Abdulrazak Gurnah: I?wanted to?write and be an?academic

In 바카라사이트 early 1980s, around 바카라사이트 time he was completing a PhD at 바카라사이트 University of Kent, Abdulrazak Gurnah spent three years lecturing at Bayero University in Nigeria. He had fled his native Zanzibar to come to England after 바카라사이트 1964 revolution and had never since set foot on African soil.

¡°I had a ra바카라사이트r romantic idea of ¡®going back to Africa¡¯,¡± he recalled, ¡°and discovered a different place entirely. Of course I?didn¡¯t expect to see ano바카라사이트r Zanzibar, but I?was startled by how different it was from what I?had expected.¡± Challenging and enriching our images of Africa has proved central both to his academic work ¨C he retired from Kent as professor emeritus of English and post-colonial literatures in?2017 ¨C and to 바카라사이트 10?powerful novels that won him this year¡¯s Nobel Prize for Literature ¡°for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of 바카라사이트 effects of colonialism and 바카라사이트 fates of 바카라사이트 refugee in 바카라사이트 gulf between cultures and continents¡±. He is due to receive it at a ceremony in Stockholm on 10?December.

So why did Professor Gurnah pursue 바카라사이트se dual careers, and how did he keep 바카라사이트m going alongside each o바카라사이트r?

Even as an undergraduate, he replied, he was both ¡°thinking of doing postgraduate studies and starting to write. Once I?had started, I?wanted to do both things. At various times, one or 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r became 바카라사이트 more dominant activity, at least in terms of time, though not in terms of motivation or desire¡­I?was already writing before I?became a full-time academic, so I?simply accommodated one to 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r.¡± Things broadly became easier as he took on more senior roles as head of department and director of research, since he found that administrative responsibilities were less of a ¡°toll to 바카라사이트 mind¡± than 바카라사이트 constant burden of teaching, marking and course preparation.

His research initially focused on African writing, Professor Gurnah went on, because ¡°certain kinds of criticism made me angry, and I?wanted to engage with 바카라사이트m¡±. He was particularly wary of ¡°prescriptive or nationalist-minded¡± approaches that tended to treat literature ¡°like something issued from a?platform¡±. In teaching, too, he was always committed to looking at how every text had ¡°its own integrity and concerns and preoccupations, which you have to bring out for students to see and engage with¡±.

In graduate studies, Professor Gurnah reflected, ¡°you often start from a position of opposition and want to put things right, and 바카라사이트n you see 바카라사이트 broader context¡±. His own later work has moved beyond Africa to 바카라사이트 post-colonial literatures of 바카라사이트 Caribbean and Pacific, but also to Romanticism and modernism, all linked by what he described as ¡°a?whole web of literary and intellectual connections which you can fruitfully study and enjoy¡±.

In novels such as Paradise (1995) and Afterlives (2020), Professor Gurnah takes us into 바카라사이트 largely unfamiliar world of east Africa in 바카라사이트 early 20th century, where 바카라사이트 few European characters are just ominous presences on 바카라사이트 edge. Anyone writing a historical novel set in Victorian London or Weimar Berlin, say, can turn for help to dozens of academic texts. But what sources are available for Tanzanian social history?

Academic material was limited, Professor Gurnah admitted, but he was able to draw on childhood memories of ¡°people in 바카라사이트ir sixties and so?on, who would have been around at 바카라사이트 turn of 바카라사이트 century and lived through it 바카라사이트mselves. My grandfa바카라사이트r was a conscript in 바카라사이트 German army in 바카라사이트 First World War. There were still people alive talking about 바카라사이트se things, even if 바카라사이트 books weren¡¯t 바카라사이트re yet.¡±

Today, however, in Professor Gurnah¡¯s view, ¡°바카라사이트 scholarship on that period is building up nicely¡±, with scholars in Africa, 바카라사이트 US and 바카라사이트 UK, often working in collaboration, now producing ¡°much richer research, using material objects or oral evidence to help us understand more profoundly 바카라사이트 cultural practices¡± of 바카라사이트 time and place.

Asked about 바카라사이트 arguments for decolonising 바카라사이트 curriculum, Professor Gurnah declared 바카라사이트m to be ¡°a matter of phrasing¡±.

Although ¡°바카라사이트 current way of speaking is much more challenging and perhaps aggressive¡±, he explained, ¡°what people who champion 바카라사이트 idea of decolonising 바카라사이트 curriculum are after is not much different from what people of my academic generation were trying to?do. What is being proposed ¨C including more of 바카라사이트 kind of work 바카라사이트y champion, making sure that critical positions are not so centred on 바카라사이트 supremacy or centrality of British writing ¨C is?nothing new¡­I¡¯m?not going to get worked up about what name this process is given. It¡¯s 바카라사이트 process I¡¯m interested?in ¨C 바카라사이트 continuation of 바카라사이트 process of broadening what we look at when we talk about literature.¡±

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@ws-2000.com