African Short Stories Vol. 1

LSi Reviews

African Short Stories II

Foreword to Vol. 2

IN my call for additional submissions to the second volume of African short fictions I had encouraged the participants with the assertion that while our gratification in contemporary African and world economy may not necessarily come from mainstream financial systems the universal relevance of co-creating diverse choices in which imagination overthrows the humdrum of existence imposed upon our humanity by some outside malevolence becomes our reward as channels of higher paradigms -and harbingers of the new future reality. Allied to our earlier enunciation to colleagues and associates of our objective for the first edition of African Short Story project of the Literary Society in 2013 we may have crystallised what would well subsist as tenets of enduring creative enterprise in Africa.

In other words, by the art of narration we can upturn as we have seen in every time and place the status quo. The seemingly improbable thence becomes eminently possible where we creatively exercise and direct our powers not just as free born citizens of our communities but active interrogators of our collective destiny in an infinite universe of being. This also is the inevitable direction of an ascending planetary order within our supremely enlightened and interconnected cosmos.

Thus with the ensemble of literary creativity witnessed so far in both volumes I, on my part, am happy that the responsiveness among writers, as seen in the number of some wholly accepted and most other copy edited works from my desk, testifies to an enduring legacy of African story telling that is not inured by the ravage of leadership and betrayal of continent at the hands of a greedy minority currently being flushed out by the steady rhythm of change throbbing through the land and rendering redundant the corrupt labours of those vain and arrogant minions of darkness.

Indeed, it is a worthy point of note the encapsulation of thirty four stories in two parts arranged in the order of a progressive movement in consciousness that generally embraces all theatrical and whimsical gamut of African cultural aesthetics.

The first part inscribes the violence that has convulsed the very bosom of a beleaguered continent in the same manner that the planet, Great Mother, has reeled from whole centuries of assault upon her existence by the same predatory ghoul of human barbarism. Here Nigeria�s ragtag army fleeing in the wake of a monstrous reptilian onslaught upon her peace is the butt of howling satire by her writers.

Even where most of these first part entries have come from young West African contributors -mainly Nigerian narrators- whose depictions of present social trauma would seem ironically reminiscent of the violent cycle of the South that assailed and rocked the sensitive hearts and mental balance of her writers in Apartheid years, nevertheless, our apparent recoil at the religious and political brutality against the very psyche of African men, women and children is not quite mitigated by the narrative mood and tenor of the second part where the telling yet incorporates some non-too-lighter and no less pervasive nuances of individual struggles both for the soul of Africa and the triumph of her humanity.

�Something the snake sallied/ must needs be long, or wily,� it was asserted years ago. Yet I believe it is with the new and vibrant notes of the second part coming from all corners of north, west, east and south that the present -and future- landscape is filled with sheer optimism for the visionary and intense creative experimentations of African writers. Understandably these hopes might come rather guardedly, with necks still on the vice grip of the shadows that fight the changes sweeping the globe. But the �bold victory� is heralded with just one whistle blowing for �heaven and earth to hear.� It comes like that �feeble, persistent knock� inside a womb, or like our teenage dreamer following his beloved from the sunset of mutual deceit �into the daylight� of true becoming. And, yes, it comes also as that awesome and divine �kindness of a total stranger.� These literary experiments are compelling enough. They tell of talents that blossom in courageous hearts and minds from the farthest corners of Africa�s teeming millions.

Now then one can with all great expectations cite the robust tradition of story telling here shown by these �newbies� and �oldies� as the bests of tributes to the undying resilience and magical spirit of the African mind. And it is by this understanding and profound sense of elation that I add a further word of gratitude to the Society of Literary Fellows, also known as The LSi, who in conjunction with the International Research Council on African Literature and Culture, IRCALC, are being commended all round for this effort to revive reading and critical interest in African short fictions and their transmission in the world information media.

I am also grateful to the writers and their agents whose entries have helped to consolidate originally scant materials archived for web and print network distribution, while gladly extending editorial compliments and best wishes in the future research and creative writing experience of all on board these volumes of African Short Stories today.

Chin Ce - 06-2015
For the LSi.

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