About book Under African Skies: Modern African Stories (1998)
The talent of story telling is widespread in Africa. Oral history is part of the makeup of the multitude of societies that have evolved in Africa over millennia. Through colonial times the traditions of story telling has continued, preserving the rich culture and history of the communities. Published works of African writers were small in numbers in comparison to other continents and literary training the privilege of very few. With the wave of African countries' independence, the situation of African fiction authors did not improve much. Obstacles were numerous, from political difficulties to lack of a paying audience in the African market. Larson contends that the "most extraordinary aspect of African literature [during the last fifty years] is its resilience." His introduction to this collection of African short fiction of the last few decades summarizes the challenges and the triumphs of many African writers. He describes his difficulty of selection among the many and varied writers from across the continent.Twenty six writers from seventeen countries are introduced, including internationally well-known authors like Chinua Achebe, Sembene Ousmane and Ken Saro-Wiwa. Others, locally recognized, in their country of origin or, too often, of exile, deserve a much wider larger audience. The stories, roughly arranged chronologically, range from the very personal vignette to the magical realism of a place or person. Early works might address the domestic-master relationship, such as Es'kia Mphahlele's delightful "Mrs. Plum" or the moving story of "The Black Girl" by Ousmane. Landscapes can be important backdrops or become essential elements that lure the innocent into their realm. "The Complete Gentleman" changes into everything but that once he enters the forest. Conflict and devastation are touched upon as they haunt the living such as in Ben Okri's story "A Prayer from the Living". While the styles vary from one author to the next, we also find commonalities and parallels in the events described: personal tragedies, war, heroism and defeat. Taken together, the book builds a tapestry of African realities with the dreams and the magic woven in. It reads like one complex literary work with many individual and diverse chapters.Each author is briefly introduced by Larson and their writing placed into context of their life and literary career. Thereby the author instilled some curiosity in the reader to read more of one or the other writer. The book, published in 1997/8, maintains its importance today as an excellent overview of African literary talent. Don't stop there, however. There is a rich field out there to explore.
I always think one of the best ways to be introduced to new writers especially from different African countries is to read anthologies. One of my long time loves has been Looking for A Rain God and Other Short Stories from Africa. This anthology was longer than Looking for a Rain God- 26 stories- and had a greater geographical span. There were stories from countries I have never read from before such as Liberia, Mozambique, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Lesotho and Malawi. The points of view of the stories, the way of telling them and the kinds of stories were all very varied (true to the nature of the places and experiences the writers write about and from)- there were folk tales, pre- and post-independence socio-political critiques, fantasy tales, e.t.c. Some of my favourites included Sembene Ousmane's Black Girl- the story of a maid tricked into going to France with the family she had worked for in Senegal only to find that life is not as she had imagined it would be was powerful. Ngugi wa Thiong'o's A Meeting in the Dark fuses folk tale narration and the written novel as part of the dichotomy that Ngugi explores in the tale set in central Kenya. Bessie Head's The Prisoner who Wore Glasses explores the positive (and human) sides of some law enforcers during apartheid in South Africa {which are sure to have existed only we don't hear about it very often}. Rene Philombe The True Martyr is Me is the story of a young husband's breaking point under the strain of not being allowed to live with his wife for 3 yrs until he had passed his catechism exam. Afrika Road by Don Mattera is a vivid narration of all the things that a street in a township of South Africa has seen. In truth there is something to take from every story in this collection(even if the something is that fantasy writing is not for you). However, short stories can sometimes pack a mighty punch in a few pages so I often found it necessary to take a break between stories to let them sink in, to familiarise myself with the situations depicted, to see where the stories fit into my life and my experiences. This is an anthology to read and in the case of some stories re-read. In the words of the introductory poem by Wole Soyinka 'Telephone Conversation', "...wouldn't you rather /See for yourself?"
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