Mcphilips Nwachukwu & Benjamin Njoku
23 January 2005
interview
Mavbel Segun is one of the first published Nigerian female writers, who does not believe in feminism as a new contextual weapon of war against the men. In this concluding part of her chat with Sunday Arts in her Surulere home in Lagos, she explains her interests in children's writings.
ANOTHER fundamental reason is that I was published firstly in German and not in English. My works were taken away by Germans who came to Nigeria in the 50s and translated them into German. And that was long before the male writers started coming to the scene. Again, then, many people did not have access to my writings .So, those who could not read German could not read me.
You mentioned an interesting point when you said why you could not measure up in terms of enjoying recognition with your male counterparts, does that mean that the male writers socialize more than the female writers or better still, that your role as both a wife and a mother affected your social life either?
Well, that is true. Until recently when we formed Women Writers of Nigeria (WRITA), women are now trying to project themselves. In this regard I must pay tribute to my good friend, Akachi Ezeigbo who has done her very best to try and project the women writers by reviewing their works. I think that is what the women writers needed. May be I will share this experience with you, when The Guardian literary series were compiled into a literary work, Yemi Ogunbiyi approached me and reminded me that nobody has written about me. He decried that it would be a pity if my name was left out of the work. He therefore advised that I should get somebody who would do a story on my works. As a matter of fact, I approached one of the male writers, pleading with him to do an article on me for The Guardian literary series, but you would be surprised at the reply of this man.
Femalen writers
He said, "why don't you approach one of the female writers to do an article on you," as if women writers have to be written on by women themselves. I told him that, he sounded unreasonable, whether that was how it is done abroad. "Men can not review a woman's work". That was what he told me but, eventually, it was a man who reviewed my works, Funsho Ayejina. That singular action showed you the attitude of most of our male writers towards their female counterparts. As if reviewing a woman's work is something far below his dignity.
By refusing to talk about a woman's work, it amounts also to holding her hands from writing what is the use of writing if nobody gets identified with your works. So, this has been the problem with women's writing and that is what affected me as a person. Besides from the fact that in the words of Funsho Ayejina, I spread myself to so many things, from sports to broadcasting and journalism .He is right.
My talent extended to so many fields of life. It is only recently that I decided to concentrate on writing. I should have written more. Although, I have written quite a lot of things. But, I should have written more. I used to be somebody who does not need a lot of sleep. But these days, I sleep a little more Apart from that also, I had this inclination about writing for children. I was not only writing for children but I was also promoting their ideals which took me a lot of my time. But I am happy, because nowadays, there is a consciousness about children's literature which credit, I could lay claim to. I have helped to generate that awareness of children's literature in this country.
Let's look at the writings of your female contemporaries like Flora Nwapa, Buchi Emecheta and Zulu Sofola, was the same gender inequality which affected your literary career also extended to them?
Flora Nwapa was a different kettle of fish.. Flora had certain advantages which some of us didn't have. She belonged to a dominant group which helped to project her image. In Nigeria, ethnicity is an important ingredient to fame.
I belong to a minority group. Apart from that I have not even associated myself with any group at all. That is to say that I'm just a Nigerian. I have never lived in my part of the country which is Edo State. I did not have the opportunity of having anybody to promote my cause. There was nobody to champion my cause because I didn't move with people along that line. But, you find out that Flora had the backing of her very vocal Igbo group. That was one of the advantages she had over us. Again, she wrote a novel which Nigerians came to believe as the whole of literature in the country.
Flora, I will say had a novel that is rooted in feminism which again helped to place her at an advantage position .But today, you will notice that Flora is being reversed and Buchi Emecheta has overtaken her. At first, Flora wrote the first novel which generated so much noise. But today, people are more concerned about the quality of your work and that is why Buchi Emecheta has now shot forward. Zulu Sofola I would have had problem with her art. She was at Uyo. She was not a feminist and people had to criticize her on account of that.
So, when this issue of feminism came up and they looked at her works and discovered that she was not a feminist. She was criticized and shouted out of the way. Apart from that, being a playwright appears more difficult than writing poetry or the novels. One can write a novel and get published, but you can not write a play without putting it on the stage. The complexity come from the fact that you have to test your play on the stage. And that was one problem that affected Zulu's writings.
You know, there is fashion in everything. As there is fashion in cloth, there is fashion in writing. If feminism is the fashion now, it will look unfair for any female writer to go against feminism. Because you are a woman you should write about women's cause. This is something I have been fighting against. I have male protagonist in my novels just as I do have female protagonists also. Why should anybody restrict me to writing about women and not about men. I don't think anyone should prescribe to any human being what subject he /she should write or how that person should treat his chosen subject.
People always associate you with leading a solitary life. Is Mabel Segun loner?
This is a question I was asked long.long time ago in the 60s. In fact, the title of that story was "the loneliness of Mabel Segun." I am never lonely and I have never been lonely. I have a lot of things to do I have a lot of talents in various directions. May be you have not been familiar with the other side of Mabel Segun .My daughter calls me an inventor because I engage myself in repairing electrical gadgets in the house. I am so busy all the time.
I also make my dresses by myself.
I have my sewing machine which I use at leisure to mend my clothes. So, I can 't be lonely when I'm engaged in doing all these things. Apart from this, I have a way of amazing myself. I have books that thrill me when I want to be thrilled. Again , I also do my writing. Right now, I am doing a research on the Benin Kingdom .I am still writing even though, I am going to be 75 years come next month. I have not lost my memory. I am still active and will stop writing when I have dropped dead.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2005 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
