ISSUE NUMBER THRE & FOUR •  1998

it  comprises  several  artists. One must also
remember  that  Anatsui,  before  coming into
contact with Uli and Okeke's 'natural synthe-
sis'  theory, had been involved in the Sankofa
philosophy way back in Ghana. These experi-
ences, coupled with his interaction with other
artists  in Aka  and  other  fora,  have contrib-
uted to his intellectual and artistic  resource.
And he blends this with a clear perception of
global art trends. This outlook owes  as much
to Okeke as it does to all the other contribut-
ing  factors. Together they have enabled the
artist's work to shift 'effortlessly  between Af-
rican  and  Western  aesthetic  sensibilities,
mastering  both but belonging to neither one
exclusively 'and thus making 'an appropriate
example of the transvangarde'. Although each
author tries to look at Anatsui from a  differ-
ent  standpoint, there seems to be some sort
of harmonisation in some of their postulations,
especially  in  relation  to issues of definition.
Each is aware that he/she is presenting  a fa-
miliar stranger to the Western audience and
attempt  is thus  made to shed some light on
the work of the artist - this new entrant into
the  highly-policed  confines  of Occidentalist
internationalism. Of the six authors, however,
Elizabeth  Peri-Willis' contribution  remains
the  most insightful  and composite, not only
for its more accessible language but also for
the author's ability to weave history, analysis
and interpretation into  her narrative. This is
perhaps  enhanced  by her  earlier  personal
contacts with Anatsui during her sojourn in
Nigeria  in  the  1980s.  In  sum, 
the  book
epitomises the postmodernist claptrap about
its  own  perceptive  generosity  and  its  ac-
claimed belief in the universality of man and

his vision usually  encapsulated in art, culture,
science  and  technology.  Simon  Njami  echoes
this sentiment  on page 72 when he says  that
'La  lecon  que  nous  donne  depuis  quelques
annees  l'art  comtemporain  africain,  l'art
contemporain  tout  court, est  que  tout  art  est
necessairement  le fruit  d'un processus de col-
lage et de permanence'  In  effect,  nothing re-
ally  new  is  said.  We are  presented  with  the
excitement and astonishment of the West at a
re-discovery, the  re-discovery  of African  art,
garnished  with  the  techniques  of art  history
and  criticism.  Interestingly,  however,  A
Sculpted History of Africa is a harbinger of a
gathering culturo-artistic invasion which holds
several  implications  for  African  art  and  the
African identity in the next century. New Tra-
ditions  encodes the  same  potentials.  But be-
yond these possibilities, these books may also
change our own perception of our art and our
approach to its dissemination. They may do so,
not  necessarily by presenting  new vistas be-
fore us, but principally by challenging our 'in-
timate insiders' to lick their lips, in the words
of Chinua Achebe, rather  than  allow the har-
mattan to do it for them. In contemplating this
challenge,  Mosquera's  warning  recurs,  vis-a-
vis the books under discussion: 'the desire and
power  of the  postmodern  West  to  curate  the
rest of the world now begins. If we uncritically
accept it, flattered by being at all payed atten-
tion to, we will soon find  ourselves  in  a new,
even more sophisticated form of cultural colo-
nialism.'

Ibwuemesi, writer and erstwhile lecturer in fine art at
the University of Nigeria, lives in Enugu.

Literature Matters returns
THE newsletter Literature Matters is-

sued  by the Literature  Department
of the British Council in London re-
turns after a pause in publication, or
at the least a cessation of appearance in Nige-
ria, for some while.

morial on recently deceased poet, Ted Hughes
and  among others,  reports  on  the  festival  of
writing  from  Commonwealth 
islands,
Mauritius, July 1998, the Booker Prize and the
Edinburgh Book Festival.

The well-produced, UK-printed paper, how-
ever,  records  in  its  prefactory  sections  on a
recent  and  regrettable  racial  insult  on  the
writer, Caryl Phillips who was on a reading tour
overseas from 'someone close to the Council at
an official dinner' which Alastair Niven, direc-
tor of Literature  notes with sadness but defi-
nitely with a resolve that  henceforwards, 'All
managers in the Council will have  mandatory
race  awareness  training,  to  which  resources
will  be committed  and  the  consequences  of
which will be closely monitored'.

Literature Matters reappears in a new de-
sign format, but not any less committed to the
former literary tributes,  conference, seminar
and  other  event  reports,  directories  of new
book publications from the UK, announcement
and reflections on topical issues by writers and
critics.

The newlook, now characterised  by page-
head illustrations, retains the former succinct-
ness and textual economy.

Issue No 25 (January  1999) carries a me-

Glendon  Book!  Supplement

36