Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Helon Habila: Stories Make The World Less Chaotic

His writing has won multiple awards including the Caine Prize and Commonwealth Writers Prize, his latest novel Oil on Water being shortlisted for three different awards, too. Celebrated Nigerian novelist and poet Helon Habila talks about the commonalities between Indian and African writing and how African literature is the ‘new Indian literature’ in an exclusive interaction with Zehra Naqvi at the Jaipur Literature Festival:

How would you describe the ‘African novel’ if such a categorization can be made?
The African novel is a hybrid form. It is a combination of the African folkloric tradition with the western novel form. The novel is a western creation; it came to Africa through colonisation. The Africans had an oral storytelling tradition. So the African novel is a new entity created by the fusion. It uses the structure of the novel, in terms of character, the dialogue and the setting and the folkloric such as proverbs, songs, morality tales. You put them in the western novel and you have the Afrcian novel.
What is your greatest inspiration to write?
It’s been the stories I was told while I was growing up, the folktales from my mother, the women in my compound where I grew up. See, what a story does to you, it explains the world to you. It makes the world less chaotic, less formless. The idea of novel is structure; you can’t have a story without structure, because there are so many things to talk about. So a story makes the world more structured, it becomes manageable. That’s the reason why writing appeals to me.
You’ve earlier said that when you were writing a ‘nice, apolitical’ novel, it seemed irrelevant in the face of the conflict around you. In a conflict-ridden region, is there certain compulsion to write political novels?
Conflict is good for novels, it makes stories exciting! Actually, this pressure is more internal, it’s not like someone is forcing you to do it. It’s just me—who I am as a person. I can’t keep quiet while all this is happening around me. But I cannot respond by going there to actively fight. So I respond through what I know best, which is art. This is how I protest.
Do you read Indian authors? Who are your favorites among them?
The one I like the most is White Tiger by Arvind Adiga ! It’s almost as if he’s writing about Africa, you know! I see the same bureaucracy, corruption, the same injustice. He’s writing about the things I write about, the things that concern me. I relate to it.
What other commonalities do you perceive between Indian and African literature?
We both have post-colonial identities. We have the same history—being subjugated , wanting to protest.  And we want to show the world that we are not what you think we are. We have our own culture and our distinct identity—so you show that through your writing. There’s a very strong historical sense in the fiction of both.
Is there a predominant message in your writing?
It varies from book to book.  I am influenced by different things at different times. I’m sure some reader who would read all my books would say, oh, this is the thing you’re trying to say! But I don’t look for unity. I always come to each new book thinking this is something I haven’t done before. I try to challenge myself. What I really want to do is to create more convincing characters, get better with the craft itself. It’s not just about the message. It’s about the art, the aesthetics—what I make the reader feel.
Do you think African literature is coming more into focus now?
Yes, it’s definitely on the rise. African literature is the ‘new Indian literature’! Earlier Indian writers were all the rage, now it is African writers. It’s good for us! And it’s also good for everyone else to see that the world is complex and diverse. This is a good moment to be an African writer. But it’s not going to last forever! So the thing is to be a good writer, period.


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