Phoenix Publishers CEO, John Mwazemba (left), and Kenya Publishers
Association chairman Lawrence Njagi (centre) on March 12, 2014. I read
John Mwazemba’s article titled ‘Shallow, predictable and very boring –
the problem with Kenya’s new writers’ (Saturday Nation, March 28, 2015)
with a lot of interest for three major reasons. PHOTO| FILE| NATION
MEDIA GROUP
I read John Mwazemba’s article titled ‘Shallow, predictable and
very boring – the problem with Kenya’s new writers’ (Saturday Nation,
March 28, 2015) with a lot of interest for three major reasons.
One,
Mr Mwazemba has been my editor and publisher for almost a decade and,
therefore, I was keen to see how he generally rates creative writers in
Kenya and particularly new writers.
Two, Mr Mwazemba
is, perhaps, one of the most vocal publishers in the print and
electronic media whose views have helped me shape my creative writing.
His
hard hitting commentaries, I believe, have also been of help to whoever
has interest in creative writing. Therefore, I can assure him that his
articles have not been written in vain.
Three, the writer was voicing similar sentiments which I have raised in the literary pages in the past.
George Orwell
I
have in mind my article ‘What ails Kiswahili Literature?’ (Sunday
Nation, June 11, 2011) in which I argued that the quality of literary
works was wanting.
I claimed that
despite there being an upsurge of Swahili writers, mostly from the
academia, their capability of writing a quality creative work was
questionable.
Literature, like any
form of art, requires some sort of innate gift. I observed that there
was a big misconception among Swahili scholars in our public and private
universities that in order for one to be recognized, one has to write a
creative work.
This, in my view, had
contributed to every Tom, Dick and Harry to rush into creative writing
when it was obvious that not everybody could make it in this kind of
art.
As a result, I noted, Kiswahili
literature is now crowded with the so called ‘short distance writers’ —
whose works do not necessarily contribute much to the growth of
Kiswahili literature.
In my piece, I
also turned the heat on publishers who I claimed ought to be blamed for
the scenario in which mediocre literatures are published.
More
often than not, publishers fail in the critical evaluation of literary
manuscripts to establish whether they add value to the growth of
literature or not.
Editors who are
supposed to be gate keepers in the vetting of manuscripts to establish
their suitability are not up to the task because of poor training.
I agree with Mr Mwazemba’s observation that some literary works by both new and established writers are ‘shallow and boring’.
Now
that a publisher who has been in this game for over a decade is raising
such valid concerns, what could be the cause as to why most writers are
not up to the task? The answer(s) to this question may not easily come
by. Nevertheless I can attempt to get some answers by highlighting
reasons on why some people get into creative writing.
In his book, Decline of the English Murder and Other Essays
(1946), Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell) one of the finest authors,
notes that from a very early age of five or six, he knew that wanted to
be a writer. Between the ages of about 17 and 24, he tried to abandon
this idea, but he did so with the consciousness that he was outraging
his true nature and that sooner or later he could have to settle down
and write books.
Orwell says that there are four great motives for writing, at any rate for writing prose.
These
motives, he says, exist in different degrees in every writer, and in
any one writer the proportions will vary from time to time, according to
the atmosphere in which (s)he is living.
They
are: (i) sheer egoism – the desire to seem clever, to be talked about,
to be remembered after death, to get your own back on grown-ups who
snubbed you in childhood etc etc. (ii) Aesthetic enthusiasm – perception
of beauty in external world, or, on the other hand, in words and their
right arrangement. Pleasure in the impact of one sound on another, in
the firmness of good prose or rhythm of a good story.
The
aesthetic motive, Orwell notes, is very feeble in a lot of writers.
(iii) Historical impulse – desire to see things as they are, to find out
true facts and store them up for the use of posterity; and, lastly (iv)
political purpose – the desire to push the world in a certain
direction, to alter other people’s idea on the kind of society they
should strive after.
While I may
totally agree with Orwell’s reasons, which gave him impetus to write, I
could expand the list and include monetary gains – which I think has
contributed to the situation Mr Mwazemba lamented about – poorly written
and boring works. I know of a new creative writer whose work was
recently published who went around boasting how rich he could become
once his novel hit the bookshop shelves.
Most publishing firms in Kenya shall be paying royalties from May and I am keen to know how fat the new writer’s check will be.
In
a nutshell, wrong motives of indulging in the tough calling of creative
writing is contributing to poor creative works — not only by new
writers, but also the so called ‘big names’. I know of a professor who
writes in Kiswahili and who has been publishing at least a novel every
year.
The prolificacy of the scholar, in my view, affects the quality that Mr Mwazemba lamented about.
In
a nutshell, the buck stops with publishers when it comes to being
gate-keepers in determining the quality of literary works. As I noted
earlier, creative writing is not every one’s cup of tea.
Just like other forms of art, good works will always stand out and mediocre ones will disappear into the thin air.
Enock
Matundura is the translator of Barbara Kimenye’s Moses series (Oxford
University Press) and teaches Kiswahili literature at Chuka University
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