The Quest for Relevance

by Clarke 1 Comment

calling for

re-discovery &  re-sumption of our language

calling for

re-generative re-connection with

millions of re-volutionary tongues in Africa

& the world over demanding liberation.

it is a . . . calling for

re-discovery of our language

the re-al language of humankind/ the language of struggle

it is the universoul language

underlying all speech & words of our history.

struggle. struggle/

makes history. struggle/

makes us. in struggle/

is our history/ our language & our being.

struggle begins wherever we are

in whatever we do/ then

we become part of those millions

whom martin carter once saw

sleeping not to dream

but

dreaming to change the world.

Rewriting Ngugi’s final passage in “The Quest for Relevance”  allowed me to reinterpret and add meaning to a passage that had already challenged me as it was written in its original prose. Using more space enabled me to draw attention to words and phrases Ngugi repeats, most notably the word “struggle”. While this repetition is apparent in the prose, allowing the word to spread over three lines rather than one and form a sort of shape instead of remain within a straight line forces recognition of the word and its significance in the text. Separating the prefix “re” from words that imply “again” as well as from those that do not (i.e. “real”) inspired new thoughts about the ways “realness” is formed by continuities and cycles, particularly in terms of what Ngugi expresses about the nature of language, culture, and struggle. I deliberately uncapitalized most words, but was not sure of whether or not to capitalize “Africa” which led me to consider Shange’s capitalization choices and their implications.

Comment ( 1 )

  1. Kim Hall
    Clarke, I love what you did with this exercise--particularly that you chose to isolate "struggle" as a key word. As you keep blogging, you want to strive to be more concrete and more analytic. For the former, instead of saying "what Ngugi expresses about the nature of language, culture, and struggle," tell us what you are referring to. We all read it, but we might not remember it the same way. For the latter, focus on points of interpretation. You chose a great word ("struggle"), now tell us a bit more about how you see the term operating in either Ngugi or Shange.

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