Book: It Couldn't Matter Less
Author: Omoseye Bolaji
Isbn: 978-0-620-55980-5
It is stating the obvious now to say that a thread of literary allusions always runs through virtually all Omoseye Bolaji’s published works – his new book, It Couldn’t matter less (2013) is no different. A number of literary commentators have over the years written about this aspect (1)
It couldn’t matter less contains almost 50 short essays – “shorter writings’ of the author penned in recent times. This of course reminds us of the earlier work Miscellaneous Writings (2011) which was very much the same. The topics treated are disparate in their range, breadth, approach and quality.
There are many references to the world of literature, African and international, in the book. There are also direct quotations from the works of writers, often weaved into individual essays. Some examples here:
“The unexpectedness of my daughter smoking gave me a shock . A woman’s mouth exhaling the acrid smell of tobacco, instead of being fragrant. A woman’s teeth blackened with tobacco instead of sparkling with whiteness” (Mariama Ba in so Long a letter)
“The moon watched us caress. It lit over the perfect world of perfect persons, a man and a beautiful woman under its unwinking stare and the stars who winked as if celebrating our glorious kiss. Table mountain could have peeked over the balcony to witness us under the conspiratorial luminescence of the moon”(Deon-Simphiwe Skade in A series of Undesirable events)
“Blessed be the man that spares these stones and cursed be he that moves my bones” (William Shakespeare’s will)
“The people who have the sweetest insides are the think-nothing people and we here try to be like them. Like logs in the river we float and go whither the current commands and nothing enters our insides to turn the sweetness into bitterness” Gabriel Okara in The Voice
“To the last I grapple with thee;
From hell’s heart I stab at thee;
For hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee!” Ahab in the classic, Moby Dick.
The essay, ‘Unsung literary catalysts’ pays tribute to a medley of great literary personnel in African history who are not as celebrated as they should be; figures like Uli Bieir, David Cook, Jacomien Schimper, Alrina Le Roux, Ben Mtobwa, Vonani Bila – although arguably the latter is quite celebrated enough in SA!
The ‘essay’, Interviews with effervescent Writers – the text shows the author’s excitement over the ‘project’ – highlights one of the classics of African Writing, Talking with African Writers, by Jane Wilkinson. Indeed it is an eminent work that focuses (via interviews) on many outstanding African writers from different countries. Maybe one day the book, Interviews with effervescent writers will assume a lot of significance too?
The ‘effervescence of the Nobel award’ once again reveals the author’s exceeding admiration and respect for the illustrious African writer Wole Soyinka. The piece is supposed to celebrate Nobel laureates, such as they are in Africa, but Bolaji’s ‘worship’ for Soyinka mars the piece and makes it rather unbalanced.
Even worse is the piece titled, ‘The lady Bards’. Hardly have I come across such an opening stringent powerful argument followed by a weak, timid conclusion or concession! Here Bolaji initially bravely explains why sometimes he finds himself undermining poetry or ‘poets’, and with good reason too, offering international examples to buttress his point. Then unexpectedly he starts singling out and praising a trio of female bards without even highlighting their work!
This reinforces what I have always suggested that the author has some sort of weakness for women. (2) It also reminds me of one of my essays titled “Pule Lechesa refuses to be carried away by the hype over Free State of Mind’ where I stated that many men find themselves somewhat “intimidated” when confronted by the work of female writers. Is this not the case again with “The lady bards”?
In ‘Profundities of Initiation’, as we read on we do not really expect anything laced with literature; then suddenly the author refers to the great African writer, Camara Laye, and comments: “My mind went briefly to Camara Laye’s classic, The African child which brilliantly re-creates the poignant ambience, fear, dread, pains and travails of such initiations in his old society (Guinea) I suppose there is a lot to be said for Africans still having pride in certain ancestral customs...’ (page 34)
‘An Interview’ contains concise, straightforward discourse on literature – with breathtaking brevity. Most of the literary works referred to here are now regarded as classics; including – Pamela, Clarissa (by Richardson), Gulliver’s Travels, Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde), Madame Bovary (Flaubert), Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, Thomas Hardy, Samuel Beckett, Shakespeare, D.H Lawrence, Charles Dickens, T.S Elliot, Joseph Conrad, George Orwell...
In ‘Grappling with malignant hatred’ Bolaji brings in the celebrated work, Moby Dick, by Herman Melville. It is done in a creative manner, yet the details of “Moby Dick’ itself are presented with the usual brevity of the author: “I thought about Moby Dick where Ahab wanted revenge on the awesome whale, Moby dick; he hated it with all his heart to the gruesome end – with virtually everybody on the ship dead because of this”
‘It Couldn’t matter less’ (where the title of the book is taken from) shows how much Bolaji loved thrillers during his youth, in this case the works of Peter Cheyney. It is interesting that a contemporary critic, Achal Prabhala has confessed that he had never heard of Cheyney before in his life until Bolaji told him about him; then Achal found himself buying many copies of the work in India! Such are the disparate influences of literature
The piece, ‘The Behemoth’ illustrates the literary influence Bolaji is having on others himself. Here, in this charming narrative he meets a young South African reader in the townships so much enamoured with Bolaji’s detective series (books) based on the fictional Tebogo Mokoena. And by a coincidence, the young man’s name is Tebogo Mokoena too!
‘Parley with a critic’ features Bolaji having lunch with a critic, Ishmael Soqaga (who published a study on the author) at a wholesome ‘Waterfront’. They exchange ideas. Bolaji has always encouraged younger African critics and even mentored quite a number of them. Soqaga’s potential as a critic and intellectual is evident from in his debut work.
‘It’s festive season time again’ the last ‘essay’ in this collection, rounds off things in neat fashion; appropriately it was written at the end of 2012. Bolaji briefly ponders on his life as a writer, his credo; and reflecting on his latest Lifetime Achievement award writes: “...”The recent glittering Mbali Awards that took place in Clocolan was easily one of the highlights. It was an occasion when I was honoured with another Lifetime Achievement award and it was thrilling to see the phalanx of intelligent people, Black, White and “coloured” gracing the event. There were traditional Zulu and Sesotho praise-songs, or rather poems rendered in my honour. And Zulu regalia in particular can be picturesque!" (page 100)
This is a work in the mould of the earlier Miscellaneous writings, It couldn’t matter less is a very important book; often very informative and witty to boot.
- P Lechesa
REFERENCES
1. See for example R Mokoena’s essay titled “Literary allusions in People of the townships”; and “Literary references in Tebogo and the bacchae” by Paul Lothane. Both essays are published in Hector Kunene’s OMOSEYE BOLAJI (2010), and Ishmael Soqaga’s O. Bolaji: A Voyage around his literary work
2. The Evolution of FS Black Literature. By Pule Lechesa. 2006
