Ikhide R Ikheloa’s Wainainaesque “Email from America” Slams 2011 Caine Prize Shortlist
Nigerian-born Ikhide R Ikheloa has written an “Email from America”, in the style of Binyavanga Wainaina’s satirical “How to Write About Africa” (only, it must be said, less humourous), which slams the 2011 Caine Prize for African Writing shortlist, calling the shortlisted stories “lazy” and “predictable”. Although acknowledging the benefits of the Caine Prize more generally, Ikheloa argues that this year provides us with examples of “How Not to Write About Africa”, revealing only the continent’s stereotypes and detailing her “every open sore”.
One can’t help thinking that Ikheloa’s reactionary piece reaches beyond the five shortlisted stories to something much larger. With nearly 130 entries from all over Africa chosen by a panel of reputable judges, there must be more than “orthodoxy and mediocrity” embedded in these tales. What do you think?
The Caine Prize for African Writing has been great for African literature by showcasing some truly good works by African writers. The good news is that the Caine Prize is here to stay. The bad news is that someone is going to win the Caine Prize this year. This is a shame; having read the stories on the shortlist, I conclude that a successful African writer must be clinically depressed, chronicling in excruciating detail every open sore of Africa. Apologies to Wole Soyinka. The creation of a prize for “African writing” may have created the unintended effect of breeding writers willing to stereotype Africa for glory.The mostly lazy, predictable stories that made the 2011 shortlist celebrate orthodoxy and mediocrity. They are a riot of exhausted clichés even as ancient conflicts and anxieties fade into the past tense: huts, moons, rapes, wars, and poverty. The monotony of misery simply overwhelms the reader. Fiammetta Rocco, the Economist’s literary editor who chaired last year’s judges, crows that the stories are “uniquely powerful.” The stories are uniquely wretched. The chair of this year’s judges Hisham Matar declares presumptuously that the stories “represent a portrait of today’s African short story: its wit and intelligence, its concerns and preoccupations.” Really? Is this the sum total of our experience, this humourless, tasteless canvas of shiftless Stepin Fetchit suffering?
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Photo of Bulawayo courtesy Cornell.edu & Lamwaka courtesy My Little Camera2005
Apr
