EKWENSI, Cyprian

Father of Popular Literature by(Reuben Abati). At 79, Cyprian Chukwuemeka Ekwensi is a grossly misunderstood writer. The assessment ofhis works by the liter ary establishmentinvariably raisesseveral questions about (a) the purpose ofcriticism, (b) the relationship between writers and critics and (c) such value-laden issues as truthfulness and accuracy, if pos sible, in the assessment ofwritten literature. For many literary critics, dismissing Ekwensi as a non-writer is an interesting pastime. In one commentary after an other,the same seemingly formulaic conclusion is re peated. The charge is that Ekwensi belongs not to literatureperse\ but para-literature, a kind of junk literature, exemplified bythe notorious 'Onitsha mar ket literature':the same genre for which Ekwensihad written When Love Whispers (1947), TheSorrows of Stan, and Lokotown andOtherStories (1966). Even though in his later writings, Ekwensi moved away from Onitsha market literature to literature proper, his critics seemed not to have been able to get Onitsha out of their system. Hence, the worst features of that tradition continueto be presented as thedefiningchar acteristics of Ekwensi's writing. He isaccused of pru rient sensationalism and ofwriting novels that belong more properly to pornography and journalism rather than art. His seeming obsession with the female anatomyand the delight he seemsto derive from de scribing women, the looseness of his plots, and his insistence on popularity as the objective of literature, have been decried as certain evidence of his lack of commitment. Ekwensi'smore sympathetic critics, including Ernest Emenyonu and Emmanuel Obiechina have, however, argued that thecritics have not been fair in their assessment of Ekwensi's contribution to literature; and that Ekwensi is"'the founding father of modern Nigerian fiction'* and one of the most committed writers working in that genre in 20th Century Nigerian literature. For his part, Ekwensi accuses his critics of a lack of understanding: Critics, he says, "are characters who feed on theworking writers. Without thewriter, there would benocritics. Theycan help bypointing outthe good things in a book. Their business shouldn't be just to pigeon-hole somebody, destroy what has been created, because writers are writing voluntarily, they are not forced by anybody to write. If they stop writing, the critics will stop criticizing and we will all be the poor for it." In another instance, Ekwensi adds: "Also, I must talk about the unpleasant pen ofthe critics. Most of these people who write what they write have not re ally read my various books. They only read foreign opinions and rewrite them in their own words. Few of them are hardworking anyway. I respect people like Ernest Emenyonu and Emmanuel Obiechina. These are the people who really sit down to read these books. I don't know about others. Anyway, I don't allow their various opinions to bother me. What I write are readable books that entertain my readers and make them think about life." The critics are both wrong and right. What they respond to,almostintuitively, isa certainlackof psy chological complexity inEkwensi's novels. The man is primarily a storyteller, a natural storyteller whodoes not indulge inthat kind ofarty and stylish mystifica tion which excites critics. The point is that there is hardly anything that is surprising in Ekwensi's litera ture: he writes like a pragmatist, presenting a photo graph of reality for the benefit of the reader's own independent and subjective assessment. To achieve this objective, Ekwensi as inPeopleof the City in dulges in"little lectures, instanthomilies and moral observations (that are) tiresome because they are weakly integrated intothe body ofthe narrative." And to accommodate his world view, Ekwensi almost deliberatelytwiststhe endings of his novels, to achieve a moral,optimistic resolution of the conflict. He strug gles, almost a little too hard, to reform his sinners as he offers them a possibility of redemption. For ex ample, Jagua Nana, his most exciting female charac ter (in his most celebrated novel ofthe same name) does not suffer for her sins: instead she returns to her village Ogbabu to seek a new life, to getrehabilitated, and ina sequel,JaguaNona's Daughter, sheachieves that rehabilitation when she discovers her daughter, Eliza,her grandchildren and a son-in-law. Thus, the Jagua Nana story ends happily like a Christian sermon on the subject of' The Second Coming'. InPeople ofthe City, Amusa Sango, a reporter with the West African Sensation and a most eligible bachelor, isdrivento satisfy hisailing mother'sdesire for a grandchild: "He heard that warning again. The warning voice of his mother, about the women