INTRODUCTION
In this unit, we will study the emergence of journal literatures in Nigerian premier universities which helped in grooming Nigerian writers. The University of Ibadan, which was the university college affiliated to the University of London, produced the majority of Nigerian writers because of the literary consciousness in the university that resulted from the existence of literary journals on the campus. These journals, which were products of the Nigerian students, started with the advice of the European teachers in the university. The journals were edited by the Nigerian students themselves. We will study the origin of these journals, the effects of the journal in the training of Nigerian writers and the effects in the development of Nigerian literature in all ramifications.
3.1 General Overview
In search of a new policy on higher education, the Colonial Office set up the Elliot and Asquith Commissions which recommended the creation of a university college at Ibadan. According to Adewoye (1973), the founding of the college in 1948 “represented the fulfillment of many years of aspiration by Nigerians for the establishment, locally of an institution of higher education.” The British, however, entrenched their cultural hegemony in the new college by specifying that it should have British universities as its model in order to maintain a high academic standard. The college was affiliated with the University of London in what was termed a “special relationship.” This, in practice, forced the University College to adopt the curricula of the said university until 1962 when it became autonomous and came to be known as the University of Ibadan. The residential nature of the college made it possible for it to create intellectual elite in Nigeria. The college was the first institution of higher learning to bring such a large group of talented young men and women from various parts of the country together. Takena Tamuno wrote that the plan to make the college residential was fully thought-out.
The Asquith Commission favoured the principle of residential universities for a number of reasons: the unsuitability of off-campus accommodation and the necessity to supervise the health of students closely; the widely different backgrounds of the undergraduates and the need to promote unity; the opportunity offered for broadening their outlook through extra curricula activities. The social climate within the university easily created avenues for interaction and mutual edification among the students. This was evident in the growth of campus publications including The Bug, Beacon, The Eagle, The Sword, The Weekly, The University Herald, The Criterion, and The University Voice which served as the official organ of the students’ union. In the sphere of extra-curricula activities, the Arts Theatre was a major catalyst and it enjoyed the patronage of the small university community. Geoffrey Axworthy of the English department, who was responsible for creating the Drama Unit in the department, also directed plays at the theatre. The experiences of the students in their new environment and the prospects of university education engendered in them an awareness of their status as privileged members of the society with unlimited opportunities in the emergent nation. They were not only fascinated by, but also celebrated their encounter with, the prevailing intellectual attitudes in Europe. Some of the students saw the university campus as a world on its own. Most of the activities that enlivened campus life at Ibadan in those early years originated from students in the humanities.
SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1
Discuss the factors in the university which led to the establishment of campus journals.
3.2 The Horn/ Black Orpheus
A major development in campus journal was the establishment of The Horn, a poetry magazine in the Department of English in 1957. Martin Banham, a young lecturer in the department who was also a fresh graduate of Leeds, suggested the creation of the magazine to John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo, then an honours student in the department, who later started and first edited The Horn. Banham’s proposal was borne out of a desire to experiment with what was obtained at Leeds University, where Poetry and Audience, a student-run magazine with the same orientation, was stimulating poetic creation. Interestingly, the official involvement of the English department in this development was minimal because the idea was novel in the university.
W.H. Stevenson, who was part of the department, explained that The Horn started when John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo gathered a committee of three including Higo Aigboje and John Ekwere― and so in January 1957 the first issue of The Horn appeared. There were no funds available for such a venture. Martin Banham himself provided enough cash to start it; the English Department provided paper also the printing equipment. But funds had to be raised, and so The Horn was sold at two-pence a copy (raised after the third issue to three pence, a price maintained until the end). It could not afford to appear in any but the most modest from which was probably just as well if it were to remain a genuine student magazine. The pioneering role of The Horn is often acknowledged but within the few years in which it appeared was due largely to the effort of individuals who were interested in giving impetus to the literary renaissance that it initiated.
