African Revolutionary Writers, Part 6
Ousmane Sembène
The 1950s, 1960s and 1970s,
when the majority of African former colonies regained their national
sovereignty, were also the boom years for the paperback book-publishing
business worldwide.
Companies such as Penguin
Books and Heinemann popularised many African authors in English or in English
translation during this time.
Ousmane Sembène’s 1960 “God’s Bits of Wood”, written
in French and first published only 15 years after the end of the anti-fascist
world war, has an outstanding place in the history of the African revolutionary
novel. The download linked below contains characteristic extracts from the
novel.
As you will see later in this
course, Ngugi wa Thiong’o mentioned “God’s Bits of Wood” in the final chapter
of his great novel “Petals of Blood”, and also in his famous critical essay
“The Writer in a Neo-colonial State”.
The novel is about a strike
among railway workers on the line between Dakar, Senegal, and Bamako, Mali, in
the time of the French colonial empire, and is based on a real strike that took
place in 1947. It is a wonderful story, full of characterisation, events and
atmosphere. It is optimistic and full of hope. Large parts of “God’s Bits of Wood”can be
read on Google Books.
Ousmane Sembène was also an
outstanding film-maker. According to his Wikipedia entry, “he realized that his
written works would only be read by a small cultural elite in his native land.
He therefore decided at age 40 to become a film maker, in order to reach wider
African audiences.” For similar reasons, Ngugi was later to return to writing
in his native language, Kikuyu.
Ousmane Sembène died in his
eighties, in 2007.
Did the African writers
create a “genre”? At least one could
say that they were typically open and keen to portray life and personalities as
they were. They represented a revolutionary, generally optimistic (but
sometimes tinged with disillusion) popular imagination that was widespread in
those years, at least among African intellectuals. One of the highlights of
those years was “FESTAC”, The Second World African Festival of Arts and
Culture, held in Nigeria in 1977, where the young Fela Kuti played, among
others.
Is there continuity today?
No. It is not the same today. Culture is now more “globalised”, as a result of
a reactionary, neo-liberal offensive. The paperback book does not have the same
high place in popular culture as it did in the past. The sense of a general
African anti-Imperialist popular cultural wave has lost some of its momentum,
for the time being.
But we are working on the
problems! And Ousmane Sembène’s masterpiece, “God’s Bits of Wood”, remains an
inspiration to us.
·
The above is to
introduce the original reading-texts: Ousmane Sembène,
God’s Bits of Wood, extracts, 1960.
