During the week, Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, head, Department of English, University of Lagos, presented her inaugural lecture on 'Artistic creativity: The service of literature to society.' In this interview, the serial award winning novelist and scholar took time to talk to Vanguard’s Arts about the subject of her discourse, her writing and her visions.

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PROF, it is my pleasure to be with you again, especially on this occasion of your inaugural lecture on artistic creativity and literature in the service of society. May I ask you, who chose the topic of this inaugural?

I chose it myself. It is the right of the scholar to choose a topic for himself.

Could you give us a scoop of what you intend to do tomorrow?

What happens is that when the vice chancellor introduces you, you talk about what you have done. The major thrust here, however, is the contributions to knowledge. But, of course , the scholar has to talk of other things in his field. So, the way I intend to go about it is that I will discuss generally about my field, what literature has done to improve society and how it can do such things better if certain things are put in place. You should also understand that the inaugural is not meant for only those in academics but also for lay men, who may not specifically come from your field.

This means that the scholar would be expected to organize his lecture and structure it in such a way that it would become accessible to everyone to the extent that most people will understand what the scholar says.

I have, therefore, decided not to indulge in specialized terms or terminologies. I intend, at this occasion, to simplify literature in a way that it is going to be accessible to everyone and easy for people to understand me; and I will be dwelling on Nigerian literature and, of course, on literature from outside Nigeria, though the focus will be on Nigerian and African literature. And I am also going to talk about what literature has been doing over the years.

It is going to be a kind of synthesis of all the works that I have done in literature over the years as well as a way of providing information in my area of specialization to the audience and to both the people inside and outside the university because a lot of people are going to come, even people from my village and town. My town’s men and women are going to come, who may not even be university graduates but are also interested in knowing what I have done and what literature means and what it has done for society. These are some of the issues that would be raised at the occasion.

I think it is quite interesting that you are going to talk about literature in the service of society. But, going by a book of essays; The Fiction of Akachi Adimorah-Ezigbo… edited by Patrick Oloko, most of the arguments in the book seem to locate your achievements in the effort at re-writing the image of ‘woman’ in a seeming patriarchal world. One can not be too sure now if your discourse will not be about the service of literature in the society of women?

You will be surprised that I have not dwelt on gender or feminism in this lecture. My lecture is going to be broad and the scope is wide. It is going to talk about different aspects of literature not specifically literature that highlights women’s issues. Even though there is a small section called literature and gender, which only looks at literature from what women have contributed to it. But the argument is going to be a kind of general discussion and what services literature has rendered and continues to render to society.

What is an inaugural lecture. What is the essence of it?

Well, an inaugural lecture can as well be given by a non academic member of the university or even a president who has won an election and is newly in office. It is a way of letting the people know what you have done and what you intend to do. In the case of the academic, an inaugural lecture helps to synthesize one’s scholarship and the scholar’s contributions to knowledge.

It is done in a simplified manner that those who do not belong to the same field with the scholar will understand what the scholar has come to say. The inaugural helps to convey what the professor has done over the years. When one is appointed a professor, it is immediately hoped that the person so appointed will be expected to present an inaugural lecture. The quality of one’s scholarship would be expected to reflect in your lecture.

So, it is a way of making the public know what you have done and how useful such achievements have been not to one’s self but also to the general public and to one’s colleagues and also in enhancing knowledge and scholarship in one’s field.

One would want to think that this synthesis of one’s scholarship is more of a symbiotic exercise. The very society which one has given so much to also appreciates this gift, overtly or privately. I think that what Oloko has done is an effort in that direction. However, you appear not to wear the toga of feminism which many of the contributors in that defining book of essays ascribe to you. Are you a feminist?

Well, you see, I don’t like to indulge in terminologies or to label myself or kind of identify myself with labels. I don’t like to use labels. I have always said that I have done a lot of works on women and gender studies. And most of my works on imaginative literature are also in that direction. But that does not limit me because I have also done works in other areas too. For me, feminism simply means the awareness that women are subjugated and marginalized and, therefore, we try to use our writing in correcting such behaviours.

And, if that is what feminism means, then, I am a feminist and many people are feminist.And there are men who are also trying to protect and change the image of women in their writings. There are men who are in this area and one doesn’t need to be a woman before he works in this area. But the moment you use that word, feminism, it looks like some negative term or that you have become aggressive.