After Clark-Bekederemo’s editorship, it became a rule that only third- year students would edit it. But this never worked. Between January 1957 when its first issue was published and 1964 when it last appeared, The Horn only had five editors: J.P. Clark-Bekederemo (1957-58), Abiola Irele (1958-60), Dapo Adelugba (1960-62), Omolara Ogundipe (1962- 63) and Onyema Iheme (1963-64). Despite its short lifespan, The Horn gave exposure to many student-poets and served as a forum for discussing issues related to Nigerian writing. Even though copies of the journal are no longer easily accessible, some poems published in its first three years have been collected in Nigerian Student Verse, an anthology edited by Martin Banham. Curiously enough, Clark-Bekederemo objected to being represented in the anthology on the grounds that he was not writing “student verse”. The few contributions of Wole Soyinka and Christopher Okigbo were also not included in the anthology. They had both left Ibadan and had contributed from Leeds University and Fiditi College respectively. Of the thirteen student-poets: Mac Akpoyoware, Minji Karibo, Pius Oleghe, G.A. Adeyemo, Gordon Umukoro, Yetunde Esan, U. I. Ukwu, R. Opara, Frank Aig-Imoukhuede, B. Akobo, A. Higo, J.D. Ekwere and Abiola Irele, whose works constitute the twenty-seven poems that form Martin Banham’s anthology, only Frank Aig-Imoukhuede has since published a personal collection - Pidgin Stew and Other Poems (1982).
If The Horn mainly served the Ibadan student community, Black Orpheus, another journal started at Ibadan in September 1957, was more ambitious. It was committed to promoting cultural activity in the entire black world. It was also a brainchild of expatriates - Ulli Beier, a German attached to the extra-mural department of the University, and Janheinz Jahn, his compatriot, who did not reside in Nigeria but showed much interest in black arts and culture. The special interest of the founders of Black Orpheus in poetry is reflected in its name and the journal made a stronger impact in the society than The Horn not only because it had a broader vision and wider circulation but because it also
enjoyed the financial support of the Paris-based Congress for Cultural Freedom and the government of the old Western Region.
SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2
What are the major reasons for the establishment of The Horn magazine and what is its focus in literature?
3.3 The Mbari Club
The cultural currents stirred by the intellectual elites at Ibadan came to a climax in 1960 with the formation of the Mbari Writers’ & Artists’ Club, an organization that soon charted a direction for African arts and letters. The Mbari complemented the role of the Black Orpheus in the sense that some of those who formed its nucleus were associated with the journal. The cosmopolitan character of the first Mbari Club is illustrated by some of its founders. These included: Chinua Achebe (Igbo); Frances Ademola, (Ghanaian); Mabel Aig-Imoukhuede (now Segun), (Bini); Ulli Beier, (German-born British citizen); John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo, (Ijaw); Mercer Cook, (African-American); the late Chief D.O. Fagunwa, (well-known Yoruba writer); Begun Hendricks, (South African Indian); Vincent Kofi, (Ghanaian); Christopher Okigbo (Igbo); Ezekiel Mphahlele (South African); Demas Nwoko (Igbo) and Wole Soyinka (Yoruba).
The Igbo name Mbari, suggested by Chinua Achebe, has its roots in the Igbo religion where it refers to a house built for, and dedicated to, Ala, the earth goddess. It denoted any act of creation in which the light of the gods is reflected in the work of man. The name perhaps bestowed an African essence of the creative enterprise inaugurated at the Mbari centre which was located at the heart of Ibadan. Naturally, the activities of the group led to the formation of similar clubs at Oshogbo and Enugu. Besides the creative ambience it provided for writers, the Mbari centre was also used for art exhibitions, dramatic performances and the training of promising writers. The club became a major cultural institution, strong enough to take over the publication of Black Orpheus in partnership with Longman in 1962. Mbari’s success may be seen in the light of its popularization of African writers and their works. Because the club ran a small press, it performed on a large scale what the journal could attempt or only do on a small scale.
The Mbari, for instance, published the first volumes of a number of African poets. Among these were Clark-Bekederemo’s Poems (1962), and Okigbo’s Heavensgate (1962) and Limits (1964). The club promoted the emergent art of these writers through its encouraging exposure of their works. It is important to note that the writers and artists in the Mbari were not all based in Ibadan. Okigbo, one of the frequent contributors, for example, was teaching at Fiditi College -about twenty miles away from Ibadan. Early Ibadan poetry is conceived here as the totality of the output of the poets, ranging from their juvenilia in student publications in the fifties, to their poems written just before the civil war, when with the maturation of some poetic voices and the assistance of the Mbari, individual collections had begun to appear. Works published during the period may be seen as unified by certain tendencies, such works being a product of the shared experiences of the writers. At the same time, the works of Achebe, Clark-Bekederemo, Soyinka and Okigbo represent both in quantity and enduring merit, the best produced at that period. There is a need to examine the manner in which the syllabus of the English department at Ibadan in its early days in particular influenced the creative expression of her products who, understandably, constitute the majority of our writers even in this contemporary dispensation.
SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 3
Critically assess the role of the Mbari Club in the promotion literature and arts in Nigeria
3.4 Okike and Other Journals
With the establishment of Nigeria’s first indigenous university at Nsukka, some of the scholars from Ibadan trooped en mass to the new university. Most of them decided to create a university of excellence by improving on the standard set up at Ibadan as a college of the University of London. University of Nigeria, Nsukka was established in 1960, some years after the graduation of the excellent literary scholars like Achebe, Soyinka, Clark-Bekederemo, Segun and Okigbo among others. The Department of English at Nsukka under the headship of Chinua Achebe began the publication of Okike which he called “a journal of new writing”. He was the Founding Editor for several years before leaving Nsukka. Okike was created to cover issues beyond literary works. It covered such areas as creative works, meta-criticism of literature, language and other issues relevant to literary discourse. The other universities which fall into the first generation universities include the University of Ife, Ahmadu Bello University and the University of Lagos also has established literary journals in their departments of English.
Okike became a mouthpiece for several literary scholars within and outside Nigeria. Some prominent African scholars like Wole Soyinka, Christopher Okigbo, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Taban Lo Liyong, Dennis Brutus among many others contributed to this journal. Many prominent scholars and writers in Nigeria began their literary productions from being published in Okike. The journal created the opportunity for literary expressions in many forms. Unlike the Ibadan journals which concentrated mainly on poetry and prose, Okike gave voice to dramatists because Achebe encouraged the inclusion of plays in the journal. Many known literary critics in Nigeria like Obi Wali, Abiola Irele, and Biodun Jeyifo among others expressed some of their critical discourse in Okike. The journal served in various forms to promote literary discourse and later became a reference point in world literature. Okike experienced an interregnum when Achebe left Nsukka. Okike is now being edited by Prof. Ossie Enekwe. It was and still is a respected journal in the field of literature today.
With the multiplication of universities in Nigeria came the multiplicity of literary journals like Kiabara , Kakaki, Gong, Tablet, etc. Most of these universities in Maiduguri, Kano, Port Harcourt, Benin, Calabar etc. started various literary journals in the departments of English and Drama which aided in the development of literary consciousness in Nigeria and Africa at large. However, with time, these journals metamorphosed into pure academic journals with the sole aim of publishing critical works instead of literary works. Although, the students’ associations in most departments of English in Nigeria still float literary journals edited by students under the tutelage of a lecturer
in the department. These journals now serve the function which The Horn and The Beacon in Ibadan served. Some students’ clubs like ‘The Literary Club’, ‘Creative Writers’ Club’ and ‘The Creative Discourse Club’ among others serve like the then Mbari Club but the issue of inactive sensibility and consciousness have drained the keenness expected in creativity among literary students today. Yet, many young writers emerged from there.
SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 4
Discuss in details what distinguished Okike from the other literary journals in Nigeria
4.0 CONCLUSION
Early Nigerian writers like Achebe, Clark-Bekederemo, Soyinka and Okigbo, for instance, manifested peculiar traits which were best understood in relation to the preference and growth of each of them. Early Clark-Bekederemo was representative of the poetry of his era in the sense that some of the best and the worst tendencies in early Ibadan poetry were present in his poems collected in Poems. He appeared to have been incapable of refining borrowed methods. His best poems, “Ibadan,” “Night Rain” and perhaps “Abiku”, were therefore those not stained by technical appropriations from his imitation of the style of Hopkins, Yeats and Eliot. Clark-Bekederemo’s early poems were generally marked by a nostalgic strain which betrayed his alienation from his people and their culture. If his poem “Ivbie” then made a case for his violated people, “Agbor Dancer” projected his own quest for reunion with the same people and their heritage. Thus, the unnamed dancer merely provided him an occasion for personal reflection. He compensated for his technical dependence by frequently adopting a familiar locale as the setting for his poems.
