Posts

Showing posts with the label literature

APPRECIATING CHUKWUEMEKA IKE'S "OUR CHILDREN ARE COMING"" - Onyeji Nnaji

Image
To appreciate literature is simply to be desolved into the dimensions of narratives carefully contained by a literary piece. The way the reader sees the writer and the conclusion he is able to draw about the author is generally dependent on how much he gets himself assimilated into the narrative dexterity of the author. The writer, who would want readers to gain an immeasurable understanding of the work, uses such language he believes would encourage the reading of his work. But one thing is paramount; he does not place the work so simply for every reader, instead he weaves several techniques into the narrative so that he that approaches the text would see reasons to think. To think properly with any work of art is simply to be absorbed by the same piece of writing. By this, the reader identifies with any character of his choice in the work. With this character, he gains a better position to judge, support or disagree with the philosophy dominant in the text. By so doing, he can vividl...

The prophecy of Chukwuemeka Ike’s “Our Children Are Coming” comes true in the Obidient Movement — Sylva Nze Ifedigbo

Image
In the roll call of authors who have effectively used the novel form to interrogate the systematic abuse of the Nigerian society leading to the many ills her citizens continue to endure today, Chukwuemeka Ike deserves a prolonged applause. In an Obit when he passed at age 88, in 2020, I had noted that “In many ways, his fiction held up a mirror to society, reflecting both the desirable and the worst in us and leaving us with something to really ponder about. He seemed passionate about changing society and used his fiction to consistently remind us of the increasing inadequacies of society which our fleeting sensibilities ignore as we carry on with the daily scramble for material accumulation.” And he had quite a collection of titles that buttressed this including the likes of Toads for Super, The Naked Gods, The Potter’s Wheel, Sunset at Dawn, Expo ’77, The Chicken Chasers, and The Search among others. There will be time to properly study, contextualise and document how young Nigeri...