Taban Lo Liyong’s ‘Another last word’

“Good wine matures with age. So do good essays like these ones”, Taban Lo Liyong promises his readers in the opening sentences of this book, which collects pieces apparently written between 1969 and 1978. Elsewhere in his preface he opines: “In their own right, they are very, very fine essays.” 

Here and elsewhere, bravado is not lacking. Taban “participated fully in the literary and cultural debates of the late sixties and early seventies” -- or, as he humbly reminded his audience (in 1974):

“More than anybody else, I have been the most vociferous, and consistent advocate, promoter, and critic of literature and the other arts in East Africa for the last decade.” These 32 essays, letters, and lectures offer a good overview of that time and place and the many topics of interest and concern to Taban. It was a rich period for East African literature, and the often contentious Taban was indeed very active in much of it -- as writer, critic, scholar, and teacher. 

 A number of the pieces were delivered at the Goethe Institute in Nairobi, which, under Frantz Nagel’s stewardship, “was the best salon in town”. There are also letters, essays, and interviews in this collection, a follow-up to Taban’s earlier volume, The Last Word. 

 This is not a volume of scholarship, detailed literary (or other) criticism, or careful analysis. Vigorously written, they are energetic bursts (occasionally becoming mere diatribes), many better suited to be heard than read.

“Enjoy yourself”, he tells the reader, “get excited, infuriated, enlightened.” Certainly, one of his prime objectives is to arouse the passion (and the occasional ire) of his readers -- and he generally manages that, though he is often a bit blunt in his approach. 

 Taban eggs on his audience, and the pieces are valuable for that alone. He may not always be right, but at least he offers solutions (of sorts) and suggestions. He is tired of complacency. As he puts it (in his somewhat distinctive style):

The only way to progress Africa is to derange Africans, to make them selfish, to make them individualists, to make them goal-conscious

       His exhortations serve a purpose, though Taban’s politics are sometimes questionable -- as is his expression. In a letter to the editor about a review in the Times Literary Supplement of his story-collection Fixion and his essays collected in The Last Word, Taban wrote:

     Now, I say this: The blackman is the most virile creature around. The blackman is the chosen race. Arise and conquer the world ! Africa, Arise and Conquer. Arise and Conquer. This is your century. The next century is yours. Will to conquer. Prepare for Conquest. (...) 

But, for Africa to fulfil her destiny our leaders have to be taught that power is man’s destiny, a beggar even of foreign aid is a woman. That aggression is healthy, and sin to redress a wrong the greatest virtue in the world of morals. And, our search for revenge is the greatest weapon we have got.

       (Taban’s letter was apparently never published in the TLS. Too bad -- that would have made for an interesting literary debate .....) 

       Elsewhere he suggests:

     What is greatly needed, what has always been lacking, is not a national philosophy; not a national orientation, but a militant, universal racial goal, under which the various nations can work out their destinies, tributary to the whole. 

     I see no reason why Africans should not work hard, even with vengeance, towards world domination. The goal declared, the will present, the ways will be found.

       Taban calls The Last Word a “War Cry for African Aggression”. Aggression is, one hopes, a position that has, in the more than two decades since he wrote these words, become indefensible. The horrific power struggles that continue to wrack the continent have come at an immeasurable cost. With the exception of a handful of coups replacing horrible dictators (à la Amin) with nominally better ones no good whatsoever -- and a great deal of bad -- has come of military might in Africa. If there is one thing that Africa does not need, it is aggression. Indeed, the continent would surely be many steps closer to world domination if it had demilitarized when it finally broke free of colonial rule, rather than waste so many lives and so much energy, money, and time in suicidal self-destruction. 

       Taban is, however, correct in looking forward, rather than back. He feels Africa should put the outrages of colonialism behind it, using the memory of it to build a better world (with living well being the best revenge) -- and using European and Western ideals and models where they can improve the lot of Africans. He subscribes to some capitalist ideals -- occasionally to very misguided excess:

Now, there is a vast land which must be exploited economically. Therefore it must be exploited so that its products will contribute to our development. If the Masai are sitting on it, drive them out like in the industrial revolutions, so that they can come to Nairobi and become workers. They and their cousins in Uganda, the Karamojong. Lazy men who are kept alive by their wives. Lazy people who stand on one leg and dream of Ngai, food gatherers who are parasites on cows, milk and meat. A disgrace to a country of workers. Flush the Masai out of their lazy condition. Make them money-minded, that’s the way to develop, or introduce rinderpest to destroy all their cows.

       Taban exaggerates on purpose, too, knowing that some of these ideas are too outlandish or ridiculous to consider. He wants to shake people out of complacency -- as one imagines some of these pieces must have done. 

       There is also a good deal about the arts and the role of the artist in society. Taban is well-versed in literature (and especially the situation in East Africa at this time), but he also does not overly romanticize the role of the author. “East or West, artists cry best”, he acknowledges, but he also often looks beyond the arts to how society might be changed, understanding that the most significant tasks will be undertaken by others. 

Source: www.complete-review.com