SHADES OF HUBRIS IN JAH-ROSE'S WORK

SHADES OF HUBRIS IN JAH-ROSE’S WORK

By Pule Lechesa

Book: Rooted from the Heart
Author: Nthabiseng Rose Jafta (Jah Rose)
Pages: 83
Reviewer: Pule Lechesa

The old Greeks had a word for it: hubris. This means pride. Unbearable, overweening, even irritating pride!

We might as well note that Hubris was considered a crime in classical Athens. It was also considered the greatest crime of the ancient Greek world; "outrageous treatment" in sum. It often resulted in fatal retribution or Nemesis, the protagonist’s downfall in general.

Yes, hubris! This is the distinct impression one gets whilst reading this work. This might as well be the work of a deluded potentate when we read early poems here with lines like:

“The crown I am wearing
The queen ship I feel…
(pg 1)

“Beautiful girl born…
A real beauty from the inside out
Gone and going to surprise the world”
(pg 3)

Admittedly, one must commend the author/poet f or ensuring that she produces a beautiful looking book, the fascinating cover, the litany of fine photographs o herself etc. the problem is that this is the only aspect beautiful about this work. This is a book that looks beautiful on our shelves – but sadly that’s where the beauty ends.

One’s mind goes to the magnificent English writer and playwright, Oscar Wilde who used to insist that works of art are not capable of being moral or immoral but only well or poorly made, and that only "brutes and illiterates," whose views on art "are incalculably stupid" would make such judgements about art. Aesthete though he was, many would disagree with this.

The insights provided by the poet, in the book Rooted from the Heart, if any, are negligible – even in the nigh average poems. Consider the poem “1652” for example...(pg 41)

“The abuse of power is what we see
All they do is blare instead of act
They are wrapped up with greed and selfishness
They earn millions yet they still scheme fraud
He he he...”

Alas, there is nothing poetic about these lines, no imagery, no puns, no exhilaration. We might as well be reading ordinary prose – like virtually all the poems in this book – instead of deceiving ourselves that this is poetry

In the “poem” MISSING YOU (Page 64) one definitely comes across a bad piece of composition. The faults of style and misplaced emotions aside, there is a jarring vulgarity that finds expression in lines like this:


“The feeling from your touch
The feeling from your lips kissing mine from the neck
To only you and I know to where
The feeling from when you thrust
That snake growing under your tummy in me
And it makes me wanna go oooohhh!...”

No lines could be more banal, and irritating (not to talk of bordering on indecency for sensitive readers). There is nothing poetic here. We have seen distinguished African writers like Njabulo Ndebele, Soyinka and Laye writing about sex and incorporating superb imagery. Here we are confronted with pure unimaginative trash.

The same is true for “MONARENG” (Page 68)

“He became mine and I became his
I watched him sit on that toilet seat and
Chat with him like we were in a decent place
He lets me in...”

It is unlikely that even DH Lawrence at his most vulgar went this far, but at least he had luxuriant imagery to push his ideas further

But enough of the despair – let us end this review on a positive note. The poet writes late in the book about how therapeutic she finds her poetry:

“I have been going through my poems
It’s amazing how the stuff one writes
Seems to heal...”
(page 80 )

It is as well that she feels like she has been healed by her poetry. Pity she’s the only one; as readers are unlikely to feel such healing after going through this book.

HAPPY 80th BIRTHDAY CHINUA ACHEBE

Today the great African writer, Chinua Achebe, clocks 80! We are all delighted about this - what better tribute to him than to re-publish an article published about Achebe on this blog many months ago?


There can be no doubt about it: the celebrations will cascade on, the drums will roll, as Africa and the world celebrate the 80th birthday of Chinua Achebe today, who many consider as the greatest novelist black Africa has ever produced. Achebe wrote Africa’s all time most famous novel, Things fall apart (1958)

It is a novel that has delighted and moved the world for decades. But the author (Chinua Achebe) published other excellent novels – like No longer at Ease, (1960), Arrow of God, (1964) A man of the people (1966), and Anthills of the Savannah (1987). Of course there was a 20 year gap between A man of the People, and Anthills of the Savannah, which has been attributed to Achebe being “traumatised” by the Nigerian civil war (in the late sixties).

Achebe is an Ibo (or Igbo) from the eastern part of Nigeria. The Ibos were mainly the disenchanted people of eastern Nigeria who tried to form their own country or republic: “Biafra” precipitating the Nigerian civil war which ended in 1970. From his writings it is clear enough that Achebe was very much a Nigerian in spirit before the war (this is not to suggest that he is no less a Nigerian thereafter, as can be ascertained from his honest, earnest book of essays The Trouble with Nigeria)

In his novel, No longer at ease, for example, young well educated Obi regards himself as both an Ibo man, and a Nigerian. There is nothing wrong in being proud of one’s tribal origins or Mother tongue (Ghana’s Kofi Awoonor has demonstrated this in his works too). In Achebe’s A man of the people, national (Nigerian) politics loom large too, whilst still paying tribute to ethnic origins. Like Wole Soyinka (a Yoruba and a proud Nigerian too) Achebe’s works often assume a national and international dimension.

Things fall apart has been acclaimed as a classic as the author (Achebe) re-creates a pre-colonial, proud society with elaborate, intriguing customs complemented by a fluent, expressive language. If we contrast this work with Camara Laye’s superb work The African Child, the dispassionate approach by Achebe to his own first novel puts him in a special class. When an author tries to be “neutral” a work is often more powerful, and many critics, eg, hated the tone of Ayi Kwei Armah for example in Two thousand Seasons. Achebe’s work shows a highly intelligent, dispassionate author at work.

Achebe’s language in his fictional work shows that he is very much at ease with his mother tongue. Whilst writing in English he goes out of his way to convey the particular authentic atmosphere of the (often) people at grassroots level he is writing about; even as regards “Pidgin English” he gets the inflections and jokes right. Hence, his global acclamation as a great writer

There is the tendency to harp on Things fall apart as the author’s greatest work, and it must be said that many of such observers have probably not read all of Achebe’s works of fiction. It is a matter of taste, but I personally believe that novels like Arrow of God and No longer at ease (both also written by Achebe) are perhaps better than the original classic (Things fall apart) Certainly Achebe’s re-creation of the past and the sweep (even co-incidence?) of pivotal events in the society is more powerful in Arrow of God. Many critics frowned at A Man of the people, but it’s a brilliant work too, castigating political corruption, and also a satire – before Armah’s The beautyful Ones are not yet born.

But all this show how great a writer Chinua Achebe is. His books are read all over the world. Like in his works, Achebe in real life condemns negative things, including bad leadership, but at the same time he has a gentle, sagacious sense of humour. No praise can be too much for this wonderful son of Africa! We wish him all the best as he clocks 80 today…