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Chuma Nwokolo's Diaries of a Dead African is a novel in three diaries written by an embattled farmer, Meme Jumai, and his two sons, Abel (failed writer) and Calama (aspiring conman). Funny and idiosyncratic, Diaries presents an authentic face of a private dilemma with universal and tragic dimensions. A condensed version of Meme's Diary was published by London Review of Books. In 2002 it was translated into Italian for a special edition of Internazionale featuring their three best stories from around the world. A purged entry from the Diaries was translated into Slovenian for Arzenal, a publication of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts; another won the Subway Lit prize. Read Meme's Diary (the first of the three diaries), & buy the book. Novel: £14.65 - Buy now; |
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by
Akin Adesokan, Asst Professor of Comparative Literature, Indiana University. Years ago I read a story in the London Review of Books. It was titled "Diary of a Dead African". I liked it, very much, and made some general notes about it then. Now the story has become part of a book of the same title (note the plural form of Diaries), by Chuma Nwokolo Jr. He has gathered three diaries into this book, which makes a coherent novel, never mind J.M. Coetzee's argument that because he prefers to "assemble between the same covers three or four short narratives" Caryl Phillips "has yet to essay a truly large fiction" (Coetzee 2001, 168). More |
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Chuma
Nwokolo, Jr. is an author and advocate. He is publisher
of African
Writing magazine. Called to the Bar in 1984, he
published his first novel with Macmillan in 1983. He has a passion
for the short story and his African Tales at Jailpoint
(Villagerhouse) appeared in 1999. He has published
four novels, a short story anthology, a collection of essays, and
a poetry collection (Memories of Stone).
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