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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
 Posted - 11 Apr 2012 : 01:54:15
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DAILY NEWS;
A Decade of Writing
"Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Nothing reveals the mind like writing. Even in fiction where writers tell stories through characters, they still unveil the world that exists, if only for a brief period, in their mental firmament. The readers’ level of encounter with that world depends for the most part on the degree and style of writing. A novel belongs to the novelist, a play to the playwright and a poem to the poet, even as we distinguish the work from the author. Can such a neat distinction be made between an essay and the essayist? The heart of an essay is a point of view, an opinion that no amount of background information or narrative technique can conceal. Discounting dishonesty, the opinion doesn’t only belong to the essayist, it is the essayist in representation, at least at the time of writing.
In The Way to Happiness, a collection of essays written mostly for newspapers from 2001 to 2011, MomodouSabally has so much on his mind to share. I leave it to critics and reviewers to weigh in on his role and performance as writer. My purpose here involves a different question: What do the essays say about the essayist? This principal question generates multiple supplementary questions. In a decade of essay writing, is Sabally a single-issue advocate or an exponent of diverse interests? What are his core beliefs? What message does he convey and why? Who are his audience? What is his general mood in the essays? Has he been consistent in his views and values? On what contemporary national or global issues has he written about? Which ones has he not written about? Does he have a particular worldview? Who and what are his favorites? What dominates his thinking and engages his mind? Does his self-perception in the essays coheres with the character they portray? Is there a defining unity or contradiction in his personality?
Each question deserves its own inquiry. Alas the time and space! Which, regrettably, deprive us the liberty to digress into the three books bearing his name. Nonetheless, this discourse will not be remiss without the books since they belong to the same thematic ecosystem as the essays. The subtitle of The Way to Happiness is Inspirational Essays. With that as the common denominator of all the 27 essays in the collection, the essayist defines his purpose. He writes to INSPIRE. In attempting to do so, the reader in turn comes to know what inspires the inspirer — success and achievement of a life of purpose and fulfillment.
The sources of his inspiration include: Philosophy and poetry from the Western canon to the African folklore. Religion from the Holy Qur’an to the scholars of the Scripture.Service to humanity, country, family down to an individual.Effort and discipline in pursuit of a clear goal to accomplish a dream life.Outstanding achievers in politics, business, music, sports and education.Family from his mother, wife to his sons. In short, he looks for inspiration everywhere and dishes it out to everyone who carries a burning ambition to succeed in a chosen career or goal. His operative words are: urgency, prosperity, wisdom, wealth, opportunity, commitment, action, success, strength, ambition, ideas, imagination, knowledge, inspiration, faith, vision, hope, perseverance, persistence, courage, determination, purpose and the like.
Sabally loves his family, particularly his mother. His devotion to her is religious. He exudes joy in citing her witty aphorisms and pride in writing about her. He loves his country too, but that is a rounding error compared to his love affair with America. His infectious affection for America as the beautiful country is both “gorgeous” and scandalous. He loves its founding fathers, philosophers, inventors, poets, sages, monuments, capital, cities, icons, sports stars, comedians and Barack Obama. He could certainly do without the gung-ho rightwing loonies, especially after Vice President Dick Cheney’s accidental shooting of a friend during a quail hunting trip, thus marring a tiny bit his exquisite American experience. Out of voluntary compulsion, he renders a powerfully emotional testimony of his feelings for America to his mother in “Letter from America.” This would be among my top picks if I were to rank the essays. A blend of the subliminal and sublunary, the frivolous torches you as much as the marvelous in, I dare say, a uniquely American way. And one more thing. America offers both a unique and universal example across his writings. Besides renowned writers and classical philosophers, you would be hard pressed to come across Europeans in the essays. Don’t bother looking around for Russians, Chinese or Middle Easterners. They haven’t been invited much less welcomed to the festival of inspiration.
Back to The Gambia. His love of country comes across effortlessly, just not in the same gushing outpour as when he writes about the country of Manifest Destiny. Here and there he points to development and progress and holds out a patriot’s hope. Generally though, he is engaged in a call to action to make the Smiling Coast the place it needs to be. Most of his appreciations for the country are selective and his medal of national service is awarded to select individuals, often posthumously. The same is true for the rest of Africa. There can hardly be blame here. Reality dictates the terms of engagement. The celebration is proportional to the accomplishment. Situationally, he is in the right place and time to inspire. Pan-Africanism would surely help, if only he would avail himself the opportunity to drink deep from its Pierianspring.
I can’t help being provocative. The variety of subjects he writes about in the collection doesn’t directly reach out to inspire people soldiering on for success in certain contemporary struggles. Is feminism, for instance, a worthy and necessary cause for the advancement of women? Is freedom indispensable to development for both the individual and society? Is America as a universal example really applicable everywhere else? Answers to these questions notwithstanding, I confess to asking too much of the essayist, whose sole purpose is to inspire people with purpose, any purpose. I stand in violation of commenting beyond the scope of the essays. No apologies. He is superbly competent for these speculative questions. No better proof is needed than The Way to Happiness. The reading experience is so inspiring that I am too eager already for the sequel — a collection of his essays from this decade of writing.
Author: Sheikh Hamateh
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Edited by - kobo on 11 Apr 2012 01:55:54 |
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