A Forest of Flowers

by Ken Saro-Wiwa

A Forest of Flowers is a collection of nineteen short stories which explore the absurdity of life for characters whose ambitions, modest as they are, are constantly thwarted by disgruntled spirits—in the form of idle and corrupt officials, adulterous spouses, envious relatives and grasping, untrustworthy entrepreneurs. Through a series of episodes, seemingly parochial and small scale, a nation is shown cracking up under the pressures of maladministration, corporate greed, sloth, ignorance and mercenary self-interest, while its people struggle against government neglect and abuse, racketeering, poverty, disease, superstition and ethnic mistrust.

Genres: Africa, Nigeria, Short Stories, Literature

154 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Kenule "Ken" Beeson Saro Wiwa was a Nigerian writer, television producer, environmental activist, and winner of the Right Livelihood Award and the Goldman Environmental Prize.
Saro-Wiwa was a member of the Ogoni people, an ethnic minority in Nigeria whose homeland, Ogoniland, in the Niger Delta has been targeted for crude oil extraction since the 1950s and which has suffered extreme environmental damage from decades of indiscriminate petroleum waste dumping. Initially as spokesperson, and then as President, of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Saro-Wiwa led a nonviolent campaign against environmental degradation of the land and waters of Ogoniland by the operations of the multinational petroleum industry, especially the Royal Dutch Shell company.
He was also an outspoken critic of the Nigerian government, which he viewed as reluctant to enforce environmental regulations on the foreign petroleum companies operating in the area.
At the peak of his non-violent campaign, Saro-Wiwa was arrested, hastily tried by a special military tribunal, and hanged in 1995 by the military government of General Sani Abacha, all on charges widely viewed as entirely politically motivated and completely unfounded. His execution provoked international outrage and resulted in Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations for over three years.

Reviews

[Orsodimondo · Rating 4 out of 5]

QUANDO IL CIELO VENNE A FAR VISITA ALLA TERRA,
UN FIORE SPUNTÒ NEL DESERTO DI PETROLIO


The road to Dukana.

Pensavo che Ken Saro-Wiwa fosse 'solo' un attivista e una vittima (fu impiccato dal governo insieme ad altri otto attivisti 15 anni fa - ricordate come l'anno scorso la Shell abbia patteggiato per una cifra non indifferente?): invece ho scoperto uno scrittore vero, un 'fiore' di narratore.



Brevi racconti con sviluppo e personaggi solo apparentemente semplici che arrivano fluidi al cuore attivando l’emozione, che con dolce ironia fanno sorridere o ridere davvero, fanno commuovere e pensare, o proprio piangere.

Il tono varia, l'ironia domina molto spesso, a volte diventa umorismo, a volte invece viene smorzata dalla riflessione.


Ken Saro-Wiwa

La prima metà è dedicata allo stesso luogo, un villaggio chiamato Dukana: i personaggi ritornano di racconto in racconto, Saro-Wiwa sembra animato da spirito 'griot', ma la denuncia sociale è evidente, anche se sempre filtrata dall'ironia.


La figlia di Saro-Wiwa che legge questo libro.

La seconda parte allarga il raggio d'azione, ed è questa a essere più ondivaga d'umori e tono, con la sensazione che si tratti di una raccolta postuma non curata dal suo autore, che forse avrebbe lasciato nel cassetto un paio di racconti dei più brevi.

Lebia, una donna di Dukana, è personaggio indimenticabile del sommesso e struggente racconto intitolato 'La divorziata'. E anche qui, in questi racconti, le donne hanno vita dura, colpevoli di esistere.

[Ukamaka Olisakwe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ken Saro-Wiwa is a wonderful and enigmatic writer. His stories were gripping.
I loved Dukana through his eyes..

[Amelie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I (and I suspect many others) know of Saro-Wiwa mainly as a human rights advocate executed by the Nigerian government in the 90s, but this book makes it quite clear he was also a talented writer.

These short stories focus on a range of characters, either in the village of Dukana or in the neighboring city. The stories are by turns touching, bitter and darkly funny.

[Name · Rating 4 out of 5]

An ill-fated man in an ill-fated time. This collection of short stories is but one work in a rather small repertoire dictated more by fate than effort. On occasion subtle and more often less so, this was nothing less than a call for revolution not just of men but of man. The tragedy of his life overshadows the beauty of his work and, like Nathaniel West, I wonder what might have been. We cannot know this. It is perhaps the ultimate symbolism of the Faustian bargain which he decried throughout his life, which even after death, especially after death, he continues to contempt.

[Ebehi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just started re-reading this, and I must say the storeies are awesome. Saro-Wiwa cauptures the right tone and mentality in his writing. Sarcasm comes off flawlessly and the stories are well placed. A lot of the stories are hilarious but true (e.g. one of my personal favorites, "Case No. 100"). A few stories seem to drag though. But overall, the book takes me back home, listening to my friends or my parents' friends gisting about life.

[Mena · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this crisp collection of short stories. They cover a wide range of topics Nigerians know only too well - police and bureaucratic corruption/inadequacy, death, city life - with humour and sensitivity. The tone across the book is a little uneven and the first few especially (set in a rural area) seem very different to the more urban stories, but it is funny, despairing and hopeful by turns. This is the first of Saro-Wiwa's works I've read and I'm looking forward to reading some more.

[Jugan Rajith]

i need for exam