Clark-Bekederemo wrote that their training affected both their understanding and practice of poetic craft in an essay entitled “Another Kind of Poetry” (1966). Apart from the fact that the Ibadan poetry of this period is largely derivative, the medium employed by the poets, especially Okigbo and Soyinka, evinces what, for want of a better label, one may call ‘arrogant complexity’ . Intended complex effects best confirms the elitist orientation of their art. It is safe to assume that their audience was, in the main, the few university-trained art enthusiasts at Ibadan at that moment who were already furnished with the skill and learning needed to penetrate their work. Okigbo had been termed obscure. He had said that his poetry was not for non-poets. Soyinka’s poetry, like Okigbo’s, ranks among the most complex literatures in Africa. Chinua Achebe’s novel fashioned in line with the style of the British novel reads quite simple because his prose was not poetic; the British writers he read wrote in simplified prose to convey their message.
5.0 SUMMARY
Martin Banham explains in his “introduction” to Nigerian Student Verse, that the influence of European literature on Nigerian literature was unwholesome for the growth of Nigerian literature. He explains, “Some of the verse presented here shows only too clearly how deep is the influence of the alien verse of English romanticism upon aspiring Nigerian writers. The more Nigerians can be encouraged to write as Nigerians, about Nigerian themes, for Nigerian audiences, the better for the development of a healthy literature in Nigeria.” Chinweizu and his colleagues clarified this observation in Towards the Decolonization of African Literature. They highlighted the “failure of craft” in the works of the Ibadan poets, tracing the problem to what they saw as “a divorce from African oral and poetic traditions” . But the truth is that this imitative tendency was a betrayal of the deeper anguish of Nigerian writers at that historical moment. The writers, part of emergent elite incapable of authentic self-expression, were caught in a crisis of identity. It was almost inevitable that they would borrow idioms rooted in European literary traditions to convey African experiences. Wole Soyinka has drawn attention to the fact that a purist outlook on the African imagination was unrealistic. He maintained that it was impossible to kill impulses generated by the contact of Africa with the non-African world, as “individual writers,” in reality, “make their creative emergence from the true and not the wistful untainted backcloth” (“From a common backcloth...” 1963).
6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT
Answer the following questions:
1. Discuss the foundation of journal literature in the University College Ibadan
2. What are the major thrusts of The Horn and The Black Orpheus journals?
3. Assess the influence The Mbari Club in the development of Nigerian literature
4. There were marked relationships in the style and language of the Nigerian and British writers as discovered in Nigerian Student Verse. What led to this unfortunate identity?
5. Distinguish the literature of the early Ibadan writers with that of the contemporary Nigerian writers
6. Differentiate between Okike and the other literary journals in Nigeria
7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READINGS
Aig-Imoukhuede, Frank (1961). Pidgin Stew and Suffer Head. Ibadan: Heinemann.
Aig-Imoukhuede, Mabel. On being a West African Writer. Ibadan 12 June (1961): 11-12.
Banham, Martin (1961). Nigerian Student Verse. Ibadan: U.P.
Chinweizu, Jemie, O. & Madubuike I. (1980). Toward the Decolonization of African Literature Vol. 1. Enugu: Fourth Dimension.
Emenyonu, Ernest. (2010). “The African Novel in the 21st Century: Sustaining the Gains of the 20th Century.” African Literature Today, 27, x-xii.
Lindfords, Berth (1979). Critical Perspectives on Nigerian Literatures. London: Heinemann.
Soyinka, Wole (1967). “From a Common Backcloth: A Reassessment of the African Literary Image.” The American Scholar 32, 3. 387- 396.
Stevenson, W. H. (1976). “The Horn: What it was and what it did.” In Critica lPerspectives on Nigerian Literatures. Berth Lindfords (ed.) London: Heinemann. 209-233.
Tamuno, Tekena (1973). The Formative Years in the University of Ibadan: 1948-73: A History of the First Twenty-Five Years. Ibadan: UP,
--- --- ---. “Mbari -The Missing Link”. Phylon XXVI, 3 (Fall): 247-254.
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