Simon Mol
In an age where one could postulate that the media has evolved into a form of popular religion, people read and react to what they read. The mind thrives on information, the body reacts to the dictates of the mind, and the human psyche, as a result of these reactions, soars or drowns. Hence everything is attributed to the written word, fictitious or factual.
In 1903 Jerzy Zu³awski published a science-fiction On the Silver Globe. In the book Zu³awski flirted with the idea of an imaginary trip to the Moon on a spacecraft, which he created in his fantasy. Accepted or not it is claimed by Zu³awski’s family that NASA scientists were inspired by Zu³awski’s book in building the first spacecraft that landed on the moon. Here is substantiation of the role of literature in the affairs of the world.
I was attracted to the works of Wojcieh Albiñski principally because he has been living in Africa for almost as long as I have been alive. It was as well a literary adventure into the writings of a creator who is equipped with the eyes of an outsider on Africa—someone who doesn’t pose as a patronising collector of predisposed information.
I soon discovered in his style and strength a literary therapy for discomforts provoked by earlier works on Africa, both fiction and non-fiction and how these go a long way to influence people’s reactions to Africa and anything out of Africa. As the American writer Arthur Miller puts it, ‘Without doubt literature wouldn’t exist’. In this phrase Miller justifies the theory that ‘literature loses its strength and value when it becomes too didactic’. Thomas Moore’s Utopia which leaves scholars divided over whether it is a communist manifesto or a religious treatise is an excellent example.
Under this hypothesis, Albiñski emerges with success partly because he occupies a largely neutral position in his works, and has an ability to raise doubts about trivial everyday things in the reader’s mind— things that are often taken for granted. He does this with such skill and sincerity that in the mind of the reader mental walls collapse, social barriers melt and his characters’ problems become identical with those of the reader. The result here is that Albiñski surfaces as a mythmaker within the context of contemporary reality; ‘I sat at home close to the telephone…’ Kalahari pg-400— this phrase, incomplete and as banal as it might appear, is loaded with meaning; for instance, it indicates that there is telephone in Africa. Such visual reality connected to a geographical sphere that is largely described as lagging behind evolution, is a little payback of debts accrued by other writers in phrases such as ‘African time’, which alludes to habitual lateness, or of a little black schoolboy who refuses to attend school, hates taking a bath and prefers to run around climbing trees.
An even recent example is ‘A Black Woman in Africa is not a human being’, Wiedza I ¯ycie No.6, Czerwca 2005. Saying therefore that Albiñski is a literary ally of Africa wouldn’t be overstating a fact. Nor would it be an emotional reaction. On the contrary, as someone I haven’t met in person, such a conclusion is based entirely on the quality and value of what flows from his mind.
Because it entertains, inspires and instructs, the Soul of man finds contentment in literature. In human terms, literature is a sphere where the Soul expresses its dreams and aspirations, its infinite abilities and omniscience. And since atoms put together in the shape of a Soul and clothed in flesh and blood must strive and thrive to achieve liberation, the influence of literature on the experience of the Soul cannot be underestimated. Peace sequels liberation, literature is about liberation and liberation is what the human Soul seeks.
Albiñski’s work about Africa is a spark that indicates the path of liberation to those who are caged by the drama of info manipulation. The reason is simple; in the world of liberal imagination, when a writer or playwright sits down to write, he/she takes on the role of God. There is no better description to replace this remark, considering that the writer/playwright creates characters and infuses them with life. In many respects the characters are extensions of the writer, and other persona he has come across, both in real and surreal states.
The process of writing in itself is both healing and liberating for the writer and a finished volume is equally cathartic for the reader. Readers absorb energy and inspiration from characters in novels and the imbibed mental stimulus discharges itself in real live situations, i.e., to a large extent the reader is placed under the influence of characters.
Of course there are always two sides to a coin; Albiñski falls victim to the trap of exploiting a word such as ‘Murzyn’ in describing some of the ‘black’ characters, instead of ‘African’. Someone could easily rise to the defense that there is nothing wrong with that. However in the eye of the African, it matters, especially taking into consideration past works by other writers and poets and their influence on how readers react to mental images created by literature. On the other hand, even this tiny flaw of Albiñski could be overlooked under poetic license. It further pales into insignificance as a result of how the trend of his messages flow to a logical end, which to a very large extent, have to do with the doings and undoing of individual characters rather than a group of people brought together by landmass.
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