Enemy of the State by Maxwell Perkins Kanemanyanga

Book: ENEMY OF THE STATE
Author: Maxwell Perkins Kanemanyanga
Publisher: Eselby Jnr Publications

Review by Pule Lechesa

The book, “Enemy of the State” which comprises ten short stories penned by Maxwell Perkins Kanemanyanga, is a welcome addition to short stories written and published by African authors over the years. As the blurb of the book reminds us:

“Fiction of the shorter variety have been spun out over the decades by distinguished African wordsmiths like Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Ama Ata Aidoo, Dambudzo Marechera, Es’kia Mphahlele, David Maillu, Gomolemo Mokae, Omosei Bolaji, Leboela Motopi, et al.”

The author can not be faulted for his love of books, and acquisition of general knowledge, which can be seen from the short stories. For example he tells us about the life/books of “Mandela, Fredrick Douglas, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr, Mahatma Gandhi and many others. But the people who really left a big impression in his life were Dr King JR, Mandela and Gandhi. Like these three great men he believed in the philosophy of non-violence”

But as all-time British literary icon Joseph Conrad is often criticised for heightened language and ultra adjectival descriptions, Maxwell ‘s love for words and “grandiose” ideas often go too far. He, many times gets “carried away by the exuberance of his own verbosity”

Examples abound from this collection; including phrases like: “and transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. And let’s all pray…” We shall look at some of his supposed grand concepts and ideas-debating in some of the short stories soon.

Another issue is the unsatisfactory ending of many of these stories (including the Title story, The Enemy of the State). Apart from the impressive adjectival speech of the Colonel, we are never told what happens in the end. Is he killed too, or does he come into power to help his country and people?

Alas, the grandiose speeches often become ends in themselves without substantial logic and conclusions; apart from the debacle of the Colonel in the title story, there is the “The Prof of Universal knowledge (the title itself is pomposity personified!). He goes on and on examining the ills of society bringing in even old Athens and its philosophy. This might be construed as “overkill” by many readers – the author wanting to show off his knowledge which becomes tedious in the end.

Yet there are germs of truth in the exegesis; eg decrying immorality. “you see five children with the same mother and different fathers”. But there is nothing to show that the protagonists here have done anything to ameliorate such societal ills; in fact by placing so much emphasis on their drinking sprees they seem part of the problem.

Sometimes there is the inadequacy of information in Maxwell’s fiction. In one of the stories, a mother is praised thus: “She did this and that to make sure her children got food and education.” What exactly did she do? What extremes did she go too? Were these legitimate or otherwise?

A story like “The man who rose from the dead” in this collection beggars belief. What is it all about? We know it is about a strange man, Chitakatira but there is limited substance or rhyme or reason in the story. What is the intention of the author in showing us such a man? He is not exactly a bad man, but his demise is clearly unsatisfactory. What is the lesson to be learnt from his life?

There is also the bizarre confession from a guy in one of the stories (The hustler). He says directly: “Anyway, there are two things that I want you to do for me at my funeral. You must buy a bottle of Hansa and a new pant for ladies and put them in my grave, on the other side where there would be my head”. Fiction might mirror life or reality, but this type of colourless, rather shameless character is not to be advocated.

The lure of greener pastures is a very sad story. It is unfortunate enough that Daudi, the man is placed in a position where he has to travel elsewhere for survival…after some travails he seems to have learnt his lessons, is coming back home wiser and ready to be of use to his family. His wife has betrayed him, and as if this were not enough he dies a painful, unnecessary death. The landscape is generally grim with most of these stories.

In Unbridled erotic adventure turns sour! – one at least comes across a very amusing tale. Just desserts for illicit lovers might well be our simplistic verdict. But we might wonder what happens next to the lovers locked together. It’s better not to imagine the fate of the lovers!

* The book, "Enemy of the State", has won the “Mangaung Up and Coming Author of the Year” Award.