dumbfoundry

Elechi Amadi is one of the first generation of Nigerian writers. He has to his credit 12 books, the most popular being The Great Pond, Sunset in Biafra and The Concubine. Amadi turned 70 recently. He talked to Betty Abah at his country home in Aluu, on the outskirts of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on his writing career, Nigerian literature, piracy, and the Ikwerre dream, among others. [...]

Newswatch: In a society like Nigeria, what place do you think a writer should hold?

Amadi: There is no special place. Every profession has its place - the engineers, the doctor, the lawyer, the writer- all these people have their proper place in the society. I don't see the writer as somebody who is exceptional. It's just that he writes what many read.

Newswatch: But they shape society through their pens...

Amadi: But to begin with, I don't think writers shape society. I think writer depict society as they see it, and they bring to the consciousness of the people what society looks like ... The lawyer helps to frame law for the society, so he influences society very seriously ... so, all these people are equally important, I don't believe that the writer has a special place. Yes, he should be given some money, some respect and all that is due to other people who contributed to society. ... I am not talking of political writers such as Karl Marx and Machiavelli, Plato and the rest, we are talking of the creative writer of fiction… every body contributes to the society though you can say that the writer has some considerable influence but he is not the only one. There are also many others contributing to society as well. For example, lawyers who draft the constitution or those who run the monetary system so we don't collapse economically, they all shape our lives.

This entry was posted by eeksypeeksy on Wednesday, June 09, 2004 at 8:22 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.