Of course, some of these men, who are seen protecting and

changing the image of women in their writings, would also not want to be called feminists. These people would feel better to be described as scholars or activist. But, the moment you begin to label them with such terms as feminists, it becomes problematic and that is why most women reject it. And, in the actual sense, the works they do point in that direction.

So, what is your feeling about those scholars that engage your works and ascribe to you such labels?

Well, it is always very interesting. I have never quarrelled with people over the way they respond to my works because I am one of those that believe in Readers Response Theory. That theory is very useful because it does give people the freedom to engage the works the way they want to. If they feel that what I write makes me a feminist, well and good, I have no quarrel with that.

I think Sussan Ardnt is strong in her feeling about the feministic projections of your works. In her essay, Paradigms of Intertextuality: Orature and Writing Back in the Fiction of Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, she argues that you belong to those writers, who attempt to write back…

(cuts in) writes back into Ifo, she calls it…

Yes.

Well, you see, the thing is that I interrogate a lot of things in my works, starting from contemporary ideas, and those aspects that I think are neglected which I am privileged in highlighting. May be that is what she is pointing out there. For instance, I have always believed that women are marginalized in Igbo culture. I experienced it myself as a woman. Sometimes, even as highly educated as one is, one feels sidelined, marginalized, subjugated or even ignored by the patriarchy in our villages.

And that is true. It is the way the culture has been conditioned over the years. So, I feel, sometimes, that writing and interrogating this kind of cultural condition is another way of bringing out the anomalies inherent in the cultural order.

Sometimes too, I try to subvert some of these dominant ways of seeing things like, sometimes, I use stories and attempt to subvert the structures and plots of these stories by turning things around with the hope of changing the focus from the mythical or legendary or story lines.

Maybe your lecture title should have read the service of society to literature and not vice versa, given the shaping influence of society on your critical imagination?

Well, the engagement here is the service of literature to society, to the nation and to the communities.

I am looking at it holistically from the point of view of what men and women writers have done in this society. And you know that literature is one area in which many Nigerians have proved themselves and many Nigerian writers are of international standard. Again, many Nigerian writers have won good prizes, though it is not as if winning of prizes shows excellence in writing but it does show that what is written here is acceptable in terms of quality. So, literature is one of the areas where Nigeria has excelled and contributed to world culture.

It is also one area in which Nigerians have brought fame to this country. Look at Achebe, Soyinka, Adichie and so many other people that have won all kinds of prizes. We are also looking at it from the angle of Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) that instituted two prizes for literature and science. Such an attempt underlies the importance of culture and scientific advancement. Why didn’t it choose other trades?

But it chose literature and science because these are the two fundamental areas of knowledge that any nation needs to make progress. And if you look at what happens in other countries, they emphasize on their culture and their science. It is the same pattern both in Europe and America because their culture gives them their identity and a sense of well being while science makes their lives better.

This ceremony presupposes that you have reached the height of scholarship and accomplishment. And there is no doubt about that, given that you have proved yourself a writer of immense energy, a scholar of international repute and an outstanding administrator. Would you tell me the new direction from which we should expect your interventions after this occasion?

Do you mean after this lecture?

Yes.

You see, when one is appointed a professor in a university, one owes a duty to present an inaugural lecture and when one has not done that, one feels that one has not fulfilled that aspect of one’s calling of professorship. It means that one has not defended one’s chair because it is a kind of defence because you are coming here to say that this university has appointed me a professor, why did it do so?

Do I merit it ? Do I have anything to show for this position that I have been bestowed with? Don’t forget that this is the highest position anybody can attain in academic. So, giving this lecture, like you have pointed out, is the height of one’s career achievement.

After the lecture, well, I regard myself first and foremost a trainer of people. I have some Ph.D students that I am supervising. It is this Ph.D thing really that I want to focus on because one really wants to produce more manpower since many of us may not have too long a time now to stay in the system.

We need to have people to replace us. So, one of the decisions I have made within myself is to intensify my effort in producing high quality doctoral graduates in this university. People, who can go anywhere and teach, people who will replace us. I am not saying that I am going to retire from writing or teaching or research. I am going to continue to do all these because I am an academic to the core. When I am not writing, I am researching and when I am not doing these things, I am not happy.

But I am going to dedicate more time in producing high quality staff that we need in this area because I have gathered a lot of experiences from my travels, from my relating with scholars and all that.

I am not boasting about this, I am only saying that I am in a position to impact these experiences on others and I am going to do it by God’s grace. And that is one of the duties I owe to the University of Lagos for making me what I am today, by giving me a lot of opportunities to grow as an academic and as a writer.