Mhadhiri wa Algeria Amekifurahia Kitabu

Mimi kama mwandishi, ninaguswa na maoni ya wasomaji. Leo nimepata ujumbe kutoka kwa mhadhiri wa chuo kikuu kimoja cha Algeria, Samir, ambaye tumewasiliana kwa miaka michache, na nilimpelekea nakala ya kijitabu changu, Notes on Achebe's Things Fall Apart.

Nanukuu sehemu ya ujumbe wake:

I hope this finds you safe. I am so pleased to let you know that your book on Achebe's TFA is very helpful!! It really helped me. It is a pleasure also to inform you that I am citing you in my phd thesis on Gender in Ngugi's fiction. Your name will also be cited in my Acknowledgements and Dedications. Thank you so much....We love you much.

Kwa wale wasiojua ki-Ingereza, napenda kuelezea anachosema mhadhiri huyu kwa ujumla. Anasema kuwa anategemea ujumbe wake utanifikia nikiwa salama. Amefurahi sana kunifahamisha kuwa kitabu changu kuhusu riwaya ya Achebe ya Things Fall Apart ni mchango mkubwa sana na kimemsaidia sana. Anafurahi kunifahamisha vile vile kuwa ananukuu kitabu changu katika tasnifu yake ya uzamifu kuhusu jinsia katika riwaya za Ngugi wa Thiong'o. Jina langu litatajwa katika orodha ya watu waliochangia tasnifu hii. Anahitimisha kwa kusema, "Asante sana....Tunakupenda sana."

Ujumbe wowote kutoka kwa wasomaji makini una manufaa kwangu kama mwandishi. Ninayachukulia maanani maoni yao, hasa nikijua kuwa wametumia hela zao kununua kitabu changu. Kuna wengine ambao ninakuwa nimewapa nakala ya bure. Hao wanaponiandikia maoni yao juu ya kitabu ninaona kama wamelipa fadhila. Maoni yao ni muhimu kwangu kuliko hela.

Kitabu hiki na vingine vinapatikana hapa

Buriani Mwandishi John Calvin Rezmerski

Leo hapa Minnesota zimeenea taarifa za kufariki kwa mwandishi John Calvin Rezmerski. Taarifa moja imechapishwa katika Minneapolis Star Tribune. Nilipata bahati ya kuonana naye miaka michache iliyopita mjini Mankato, Minnesota, kwenye tamasha la vitabu, Deep Valley Book Festival. Tuliongea, nikanunua kitabu chake cha mashairi kiitwacho What Do I Know?: New & Selected Poems, ambacho alikisaini hivi:

for Joseph Mbele--
Wonderful to talk with you at Deep Valley Book Festival,
John Calvin Rezmerski

Taarifa tulizopata leo zinaelezea mambo mema mengi ya bwana Rezmerski: alikuwa mwandishi makini wa mashairi, msimuliaji hadithi, mwalimu aliyependwa, mkarimu kwa watu. Kuhusu falsafa ya ushairi ya Rezmerski, Bill Holm, ambaye ni mwandishi maarufu hapa Minnesota, aliwahi kuandika: "John Rezmerski believes that poetry lives inside the daily speech of ordinary people, that the ear and the mouth are connected to the imagination and the heart."

Dhana hiyo ya ushairi inanikumbusha falsafa ya Shaaban Robert na pia William Wordsworth kuhusu ushairi. Inaendana hasa na falsafa ya Wordsworth, ambaye aliamini kuwa lugha ya watu wa kawaida ndio chimbuko la ushairi halisi na ndio inapaswa kutumiwa na washairi, tofauti na lugha ya urasimi, ambayo haikuendana na hisia halisi za binadamu bali ilikuwa lugha tasa.

Mara baada ya kusikia taarifa za kifo cha Rezmerski, nimetafuta nakala yangu ya What Do I Know?: New & Selected Poems, ili kusoma mashairi yaliyomo, kama njia ya kumkumbuka mwandishi huyu ambaye nilibahatika kumwona, ingawa ni mara moja tu. Shairi lake moja ni hili:

THE FUGITIVE

What if after all these years
in the same body,
I turn out to be somebody else?
What a new thing
to decide which pair of pants.
How sweet to have grapefruit
and like it for the first time.
I would burn old letters,
buy a new toothbrush,
learn to like the closeness
of cold on my clean skin.
I would pronounce every word
as though it were fine glass.
It is an old story
I tell the mirror
while I gape at my teeth
looking for someone else's cavities.

Nimelipenda shairi hili kwa jinsi linavyotumia mbinu mbali mbali za kuchezea akili ya msomaji, kuanzia kejeli hadi ubunifu wa mambo yasiyowezekana, hadi kuangalia mambo tuliyoyazoea kwa mtazamo wa kuyafanya yawe ya ajabu. Shairi limejaa mawazo na kauli tusizotegemea. Ili kulisoma na kulitafakari shairi hili kwa umakini, makala maarufu ya Cleanth Brooks, The Language of Paradox, inaweza kusaidia sana.

Anonymous Anasema Kitabu Hiki Hakina Jipya

Kwa wasomaji wa blogu yangu hii na ile ya ki-Ingereza, habari za kitabu cha Africans and Americans: Embracing Cultural Differences sio ngeni. Wengi wamekisoma kitabu hiki na wengine wamechangia maoni yao katika blogu hizi na zingine.

Juzi ametokea anonymous kwenye blogu hii akaandika hivi: "Nimekisoma hakina chochote kipya, ni kama vitabu vingine."

Mimi kama mtafiti na mwalimu huhamasisha elimu na kuelimishana. Nilimpa ukumbi anonymous atuelimishe zaidi na pia kututajia hivyo vitabu vingine. Habari kamili iko kwenye sehemu ya maoni hapa. Hadi sasa anonymous hajasema kitu tena. Bado nasubiri.