Having read a little on African art in the Menil collection, I found that some rituals in Things fall apart made sense. Proverbs and sayings of elders appear in more than smattering numbers. Further into the book the quoters are not restricted to elders. What is the fascination with using the sayings even after having got the point across? Thats what a set of Bon mot do.
With this in the recent past, Contemporary African writing caught my attention. I wanted to know more about it. But when my eyes caught some words of war and unrest, that did it for me. As the times of war or peace have an effect on the kind of writing, how can the search for literature be complete?
"Five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."- Orson Welles
Peace may not be essential for great works, but some can never be relished.
Angelas Ashes had a good style of writing, but I couldnt read on. About a person with alcohol problems. If it were by the alcoholic himself, it might have a different kind of appeal like in When Things Get Dark. This would (I had to desert this book too for the same unmeetable reasons) have adult perspective with damage to a knowledgable self and not others. Reading Frank Courts memoir through his childhood eyes comes with a bitter taste of swallowing your own tears.
I am not alone in turning my face away from Angelas Ashes. Adair Lara in 'Naked, Drunk and Writing' points that 'A number of people I know couldnt bring themselves to read Angela's Ashes because it was too grim: alcoholism, humiliation, poverty, dirt, disease, untimely death. But for me the dry humour throughout the book tempers the meanness and provides hope'.
No comments:
Post a Comment