Ask the Author: Ron Singer
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Ron Singer
This statement was prepared in anticipation of your question, specifically directed to why and how an 80 year-old white American came to write a Nigerian novel, in which he channels two African (Igbo) characters:
To anticipate objections that a Nigerian novel by a white American might be inauthentic and/or appropriative, I have a long history with, and a deep interest in, my subject matter. Like Bob Shepard, my American character, I served in the Peace Corps in the mid-1960’s, during the lead-up to the Biafra War. Since then, I have written a great deal about African politics, history, economics and culture. For instance, in 2007, The Georgia Review published O ti lo waju (“you have surpassed all”), a long essay-review about the first seven winners of the Caine Prize for African short stories. Among them was a Nigerian, Helon Habila, to whose dictum that fiction about Africa is necessarily political The Real Presence subscribes. O ti lo waju is included in the 2020 reference book, Contemporary Literary Criticism #452.
To the extent that it is about politics, The Real Presence is a sequel. For a book about African political reformers, during 2010-11 I conducted interviews in six countries. Uhuru Revisited: Interviews with Pro-Democracy Leaders (Africa World Press/Red Sea Press, 2015), can be found in over 100 university and public libraries across the U.S., and beyond. As with Uhuru Revisited, the novel does not subscribe to either the doomsday or sentimental schools of writing about Africa. Like the earlier book, as well, The Real Presence tries to present a balanced and realistic view of its subject matter.
Many books have been written about Biafra, both fiction and non-fiction, by both Nigerians (Flora Nwapo, China Achebe, Elechi Amadi, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) and others (Frederick Forsyth, Peter Baxter, A.L. Venter). Unlike these books, mine does not take a particular point of view. Through its three disparate protagonists, an Igbo brother and sister, and their American friend, The Real Presence offers breadth of perspective.
Despite its relative brevity (228 pp.), by going back to the incubating period of the War, and forward far enough to examine the consequences, my novel also achieves balance. Since completing the draft, I have read a noted South African novel, Elsa Joubert’s Poppie Nongena. I was struck by the ways in which Joubert’s channeling of her black South African protagonist resembles my channeling of Lydia and Jerry Ogochukwu. The New York Times recently posited that we are living in a golden age of new historical fiction: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/07/t-...
To anticipate objections that a Nigerian novel by a white American might be inauthentic and/or appropriative, I have a long history with, and a deep interest in, my subject matter. Like Bob Shepard, my American character, I served in the Peace Corps in the mid-1960’s, during the lead-up to the Biafra War. Since then, I have written a great deal about African politics, history, economics and culture. For instance, in 2007, The Georgia Review published O ti lo waju (“you have surpassed all”), a long essay-review about the first seven winners of the Caine Prize for African short stories. Among them was a Nigerian, Helon Habila, to whose dictum that fiction about Africa is necessarily political The Real Presence subscribes. O ti lo waju is included in the 2020 reference book, Contemporary Literary Criticism #452.
To the extent that it is about politics, The Real Presence is a sequel. For a book about African political reformers, during 2010-11 I conducted interviews in six countries. Uhuru Revisited: Interviews with Pro-Democracy Leaders (Africa World Press/Red Sea Press, 2015), can be found in over 100 university and public libraries across the U.S., and beyond. As with Uhuru Revisited, the novel does not subscribe to either the doomsday or sentimental schools of writing about Africa. Like the earlier book, as well, The Real Presence tries to present a balanced and realistic view of its subject matter.
Many books have been written about Biafra, both fiction and non-fiction, by both Nigerians (Flora Nwapo, China Achebe, Elechi Amadi, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) and others (Frederick Forsyth, Peter Baxter, A.L. Venter). Unlike these books, mine does not take a particular point of view. Through its three disparate protagonists, an Igbo brother and sister, and their American friend, The Real Presence offers breadth of perspective.
Despite its relative brevity (228 pp.), by going back to the incubating period of the War, and forward far enough to examine the consequences, my novel also achieves balance. Since completing the draft, I have read a noted South African novel, Elsa Joubert’s Poppie Nongena. I was struck by the ways in which Joubert’s channeling of her black South African protagonist resembles my channeling of Lydia and Jerry Ogochukwu. The New York Times recently posited that we are living in a golden age of new historical fiction: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/07/t-...
Ron Singer
MY FATHER'S VOICES, a documentary memoir
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