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Writers from all over the
world visit IRCALC Forum for discussions on wide ranging subject matters
involving poetry, literature, language, theory and creativity. The
editors review and approve these discussions for publication in the
Journal of New Poetry. To join the literary Chat Forum as a poet, writer
or scholar please forward a proposal to
editors@africaresearch.org
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Kei Miller: Privileging of the
Female Subject
 "People
keep on mentioning this, so they must be right, but I’m not completely
sure why that is. There isn’t any agenda at work, none that I am conscious
of... I’ll hazard a guess though, and say it has
a lot to do with my experience of reading. I guess, as a writer, I’ve come
after the explosion of female writers of the 80s – I grew up reading Lorna
Goodison and Olive Senior and Erna Brodber from the Caribbean, and Gloria
Naylor and Toni Morrison from America, all these women who themselves were
writing about women. So women were very present and very large in my
fictional landscape. I’ve simply ended up writing the kinds of stories I
liked reading, and they are inhabited by the kinds of characters I fell in
love with."
-- Miller: Lit. Chat
 "My poetry or fiction tend to mix myth and reality,
conscious and unconscious, spirituality and physicality, bringing to the
forefront the intrinsic relationship that exists between all these
planes or states of being, and questioning the very
notion of what constitutes reality, or better yet, presenting a reality
that is closer to the ‘whole reality’ that humans inhabit or dwell in – it
is very animist and holistic. It also brings together different
geographical, temporal and cultural spaces. This intertwinement of
different cultural and spatio-temporal realities, and ways of knowing
(epistemologies) creates “narratives” that have multidimensional and
complex meanings, and allows the exploration of the oppressions and
freedoms permeating different societies."
Irene: Poetry
Irene: Lit. Chat
"There is no doubting the
fact that we have enough heroes and martyrs in Africa to use as reference
points in writing... I am usually conscious of this. However, I also
believe that literature is like a sea, which takes in water from many
rivers, rivulets and streams. Once the water from these tributaries enters
the sea or ocean, it becomes common property of all men, and all can fish
in it…. In this case, I think of the image that is most apt for my
immediate need. First, I explore for the African image, if it is not
sufficient, I would go for an alternative..."
More
 "I see the creative process as communication
that goes beyond language. I visualise an interaction that goes towards
the inner dimensions of the individual. And that interaction is neither
imagistic nor symbolic; the interaction transcends the boundaries of
language. It is knowingness that goes so deep within the individual. The
problem comes in lending expression to this knowingness; to this self
instinctual understanding or realisation and then that problem comes when
you want to give verbal expression to this experience within the
individual..." More
 "Generally, many of my characters
represent snippets of the kind of time and period I saw as a child. The
characters I portray were the kind of characters that existed in those
days. Then, the teachers were respected. The teachers were happy to know
that they were bringing up young minds. They served as role models for
their pupils. There was no way teachers combined their duties with other
jobs..." More
 "When I was in the university, most of our
lecturers sounded as if we didn't have drama in Africa. When I got
to the United States I came in contact with drama works from other parts
of the world. I saw Japanese and Chinese drama. But above all how drama
was presented in Japanese culture for instance. Further I studied history
of drama and I realised that many of my teachers were wrong in supposing
that we don't have drama in Africa. They felt that the dances which were
ritualistic in nature lacked dramatic impetus because they believed that
ritual and theatre were opposed to each other..." More |
