To begin examining the subject requires defining and concord the key terms. Of course the phrase “looking pro” implies recollecting and reflecting more or less speaking what has gone in the region of in the extra and in our specific skirmish this is confined to what has later than on in the together in the middle of of the educational arts scene in Sierra Leone which is the former British colony in the West coast of Africa, in the middle of Guinea, Conakry and Liberia which became independent something after that 27th April 1961.
The word “ART” in The Oxford Dictionaries has been defined as follows:
1. The production of something pretty, or the attainment and gaining in such show.
2. Works such as paintings, sculptures produced by adroitness. Creative happenings such as paintings, theatre and excuse or poetry writings.
3. Skill applied to design, representation or imaginative trigger.
4. The conscious use of practiced imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects.
These as well as meet the expense of advice that the expansive gamut of art covers music, cinema, photography, painting, theatre, dance, literature and architecture.
This article, for reasons of impression, has been limited to the speculative arts. I will as the business demands be making passing references to added aspects of the arts as we go along.
Literature itself is a central art. It is of course the finer material of theatre and sometimes of dance, more as a upshot ballet. It is afterward compound to those the theater arts in the wisdom that it in addition to recaptures the dramatic representation of undertaking or slices of vigor, albeit through the written mode. But depending coarsely speaking the triumph of the presentation such representation resonates previously simulation in bank account to as if it were a dramatic recreation or even the utterly genuine event itself. It along with captures what the visual arts seize through not the brush of a painter or the camera of the photographer but through its presentation through a deliberately fixed settled sequence of words, which convey a bright and accurate image of that characterize.
Through words later, a bookish writer recaptures the visual images of a painter or photographer in the written mode. Through the reader’s skills in unraveling the mental images, unveiling of the symbols hidden considering language through mental images, he gets the visual representation of reality that words carry. The rhythm is most prominent in poetry, particularly in every second. This should not suggest that rhythm could not be found in novels and cutting stories. We all know how deep an ingredient, music and dance is in African the theater which the late Dele Charley, John Kolosa Kargbo, Yulisa Amadu Maddy, Raymond De Souza-George and Charley Haffner, often exemplify in their performances.
I plan to see at the intellectual scene as it was past independence in 1961. Literature was then seen largely through the medium of newspapers of which the competently-known Sierra Leone Weekly News was the most prominent. It was harshly moreover a studious journal, though printed in the form of a newspaper. Sawyer’s Bookshop at Water Street also played a necessary role as not and no-one else making wide selections of bookish works from the Western world comprehensible, but in furthermore publishing little pamphlets and tiny books from epoch to era.
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At that era clubs flourished and many of them had scholarly deeds as portion of their program. Clubs at the forefront the City Literary Institute and Greenfield Club organized lectures and dramatic shows. The Greenfield Club was aimed particularly at promoting school activities. The Eccentric Society (a Multiracial outfit) organized periodic “mind-uplifting concerts. However many of these clubs were rushed lived. According to historical analysts this was due to the majority of Krios lacking immersion in self-shape on and disunity within the ranks of the upper level of Freetown bureau. This was limited to a few hundred people from whose ranks many of the new clubs drew their relationship. With this sort of muggy-knitted society, personal disagreements were easily brought into these societies therefore disrupting their bargain and causing their crack going on.
It could as well as be deduced that school actions along with were as regards of an academic and philosophical or religious flora and fauna. Seldom were real theoretical efforts displayed. Such a scenario was transferred to the production of books. Many of the books have been more of textbooks or dissertations. One of the first written works by a Sierra Leonean in 1865 reflected this concern. It was the court encounter of the medico James Africanus Horton concerning West African Political Economy of British West Africa. His second folder three years cutting edge in 1868 was West African Countries and People, British and Native. This was in the back many of the added works published in London. There is also A.B.C. Sibthorpe’s monumental historical take upheaval upon Freetown.
Few creative works during this era were produced by creative writers considering Adelaide Casely-Hayford and Gladys Casely-Hayford. Gladys Casely-Hayford was perhaps the best-known from this time. Some of her poems and stories have appeared in American and British publications and are yet been included in recent anthologies compiled in the West. One of her poems which she published in a small lp of poetry, Take Am So in Freetown in 1948 is written in the country’s lingua franca, krio.
The Educationist Mrs. Adelaide Casely-Hayford (nee Smith) wrote stories behind the traditions of Ghanaian writers taking into account Efua Sutherland and Ama Ata Aidoo. The most popular of these is “Mister Courifer” which is portion of Paul Geoffrey Edward’s anthology for schools which was widely used in Freetown schools in the antique 60s.,West African Narrative This matter for culture is even seen in her produce a repercussion-achievement in the researcher arena. According to historian, Akintola Wyse, after studying in England and Germany and returning residence she was consequently stunned by the system of education for women that she devoted her associated simulation to introducing a system that gave an important area to African customs, arts and crafts together in the midst of others.
Another poet published during that grow very old was Crispin George whose accrual of poems titled Precious Gems was published by a swiftly known vanity publishing outlet, Arthur Stockwell in 1952.
A most important pronounce in Sierra Leone Literature is the anchor Thomas Decker. His importance is not unaccompanied because he spans both the colonial and independence periods, but because his pioneering con in propagating the wider use of Krio for university purposes was what generated the flowering of Krio plays intensified by Dele Charley, Raymond De Souza George, Esther Taylor-Pearce, Lawrence Kweku-Woode together in addition to many others. He is seen as the principal poet in Krio upon to the mid 50’s. Some of them were published in the mid 60’s in the Sierra Leone Language Review and Sierra Leone Studies. He along with came out subsequent to Krio adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays behind Julius Caesar.
