Shallow

During my undergraduate years, I had to take a Comparative Literature module. Frankly speaking, up to that point, I never took Literature seriously. I enjoyed it but not enough to make me think that the written word is more than what it is. I read the compulsory texts and completed my assignments as required. The fact that my Professor was a 6-foot man who thinks that Samad Said's Salina was juvenile literature didn't help much either.

Towards the end of the module, I had to do a rather challenging assignment. The students were asked to pick two novels written by two authors (preferably diasporic and preferably "deep"), and write an in-depth evaluative comparison of both novels. I thought, well, I'd just read the novels and compare the plots and themes. That would be enough. Or so I thought.

I picked Gabriel Okara's The Voice and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. I read the novels and wrote a first draft of my comparison. I gave this to my Professor.

" Did you read those books from beginning to end?" he said.
I said I did.
"You sure?"
I said I was.
" After reading all that, is this all you have to say?"
The answer at the tip of my tongue died and crawled back to its grave.
"You read Heart of Darkness, and this all you have to say?"
I've never felt more shallow in my entire life.
I looked at my Professor. "All right, tell me what you want me to do. Just tell me what I have to do."
He gave a smirk and said, "Tell me what you feel, and then I'll tell you what to do"

He asked me to find out all I can about the authors. Then read the novels again.

"Why?" I asked.
"How can you understand the novel if you do not understand the author?"

I went to the library, searched high and low for Gabriel Okara and Joseph Conrad. I found them, lived with them for a few of days and got an A- for my assignment.

A piece of writing is an extension of the writer. Understand the writer and you will understand his writing.