Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, writer
Twelve years after Americanahthe Nigerian Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has just published a few dreams (Random House). A few days ago he offered a press conference in which he spoke about this work, his literature, the death of his parents, the migratory phenomenon or the use of colonial languages by writers from the continent.
«a few dreams It means a lot to me on a personal level. All novels are, of course, but this one is different, not only because it took me a long time to write it, 12 years, but also because I think I wrote it as a very different person from the one who wrote the previous ones. I like to say that it is like my adult novel. The Nigerian Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie thus referred to her latest work (published in Spain by Random House and translated by Carlos Milla Soler) during the press conference to present it, held by videoconference on September 4.
Starring four African women whose paths intertwine – Chiamaka, Nigerian travel writer; Zikora, her best friend, who is facing motherhood; Omelogor, Chiamaka’s cousin, who breaks with a business past, and Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s domestic worker and housekeeper, the novel addresses in its more than 500 pages themes such as love, friendship, maternal-filial relationships or honesty. However, the author explained at the press conference that a few dreams «It’s not just about this, I think everything responds to a broader idea, an idea of how we live our lives and how we imagine the lives we could have lived, what dreams we have, what dreams we respect, what it means to dream, especially for a woman. I think it is also a novel that is about women without excuses, without apologies, but not a book just for women.
Literature and grief
During question time, the Nigerian author referred to the death of her parents and the impact it had on her writing. a few dreams. In this sense he pointed out that “affliction, pain and mourning (he wrote the essay About grief after the sudden death of his father during the pandemic without the possibility of leaving the United States due to mobility restrictions) it has been an experience because it has taught me many things about what it means to be human. For me, grief, indeed grief, involved uncertainty. I have always been a person who has felt quite sure of everything, sure of myself, sure of the world, sure of how the world should be, but the loss of my parents caused me a certain uncertainty and that uncertainty I think can be good for creativity. (…) In fact I think my sentences are longer now, I think I let myself go, I let go more. Although he made it clear that he cannot speak of literature as a therapy to overcome the death of his parents, “it does play a role in helping you overcome something very painful. (a few dreams) It is not a novel about affliction or pain, but it does come from that affliction and that pain. “I wrote this novel when I was in that feeling of mourning, but it is not a sad novel.”
Regarding the writing process, Chimamanda acknowledged that “it is a journey that I begin without knowing exactly what is going to happen, I don’t plan it and things start to happen,” adding that “writing is the love of my life. I have been writing since I was able to spell. I’ve always known what I wanted to do. My ancestors brought me to this world so that I could write. I firmly believe so. And I still have that feeling of amazement at being read. If it were not read, I would still be writing somewhere. I have never let outside pressure get the better of me. On the other hand, I do feel the pressure inside. I am my biggest critic and it stresses me out. If I’m doing anything else I think, “You should be writing now, you should be writing.” I feel pressure if I don’t write. and after Americanah I wanted my next book to make me feel good.
Another question that was posed to Adichie was the importance of her literature for understanding the continent or African women. In this sense he recognized that «literature and stories are essential for human beings. At the same time, I find it exciting that my novels can be useful, that they can make you think about a social or political issue. That makes me happy. Now, did I write this novel because I hope to contribute to some kind of social and political discourse? No. I simply wanted to write a story about women. (…) I hope that people read this novel as a novel of dreams, of stories, but also as a way of seeing the lives of women, especially black African women.
The idea of African women’s dreams helped the author to reflect on migrant women. To do this, he relied on the profiles of the four protagonists of the novel, Africans or people of African descent in the United States. In this sense he said that “leaving home, the act of leaving home is already an action that has to do with dreaming, it is a dream in itself. Why does someone leave home? Because he dreams of a better life, a different life. And the current situation seems horrible to me. “People who dream of something better are being criminalized and treated in a very inhumane way.”
Women in literature
Throughout the meeting with the media, Chimananda Ngozi Adichie stressed that he was clear that after Americanah I would write a women’s novel. Beyond the situation of a specific work, the Nigerian pointed out that “we need to see more women in what we consider serious literature. And when I refer to women, I refer to the complexities of women, to the inner life of women, to the confusing, messy, complex humanity of women. I find it very interesting that there are themes that we take for granted in what we consider to be great literature, and much of that great literature was written by men, so they obviously do not represent women in their complexity. And I think it’s time to change that.”
One of the last questions had to do with the language that African authors use when writing. While creators such as the late Ngugi wa Thiong’o or Boubacar Boris Diop emphasize the need to abandon colonial languages and promote literature in African languages, others choose to approach their works in English, French, Portuguese or Spanish. “Would your literature be different if you wrote in Igbo?” the Nigerian author was asked. For her, the issue is clear: «English is also my mother tongue. I was not educated in Igbo. The academic language at school (in Nigeria, where the author lived during her childhood) is 100 percent English, and that is true for most Africans. The language of education, of academic training, is not the traditional language that your grandparents spoke. I write Igbo quite well, but I couldn’t write a story. I cannot make a philosophical argument in Igbo. For me, Igbo is the language of laughter, of informality, of family communication. For me, this idea of Africans writing in the native language is neither very interesting nor important because we cannot say that English or French are not African languages. They are or have become it. I speak English in a way that is specifically Nigerian and people in Ghana speak English in the Ghanaian way. I couldn’t write a few dreams in Igbo and I really don’t think there are authors in West Africa who can write a novel in the language of their grandparents.
a few dreams is the latest work of one of the most read and recognized African authors in the world thanks to novels such as The purple flower, Half yellow sun or the aforementioned Americanahor from essays like About grief, We should all be feminists either The danger of the single story.
Photography: Manny Jefferson