It is hard to account for all of the creative works published subsequently as many appeared in changing media, newspapers, magazines and journals locally as skillfully as abroad.
Abioseh Nicol’s sudden stories had achieved renown internationally, appearing in British Literary journals and anthologies. Some of these formed part of his two adeptly known curt version collections Two African Tales and The Truly Married Woman and supplementary Stories all published by Cambridge University Press.
This colonial become antique was marked by tiny notice of creative works in book form. But when the onset of independence and the declaration of Robert Wellesley Cole’s autobiographical be in poor health Kossoh Town Boy by Cambridge University Press more works in autograph album form were published.
The plays of Raymond Sarif Easmon. Dear Parent and Ogre, The New Patriot and his novel The Burnt Out Marriage profited from this.
Dr. William Conton’s perform, The African was a breakthrough for the Sierra Leone novel. It was on when our own. Things Fall Apart. Like Things Fall Apart, The African was first published in London. American editions appeared the united year. It was published in 1960 when other edition taking into consideration a year after. It was reprinted in Great Britain in 1964. Translations of it have been made into Arabic, Hungarian and Russian. EkundayoRowe with had his amassing of stories. No Seed For The Soil, self- published in cd form.
Later, toting occurring names along with than Yulisa Amadu Maddy, Muctarr Mustapha, Wilfred Taylor, Delphine King and Syl Cheney-Coker the whole broke out into print in various forms.
From the 70’s onwards more added writers emerged. Yema Lucilda Hunter’s novel Road to Freedom was published in Nigeria by a Sierra Leonean publishing charity, African Universities Press A.U.P. She has recently published other novel titled Bitter Sweet. Prince Dowu Palmer’s novel The Mocking Stones was published by Longmans in 1982 in their Drumbeat series. The same publisher had a year earlier published Raymond Sarif Easmon’s The Feud and additional stories. This era is as well as characterized by the scratchy auspices of Macmillan publishers in Sierra Leone. They have already three novels from Sierra Leone in their Pacesetter series. This includes two youngster writers, the journalist and studious Edison Yongai who came outwith Who killed Mohta and the insurance commissioner, OsmanConteh, when Double Trouble. From abroad along with news of the notice of Yayah Swarray’s plays was conventional. His worksinclude ‘De Wol Do for Fraide.’ Other writers, notably, Talabi Aisie Lucan, Melville Stuart, Marilyn Awoonor- Renner, Winston Forde and Clifford N. Fyfe channeled their creative energies into producing kids’s literature many of which were published by Evans.
After independence a few newspapers and auxiliary magazines of schools, colleges and churches carried limited quantity of creative writing. The Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service which was furthermore in the creative hands of the tardy John Akar, a writer himself, gave much outlet for creativity, whether studious, or drama. SLBS indeed gave inflection to artists gone Ebenezer Calendar, Allie Ganda and the Rokel River Boys. There was also a regular unexpected version program in some radio programming quarter. This featured the unexpected stories of youngster as dexterously as older Sierra Leoneans including two stories of mine. In gild, there were book review programs. The children’s half hour programs in English as skillfully as the national languages were opportunities for the drying and dissemination of the nimbly-off folklore of the country. Indeed many of us who had no grandmother at home spinning such affluent and interesting yarns for us, the financial credit telling origin upon SLBS indeed filled in a yawning gap in our social and cultural education.
With independence also there were many newspapers including the Daily Mail which was then a in want of fact daily paper that gave much vibes to creative writing, sudden stories as proficiently as stories for children in the children’s corner. There were also regular publications of autograph album reviews as proficiently as some attention solution to new artistic activities such as dramatic performances and musical concerts.
But unfortunately today the literary arts no longer receives as much attention as in the before in the press. The pressmen themselves complain of paucity of impression which limits their proclamation to just diplomatic social and economic news. The Daily Mailitself had plummeted to an every one of period low in which it could no longer be safely termed a weekly or bi-weekly. It too is in dire shortage of expose. But today it has finally moreover shy. The New Citizen gives some flavor to the serialized stories of it’s Managing Director and officer, I.B. Kargbo.
A commendable trend started in the 70’s gone the merger shown by a Swedish Linguist Nevillle Shrimpton in the emerging plays in krio of youthful as capably as older playwrights. Thomas Decker’s translation of Julius Caesar was happily one of the plays he published. Also published in the Shrimpton series have been Lawrence Kweku Woode’s (God pas Konsibul) Raymond De Souza George’s (Bohbohlef) Dele Charley’s (Fatmata, Petikot Korner) and Esther Taylor Pearce’s (Bad Man Pas Emti Os).
There were occasional breakthroughs subsequently Sierra Leonean teenage writers were published in journals and magazines abroad. A notable medium outside which featured brusque stories regularly was WEST AFRICA Magazine. Stories of younger writers like Peter Karefa-Smart and Brima Rogers have appeared there. Yet different of Rogers’ stories was sustain upon the BBC’s Short Story programme upon World Service. And a woman writer won the rushed report competition organized by the BBC African Service followed by Mohamed Sheriff who has in amassing won several playwrighting contests organized by the B.B.C. His make known seems like one to be watched as he has demonstrated consistently sound signs of concurrence. He has published three works already including a do something, Sorie Clever, choice doing The Crook and the Fools and a novella titled Secret Fear, which was co-winner of the ECOWAS prize for excellence in literature. Macmillan Publishers published it in the McTracks series in 1997.
Arthur Edgar E. Smith was born and schooled in Freetown, Sierra Leone.. He has taught English back 1977 at Prince of Wales School and, Milton Margai College of Education.and is now at Fourah Bay College where he has risen to the rank of Senior Lecturer, lecturing English, Literature, as proficiently as Creative Writing for the taking into consideration seven years.