of the city." Sango's double-life as a journalist and a night clubber places him at a vantage position to observe the girls at close range. Invariably, he gets involved withthe wronggirl: 20-yearold Aina,acommon thief and a street girl. In the process, Sango's life,and that of his friends, change dramatically. In the end, Sango issaved: Ekwensi lights up a candle for his favourite character, he is reluctant to destroy his protagonist. In Burning Grass, Mai Sunsaye, despite the wandering disease, Sokugo, finds his family. He gath ers the broken remnants of his life. He finds restitu tion and the wandering disease is lifted. He regains his position as chief. In Beautiful Feathers, easily Ekwensi's most technically accomplished novel, Wilson Iyari is re united with the same wife who had cuckolded him. Ekwensi's objective is to insist on unity within the family. He is a moralist, with his eyes set on the fu ture: on the possibilities that can be forced out of present circumstances. He invests the human estate, and this is the point, with the capacity for redemp tion. If he had not been a writer, he would probably have beena priest,giventhe obvious religiosity that sets him apart in this enduring season ofnihilism and faithlessness. Ekwensi isacomedian, not a tragedian; not in terms ofwit and humour, but in the didacticism of his works, his unrelenting moral vision, and his refusal to 'murder' his protagonists. His critics have dismissed this as 'contrived and unrealistic',for in real life,prominent characters sometimes come to bad ends and heroes do not always win. Ekwensi's melodrama is, however, often inverted. What cannot be taken from him nevertheless isthe/o/e de vivre of his writings. Moreso, his versa tility. Hisambition, as he has often stated, isto be"a populist writer, a compulsively-read writer," whose works can hold up thetraffic andsell in a 'go-slow'. Without doubt. Ekwensi,despite Bernth Lindfors's famous quip that "many ofhis stories and novelscan serve as excellent examples ofhow not to write fic tion", iseasily Nigeria's mostpopularwriter. Hehas been read, studied and celebrated for over five dec ades by Nigerians of every generation. He is a na tional writer, evena nationalist and patriot, inthe man ner in which his works are accessible to all classes of persons, and in the sheer range ofhis themes cover ing virtually every aspect oftheNigerian experience as a nation and as a people. He has written about corruption, the plightofchildren, war, shylock land lords, prostitutes, journalists, adulterous wives, lov ing wives, daughters in search oftheir mothers, fa thers in search of their sons, urban chaos, anomie, unemployment, poverty, the extended family, survival, juvenile delinquency, etc. Ekwensi has captured the interests and concerns of both young and adult gen eration. The former in such works as The Drummer Boy, Trouble in Form Six (1966), The Rainmaker and Other Stories (1965), The Passport of Mallam Ilia, and the adult world in People of the City, BeautifulFeathers, JaguaNana,JaguaNona's Daughter, etc. At 79, he has written over 30 novels, more than 10 novellas, and over 100 short stories. He be longsnotjust to the modern tradition ofNigerian lit erature, but African literature in general. His charac ters are questing spirits, desperate for a value, and torn between objectives. In the end, they may be hurt or they may die, but Ekwensi's vision is essentially humanist. He is an entertainer, albeit conservative, even ifhe refrains from the easy attitudinizing which more doctrinaire writers employ as a tool of self-pro motion. With the exception perhaps ofBurning Grass and Survive the Peace, Ekwensi's novels are set in thecity,particularly the cityof Lagos. Ekwensi lives in Ojuelegba, a vintage observatory fora writer such as he,for whom the hypocrisy, chaos and tensions of the city constitute a ready raw material. He is him self, in many ways, a city man. His characters are drawn to thecity, they are promptly arrested by the externalities of the city resulting inan inner turmoil that stretches as far as the fundaments oftheir indi vidual existence. The city, in his hands, is both plat form and territory of interconnected spaces: his char acters go in and out of those spaces, enabling the writer toconstruct a fictive world that approximates reality in the emotions it evokes. Ekwensi's city is Jagua Nana's city, itisthecityof Lajide ofLagos, the original titleof Peopleofthe City; itisAmusaSango's city, and it is where Eliza, Jagua Nana's daughter, manages thecontradictions of herowngenetic make up even asaneducated woman whose timeandstyle are beyond her mother's capacity in the same department. Beyond the content ofhis literature, what re mains to