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The
Sentinel Quarterly Interview with VINCENT CHUKWUEMEKA IKE
by
Sumaila Umaisha
 VINCENT
CHUKWUEMEKA IKE, one of the foremost Nigerian writers, has
produced more novels than many of his contemporaries. He set
out on his literary journey in 1965 with the publication of
his novel, Toads for Supper and today he has over a dozen
publications to his credit, including a collection of tips
on how to become a published writer. At 77, he believes
there are still more kennels to be eaten as far as his
writing career is concerned. And to prove this, he has just
published a sequel to Toads for Supper. Titled Toads
Forever, the novel is an attempt to resolve some of the
unresolved issues in the earlier work. In this
interview with SUMAILA UMAISHA, he speaks about the new
book, his relationship with Chinua Achebe, how Things Fall
Apart inspired him into writing his first novel, and more.
I learnt you started your writing career early in life; how
early?
As far back as my secondary school
days. It began in 1945 at
Government College, Umuahia, in the present Abia State. The
school encouraged writing and there was the opportunity for
one to publish what he wrote. Every house had a house
magazine. The magazines were handwritten, but later the
school had a printed college magazine for the entire school.
That was when my first story, a short story titled ‘A
Dreamland’ was published. Then when I went to the University
College, Ibadan, there was also the opportunity to continue
with the interest in creative writing. There was a magazine
strictly for literary affairs, no student union politicking.
You were invited to join the literary club if they felt you
had literary interest. The publication of the magazine is
funded by the university. I had my stories published in it.
So these were the beginnings. After graduation I also had my
short stories broadcast on Nigerian Broadcasting Service.
Writers like Cyprian Ekwensi read courses that have little or
nothing to do with English or Literature. Was it the same in
your own case?
No. English was one of the subjects I read. That had been my
major interest. And the way my teachers marked my essays was
an indication that it was my line. When I did the Cambridge
Overseas Certificate examination, in 1949, essay writing was
an important part of the subject. We were asked to write an
essay on ‘Narrow Escape’. And I created an interesting
narrow escape. What I wrote was imaginary. It was a chance I
took, because if they had not appreciated it I would have
failed.
When exactly did you start serious writing; novel writing?
Novel writing came much later. In fact, in those days that we
were writing short stories none of us believed we could
write novels. The novelists we read were from
Britain. Though Cyprian Ekwensi wrote then. What actually
made me feel that the time had come for me to attempt
writing a novel was when my friend, Chinua Achebe, published
his Things Fall Apart in 1958. We were friends during
our secondary school days, university days and even after
graduation. The fact that he could do it encouraged me to
start a novel. Things Fall Apart inspired me. And by
1962, I had completed a novel, which I titled Toads for
Supper. But it took some times of rejection before it
was eventually published in 1965.
It seems in your days once a writer is published he never
suffered rejection any more.
Yes. When my first novel was accepted it changed things
instantly. We were published overseas and the tradition was
that once you got published you signed a contract with your
publishers that you must give them the first consideration
when you write the next one. And the tendency is that when
you write the next one they will take it, you write another
one they will take it. So you are made.
There is so much humour in your novels, particularly Toads
for Supper. Why do you adopt this style?
Well, I think that came from life in the village; life at
home. There was the general feeling that humour is necessary
to succeed in life. Even to convince your partner in an
argument, humour can help to liven the situation and make
things go well. Some literary scholars don’t like the style.
They feel whatever has humour in it is not serious. But I
don’t share that view.
You don’t seem to have successfully resolved the issue in
Toads for Supper.
[Laughter] I don’t know… [Laughter] You know, when you end a
story, there are usually many problems unresolved. And I
suppose at the point I ended the novel, it was easy for me
to say let me stop here. But, in order to resolve some of
the issues, I have recently published a sequel to the novel.
People from
Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya etc. have been pressurizing me over
the years, so I have now tried to resolve the issues. It is
titled Toads Forever and published by Longman. You
will find that the end is different. In the novel I tried to
stress the fact that ethnicity should not be allowed to ruin
this country. There is nothing wrong with an Igbo person
befriending a Hausa person or even marry each other, in case
of male-female relationship. That is the main message in the
novel.
Like most novels, the settings of your novels are based on the
period in which you wrote them. Comparing the happenings in
Toads for Supper and what obtains nowadays, what’s
your assessment?
