'Some errors in
the article in
Glendora Nr3'

I H  E

I  heard  of  Peter
Benson's work  on the
subject was  when  he
sent me the completed
thesis  to  read.  He
never interviewed  me
and  I have  never  met
him.  My  letter  may
have been a  response
to  that  thesis  -  but  it
was obviously too late
to  make  any  impact.
Whether  he  modified
his ideas in the subse-
I  don't
quent  book 
k n o w,  because 
I
haven't  read  it.

2)  I was  never  a  prisoner  of
war. 
I  have  never  carried
anybody's  uniform  let  alone
anybody's  gun. 
(I  was  de-
tained in a civilian camp as an
'enemy  alien'  but  that  is  not
the same thing).

3)  'His contacts among expa-
triates  who  taught  in  schools
ensured  that  Beier  gathered
material  rather 
rapidly....'  I
didn'tJ<now expatriates teach-

ing in schools. I had little con-
tact even with  the staff  of the
University.  The  only  expatri-
ate teaching  in  Nigeria  who
was  helpful  in  this  respect
was  Gerald  Moore.  There
was,  of  course,  the  vast
archive  of  Janheinz  Jahn  to
draw  on.  Remember  that  his
anthology  of  African  poetry
(in  German)  appeared  in
1 954! Otherwise  most of the
authors  found me.

4)  'Obsessive'  interest in the
literatures of the black world.
If you  start  a  journal  of  Afri-
can  literature  what  else  are
you  expected  to  publish  in  it
other  than African  literature?
Of  course  many  African
American authors felt that they
belonged and they were anx-
ious  to  appear  in  BO.  That
was a good reason to include
them,  I thought.

As for Okigbo's remark: why
didn't  I publish  white Ameri-
cans,  the  answer  is  I  did!
Dorothy  Obi,  for  example,
and  Peter  Thomas, who  was
English and white, I even pub-

lished an Indian poet.  People
thought  contacts  across  bor-
der  lines and cultures. And  a
magazine  is  a  good  vehicle
for  that!

The trouble seems to be: Akin
Adesokan has obviously made
a  thorough  study  of  Peter
Benson's book and other sec-
ondary  sources.  (Congratula-
tions  on  a  good  piece  of  re-
search).  But has  he read  the
magazine?

5)  The author  complains  that
most of the critics were white.
As  an  editor 
you  will  be
aware that you can only pub-
lish things that people present
to you for  publication, or that
they  deliver  when  you  have
solicited  them.  At  the  time
Nigerians  were  more  inter-
ested in writing than in review-
ing.  As  for  Paul  Theroux:  I
always  found  him  a  highly
overrated writer and  critic. It
was Christopher Okigbo  who
was  the  champion  of  Paul
Theroux  in  Nigeria.  Christo-
pher  met  Paul  Theroux 
in
Kampala.  He  brought  him  to

|  African  Quarterly

i  the A rts
Vol.1/NO  4

Artist
Obiora
Udechukwu
with  Ulli
Beier

Nigeria  and  actually  pres-
sured  me  to  ask  him  to  write
this  piece!

AsforMartinEsslin:hewasat
the ti me the authority on Brecht
and the Theatre of the Absurd
in Britain- in fact in Europe. If
Nigerian playwrights wanted
to  be  performed 
in  Britain
(and  they  did!)  why  should
they 
resent  a  review  by  a
British  critic?  Or  are  you im-
plying  that  'only  an  African
should  review  African  litera-
ture1?  If so-who  is  indulging
in  the  black  mystique?  If
people  were  unhappy  with
these  reviews,  why  did  no-
body  write  a  rejoinder8

6)  'Abiola 
Irele  succeeded
Beier'.  Wrong!  Abiola  Irele
was  my co-editor from  Nr  17
- 22! During this time he wrote
one  major  article  on  Chinua
Achebe  for  the  magazine.
Unfortunately  no  more.

By  the  way:  the  articles  by
Paul  Theroux  and  Esslin  ap-
peared while Abiola Irele was

an  editor  of  the  magazine.

7)  Ulli  Beier's  preference  for
the 'negritudinist  sensibility'. I
published what was available
and what I considered  (rightly
or  wrongly)  as  valuable.  Of
course there was an emphasis
on  writers  from  French  West
Africa  at  first  - but then  they
had  produced  a vast  body of
work  before  Nigerians  even
came  on the scene!  What  is
more, French wasn't taught in
Nigeria,  so Nigerian  authors
couldn't  read  them.  Chris
Okigbo  wouldn't  have  been
able to object to Senghor, if he
hadn't  read  him  in  BO (He
studied Classics at the univer-
sity - not French!)

Most  Nigerian  authors  and
many South Africans and West
Africans  made  their  debut  in
either  BO or  Mbari  Publica-
tions.  Ama Ata Aidoo  wrote

her first story ever in response
to our short story competition.
Have I left anybody  out? Not
many.

conglomeration  of  talent  in
Biafra and that amazing  liter-
ary activities went on even in
the  midst of war.

8)  I  was  not  'running'  the
DuroLadipo company, though
I  was  involved  with  it, sup-
ported it where  I could and -
above all - loved it! The same
is true of the other things I was
supposed to have  'run'.

9) The author asks why Ezekiel
Mphahlele  did  leave  BO in
1963.  This  is a  case  of an
author  not  reading  his own
article, because he informs us
elsewhere that he went to Paris
in 1963.

10)  I never  said  that  'all the
talents  had gone to the East1
in  1966, though  I did point
out that there was an intense

1 1) Finally: the gravest  error
of  all. It  says  that  Ulli  Beier
'disbanded  the  Mbari  Club
before leaving  Nigeria.'  I left
theclubin(lthink)  1964 when
the  committee  decided  to
move premises to the Central
Hotel  in  Ibadan.  Both  Wole
Soyinka  and myself  were at-
tached to the particular atmo-
sphere  of  original  premises
right  in  the  midst  of  Dugbe
market; the informality  of the
place, the food itoffered. Here
people  wandered  in  freely
from 
the street  -  passersby,
curious  people,  even  thugs.
Mbari  was at the  heart-beat
of  Ibadan. The Central  Hotel
offered  space  for  Demas

Nwoko's  theatre (and he did
stage  more  impressive  pro-
ductions there!) but as a build-
ing  it  was  a  nouveau-riche
bourgeois monstrosity and we
both  knew  that  one  could
never  give  it that  flair  of the
old place. We both left. Wole
got  his own premises  for the
Orisun  Theatre,  whereas  I
stayed in Osogbo where there
was more than enough to do.

The  Mbari  club  went
on successfully till it was killed
by  the civil  war,  with mem-
bers  ending  up  in  different
camps.

Iwalewa  Haus,
Bayreuth,  Germany.
20th June, 1996.

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