besaidisthat Ekwensi's careerandexperi ences would seem to reflect the peculiar dilemma of the Nigerian writer, working in a country that is per petually in transition, and managing to survive from one season ofdispossession and disorientation to an other. The first crisis, signposted by Jagua Nana in 1961, for example, isthecensorship of literature by theauthorities. JaguaNanaisone Ekwensi novelthat nearly made it to the traffic hold-up and the grocery stores. Some Italian film makers at the time had wanted to adapt the novel into a film, but as it turned out, this became a national issue. The then Minister of Information, Chief T.O.S Benson, opposed the idea onthegrounds that Jagua Nana did not offera fairportrayal of the Nigerian woman. The Minister had averred that there were no prostitutes in Nigeria. Women societies were then mobilized to oppose the movie. Ekwensi'sJaguaNana thus crossed the line between literature and reality. This controversy, how ever, helped to promote the sales ofthe book. "The whole thing became fiery," according to Cyprian Ekwensi. "Everyone wanted to read Jagua Nana. Every girl wanted a copy. It has many many editions. A popularhighlife musician even madeJagua Nana into a song." Jagua Nana perhaps later proved to be pro phetic, as the character type in the novel soon be came established as an important Nigerian social type, contrary to the fervent ministrations ofthe Informa tion Minister. By the nineties, latter-day Jagua Nanas would leave the shores ofNigeria, out ofdesperation and boredom, for Italy where they would set up shop as professional prostitutes in search offoreign cur rency. This would become such a flourishing industry that Italian authorities would seek out the Nigerian girls and deport them, creating at home, a national scandal of sorts. The Italian movie company that wanted to filmJagua Nana was not successful in its bid to do so, but 'Jagua Nana', ironically still found her way to Italy, many decades later. The second issue to be examined is the mate rialpoverty ofthe Nigerian writer. Despite a flourish ingtradition ofcreative writing, no writer inNigeria can as yet, live offwriting as a professional. The atti tude of the government towards arts and culture is at best lukewarm and uninformed. Corporate sponsor ship is marginal. Grants from other sources are in short supply. Writers have to be something else; writ ing is possible only as a vocation. "Writers cannot cope," Ekwensi says. "The contractor that gets a contract of ten million does everything and gets three million naira. Which writer can ever talk of three million in his life? None!No body. So you have to decide on what else to do. Maybe Okrika (second hand clothes) and you deal in that too, to meet up with the economic conditions because both of you (the contractor and the writer) are living in the same environment." In Ekwensi's case, he is a pharmacist in addi tionto beinga writer. Heretired from active practice in 1984 but he continues to take solace in the consid eration that books are some kind ofproperty, a form of investment; the fulfillment and public recognition that a writer achieves are his best sources of security. Ekwensi continues to write, but he has not published muchsince 1984.This ispart ofthecrisis incontem poraryNigerianliterature.There ismuchthat isbeing written by young, emergent writers and by older writ ers as well, but not much is getting published. The downturn in the economy, occasioned by a World Bank/IMF - imposed structural adjustment programme and years of bad leadership, have helped to dispossess both citizens and institutions. Publishers in particular have had to make a practical choice. Biographiesand school textbooks bring quick returns,and hence,this is the category of literature, still receiving support,creative writing receives disproportionate attention. Ekwensi is already established : perhaps many of his later-day efforts would still be published, but howaboutyoungerwriters?Theyaredeniedanyspe cial privilege. The result is that the Nigerian literary market is loaded with works that are the products of a new. and strange phenomena called vanity publish ingor subsidy publishing; and yet. this escape route, which allows standards to be compromised, isa rather expensive option. Many would-be writers, otherwise talented, are left in the lurch. Resolving the crisis in the publishing sector would have far-reaching impli cations for the future ofNigerian literature, for ifwriters donotpublish,howthencanacurrentof freshthoughts be created for rejuvenating the intellectual health of the community? There is also the problem of piracy. Ekwensi has testified that his novels have been translated into Arabic and Russian languages, without the