in real life; and dreams certainly loom large in this work. The pertinent question is: Are they successfully integrated into the warp and weft of the stories? Here, one might well be subjective, adumbrating the furore over the late Lenrie Peter’s work, The second round with its profusion of dream-like sequences...and of course, Ayi Kwei Armah’ s early classic, the Beautyful ones are not yet born.

Then there is the hilarious, finely written story, Last Night. It is also tinged with irony, and redolent with sexual undercurrents. And how’s this for a touch of the great D.H Lawrence:

"The moon watched us caress. It lit over the perfect world of perfect persons, a man and a beautiful woman under its unwinking stare and the stars who winked as if celebrating our glorious kiss. Table Mountain could have peeked over the balcony to witness us under the conspiratorial luminescence of the moon."

(Page 28, A Series of undesirable events)

As one would expect from a grammarian like the author, and a fastidious craftsman to boot, the book is well edited and immensely readable, with fine descriptions. How about “the ping-ping against the porcelain." "The gulp I took snailed down my throat as if it was a hard bubble constrained by meagre space preventing it to move downwards,"…

A very impressive debut work.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Basking In Global Rugby Fiesta!


By OMOSEYE BOLAJI

Right now, the Rugby World Cup is going on in New Zealand, enthralling many millions around the world. The South Africans largely love the game of Rugby and have been resoundingly backing their national team, the Springboks, to do well at the tournament.

Yes, we know that by and large Rugby is not a popular game in Nigeria; very few are interested in the sport and it has been like that for donkey years. Any Nigerian Rugby squad will struggle to have any sort of sterling followership, this, despite the fact that Rugby is a global sport.

Of course a number of Nigerians brought up, or who have largely lived in European countries like Britain (England, Scotland, Wales...) France, Italy, Ireland, might have some interest in Rugby, or at least observe how the hordes follow such a sport fanatically, yonder. I myself can say on the average, that I am a Rugby follower, though of course football will always occupy the pride of place – time willing, in my old age!

I was however prodded, or reminded, by a number of South Africans as the Rugby fever hit their country, that I had contributed in a bizarre way to even more black people here loving Rugby. This, I have been reminded, was because of my work of fiction, Tebogo and the haka (2008), which has been a hit here. How many times have I been asked why I was inspired to write the book?

It is simple: the traditional New Zealand (Maori) performance of the Haka, has always fascinated me. The All Blacks (the New Zealand team) always perform the Haka before they play anybody, and it can be a breathtaking (initially, rather frightening) performance.

Of course, if it was mainly black people performing an intriguing dance like the Haka, one won’t be surprised. In Nigeria, we have so many intricate arcane, traditional performances, for example those of the egungun/egwugwu (masquerades). The talking drum for example, can do wonders!

But, the New Zealand team is made up mainly of white players; and to see them performing the Haka will always fascinate the world. Poised athletically, fists pumping even clenched; fearsome expressions etched on their faces, the belligerent words of the Haka thundering out of their mouths, and cascading around the stadium…

But then again, we can state that this is, or should be part of the universality of human experience; the human race partaking in a plethora of ancestral, traditional rites, practices, mores worldwide, and basking in the same.

After all, (in parenthesis) why is the western world so fascinated with Chinua Achebe’s books that they read them over and over again, and relish the contents? So many white critics, thanks to the books of the likes of Achebe, Chukwuemeka Ike, John Munonye among others, have become so interested in Igbo culture and language, plus the proverbs that they have managed to build up an impressive vocabulary of their own in this wise.

And I won’t start on how Wole Soyinka via his books shedding light on, and celebrating the Yoruba gods (especially Ogun), fascinate the western world! Ah yes, the universality of human experience.

Let Rugby, with the haka performance, grow by leaps and bounds!