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Title
Whither, O Splendid Ship? |
Full text
http://hdl.handle.net/10485/327 |
Date
1984 |
Author(s)
Ike, Chukwuemeka |
Abstract
University of Jos Postgraduate Open Lecture Series - My initial urge on the receipt of a memo from the Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies inviting me to deliver on of the University of Jos Postgraduate Open Lectures in the 1983/84 session was to present a paper on either a recently concluded investigation into the operations of a traditional cult, in quest of material for a forthcoming novel, The Bottled Leopard, or on another investigation this time into the attitudes of young adults to their parents and the adult society generally and vice versa, in the quest for material for another forthcoming novel entitled Our Children are Coming! Although, as a creative writer, my interest in my research investigations is to provide materials for my novels rather than to write learned papers for learned conferences and learned journals, there would have been little difficulty in dressing up my research methods and findings in the appropriate academic regalia for a Postgraduate Open Lecture. While reflecting on which investigation to write up, I had a vision. I can see grimaces of unbelief on many faces! What's strange about having a vision? Any creative writer who does not have visions from time to time will cease to be a CREATIVE writer, for it is an essential element of the creative process to see objects, hear sounds and experience feelings which would be non-existent to any other person in the same location at the same time, which may explain why an Associate Professor in this University recently in an off-the-cut rejoinder at a public lecture credited creative writers with the powers of witchcraft! Yes I had a vision, at which a number of revelations were made to me. Controversial revelations, but germane to our crisis ridden country especially these nerve wracking times when we find ourselves rushing from traditional rulers to the I. M. F. in a frantic search for Nigeria's elusive navigational chart. Trying times when we shudder at the elasticity of our compatriot's langa throats. (There must be something phenomenal about politicians, if their throats can stretch from Forcados to Funtua without snapping; and swallow millions of naira in one gulp without choking or even belching!) A creative writer would not normally deliver a public lecture on his visions because the vision is only part of the creative process. It has to be transformed into a poem, a play or a short story, or a novel, complete with living characters, a theme, a setting, and all that. The creative writer may prefer to keep his vision to himself until the finished product is ready in published form, for it is possible in the course of the creative process to see other visions which could supersede the earlier ones. Perhaps it is because of the controversial nature of the vision that I decided in its favour for this lecture, hoping that the break from tradition will not only give me the opportunity of a feedback from this distinguished gathering of social scientists and other intellectual giants before I advance to the next stage in the creative process but, more importantly, will also induce my listeners into having their own visions. For as Proverbs 9 verse 18 (King James' Version) says "Where there is no vision, the people perish". |
Subject(s)
Political Science; Social Science |
Language
en |
Publisher
Jos University Press LTD |
Relation
Volume 1;No. 7 |
Identifier
978-166-025-2 |
Repository
Jos - University of Jos
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Added to C-A: 2010-06-24;10:59:19 |
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