translators seeking his consent and without the publishers bothering to pay him any royalties. The abuse of intellectual property remains a major threat to the intellectual enterprise. What is worse, many of his works are no longer in print. A few years back, Ekwensi had wanted to buy a copy of JaguaNana, his own book. It cost him quite an effort to locate the book in the market. This is a harrowing reflection of the organization of arts and culture in Nigeria in an age of economic dispossession. Despite the travails of his career, Ekwensi's place in Nigerian literature is assured. He will con tinue to enjoy recognition as one ofthe more ardent promoters ofthe novel and short story forms in Af rica, and as a source ofmotivation for many young writers who are seeking to write compulsively inthe midst of distractions. Ekwensi lives quietly in his Ojuelegba home in Lagos. His private life remains shrouded in mystery, for he insists that it is 'turbu lent';buthe is,from all indications,a happygrandfa ther. He has lived a rich and varied life, straddling many theatres of engagement. He is a pharmacist, forester, writer, broadcaster, information manager, journalist, teacher, raconteur and senior citizen. Born in Minna, inNorthern Nigeria on 21 Sep tember 1921, Ekwensi was educated at Government School, Jos, Igbo Union School, and the Roman Catholic School. "Theseschools," he reports, "had good stand ards. My father sent me to Ibadan where I had my secondary education. IattendedGovernmentCollege, Ibadan, then moved to Lagos for my higher college and studied Pharmacy at the School of Pharmacy, Yaba, Lagos. My academic performance was fair but all my teachers were Englishmen who came directly from England.They wer every meticulous about our phonetics. They where meticulous about our grammar and were against speaking vernacular." Obviously, as a young student, Ekwensi's hobby was reading books,particularly novels.By the time he became a student ofHigher College, Yaba where he studied Forestry^he had written Burning Grass, which is based on his experiences with the herdsmen of Northern Nigeria. He later became a teacher at Igbobi College, Lagos, where he taught English, Chemistry and Biology, while teaching he managed to write Drummer Boy, based on a blind boyhemet atthe Orthopaedic Hospital,and ThePass port ofMallam Ilia. Ekwensi read his books to his studentsduringEnglishclasses.Manyyearslater,suc ceedinggenerations ofNigerian students wouldread the same books as compulsorytexts. Later, Ekwensi became a broadcaster, and rose to become head of the features Department ofthe Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. In 1960, he becamethe firstNigerian to be appointed Federal Director ofInformation Serv ices. Broadcasting provided him yet another platform for the growth ofhis writing career. He read weekly short stories on radio, and these eventually formed the substance ofhisPeople ofthe City. Healso wrote, and sent storiesto the BBC. His first BBC short story, The HalfBakedDoctor, earned him a royalty offour guineas. Between 1967 and 1970, Ekwensi was direc tor-general ofthe Broadcasting Corporation ofthe Biafra. In this role, he helped to manage the propa ganda department ofthe Biafran rebellion. This is one of the rare moments in his entire career when Ekwensi would cross the line between literature and directengagementinpublicaction,andthe politics of socialcompetition. Unlike Soyinkaand Achebe, his moreaccom plishedyoungercolleagues,he prefersthe luxury ofa quietlife.Heshuttles betweenLagoswhere he lives, and Enugu,where his family lives, and Nkwelle, his hometown inAnambra State. His experience inBiafra has, however, proved useful as evident in Divided We Stand and Survive the>Peace. In 1972,Ekwensi was appointed chairman of the East Central State Library Board and in 1975, managingdirector ofthe Star Printingand Publishing Company,publishers of TheDailyStar. Ekwensi has also served as a consultant to the Weekly .Trumpet, DailyNewsand WeeklyEagle. He isa traditionalchief ofIbadan. His career as a novelist would no doubt con tinue to becontroversial, raising arguments between those who are sympathetic to his works, and those who are suspicious ofhis abilities. The irony is that Ekwensi is far more successful in the market-place than writers who are otherwise considered more accomplished. He is a champion of the folk imagination.He isthe people's writer, focusing on our essential humanity,dreams and aspirations. Ekwensi's voice rings true. In the face ofcriticisms, he has remained consistent and original, refusing to tailor his writings to the constantly changing fashion in the literary es tablishment. He isa worthy gift to Nigerian literature, all things considered.