Editorial

A VIEW BACK INTO LITERATURE

The Republic desktop dictionary defines literature as: “Written works with artistic value”. Written works, it says include, fiction, poetry, drama and criticism that are recognized as having important or permanent artistic value.

Literature has been used since the beginning of global enlightenment and world civilization. Indeed, from archeology to zoology (A-Z), the literature pieces were used to engender the commonsense nature and its capability to create a world of peace, a world of bountiful and world of security for all God’s creation.

When in the ancient times, the literature were used to educate the living on natures dos and don’ts, the modern world is using the same literature today for self-destruction. The reason why one must pity the current generation is also that all the mentors are no longer around and none was able to inherit their natural legacies that had helped turn the then infant world around.

Sometime literature expedition with its attendant enlightening experience would remind us of the contemporaries of William Shakespeares; Geoffrey Chaucers; John Donne; John Dryden; Jonathan Swift, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and others, who used the literature to persistently educate the emerging England society – in all the Great Britain’s facet of life – in their collective effort of creating just and peaceful world for themselves and posterity.

The Republic is saying all these because, it thinks adopting the right literature path today the current world could sigh at peace with itself.

But who are those to champion the holy crusade and how? The aforementioned literature greats had successfully straightened their society from it’s perishing path, through gatherings and cells where educative poetic dramas were staged; where live stage dramas were performed for the vivid understanding of the then not-so-much-educated society.

Today the well-advanced modern society couldn’t make any meaningful use for the vast opportunity and logistic endowment all around it.

To cut a long story short, this paper has realized recently with dismay that, even the local film and theater stakeholders find it very difficult to hire good editors and hot-on-the-job interpreters, which leaves many literature students and lay viewer and listener in the dark.

In most of the films we watch on the screens, the Africanism in particular has always almost been subjugated by the western cultures; thus making Africa, the first and foremost continent a chorus singer to the western vocalists.

Today by going western all African lifestyle have been westernized including its faith. The continent does nothing for itself, if not western approved: even how to ‘sleep with one’s spouse need to be copied from the west.

And the injurious part of it all was when the continent’s children start behaving the alien way with the wide mouth remaining dips on the continent for hope.

However; the Republic could only end this piece by asking, like an age-old Nigerian novelist, poet, lecturer and playwright thus: Has African A God?