Well, you know, there is universality. And human experience
does not really depend on time. Take the relationship
between man and woman, for instance. All that have happened
in the past such as the relationship of Adam and Eve as
written in the Bible is still happening today. And they will
always continue to happen. So there are problems that are
really not affected by time and such other factors.
Therefore, from that point of view, everything need not
change because the years have lapsed. However, it is also
true that new problems crop up with time. Even in crime,
there are new areas of crime that were not there in our own
time. So, anybody writing today will have to be influenced
by those developments. When I wrote the sequel to Toads
for Supper I had to remind myself all the time that I’m
back to colonial
Nigeria, so I don’t begin to say things that are happening
in present day Nigeria. Though, like I said, there are
things that generally remain the same despite the time
lapse. Issues like ethnicity are still there.
But this idea of sticking to the past rather than treating the
present pressing social realities…
Some issues are timeless. But I’ve also written novels that do
not follow that pattern, novels that are written for the
period in which they are published. Conspiracy of
Silence, which came out in 2001, was a study on an Igbo
societal phenomenon which I call fatherlessness. There are
people who do not know their biological fathers, not because
those fathers are dead, but they’ve never really known them.
There are some women who marry wives. These wives produce
children. These children have biological fathers but they
are not accepted. There are also traditional women who do
not want to marry but want children. So they would come to a
man and say ‘I want you to father a child for me, it will be
mine, no responsibilities’. This kind of child grows without
knowing who his father is. I decided to write on this
because this creates serious psychological problems in the
society. I’ve read in the newspaper of a girl who threatened
to kill her mother if she didn’t tell her who her father
was. It is a cultural problem and unless it is eventually
stopped it is still relevant as a theme.
In the case of Toads Forever, don’t you think there is
a problem of relevance in terms of the setting and the
current realities despite the universality of some aspects
of the plots?
No, I don’t think there is a problem. It depends on the writer
and his ability as a writer. The novel by the young
Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun,
which is making so much news today, is set in the civil war
era. She was not even born then. But it has won her a prize.
So it is the way you handle your characters and the
issues that will transcend the limitations of time and make
your work for all time a classic.
Some critics are of the view that your novel, Expo ’77,
is based on actual happenings. Is it true or is it just a
speculation based on the fact that you once worked with the
West African Examination Council, WAEC?
It is completely a work of fiction. It is the only detective
novel I written, and I used the approach because I thought
it was the best way to handle the issues involved. I wanted
people to know that you don’t fight examination malpractices
in isolation. It is an environmental problem. It is okay to
expect children not to cheat, but look around you; people
get driving licences without being tested. People get
promoted without meriting it. It is all over the place. So
why do you just take it out of these chaps alone? I wanted
people to see the various ramifications of the problem.
Based on my experience as the Head of WAEC for so many
years, I thought I could draw on that experience to let
people know that there are many problems here. But the story
and characters are fictional.
In your own time African writers enjoyed more prestige than
the present ones.
Well… [Laughter] I don’t know the prestige you are talking
about, which we enjoyed in the past. You know, it is today
I’m enjoying the prestige. And it has taken me many years to
get here today. In those days, a young man starting out
can’t get prestige till much later. But today, it is
different, if you consider young writers like Chimamanda and
Ben Okri winning international prizes.
But the African writers who are home-based are not finding it
easy in the face of the poor publishing climate and other
problems, especially in
Nigeria.
That is true. But this is our country. In fact, it was in
1987, when I was at the
University of Iowa, that I realized that we are better off
than other developing countries. My first novel was
published in England. Writers from India, Malaysia,
Indonesia etc, were not enjoying that kind of thing. And at
that time, being published overseas helped us a lot; you
become internationally known straight away. It is almost
impossible now for one residing in Nigeria to be published
outside. Things have really changed. In Nigeria, when we
first wrote, we were new. Externally, this was something
new. But now those writing today are no longer new.
In view of this circumstance, what is your advice to the young
aspiring Nigerian writers?
They should continue writing and do the best they can, because
what may not seem to get them something today may get them
something in future. And what we ought to do, the
Association of Nigerian Authors and everybody concerned, is
to promote these young people, so that people will get to
know what they have done. There are few book reviews
nowadays. In our time, whatever you wrote, there were
reviews on them so that people could know about them. But
this doesn’t exist any more. They should nonetheless
continue writing. Even if you can’t get what you have
written published, just continue, maybe some day that thing
that was not published a long time ago may emerge. Even
Achebe’s Things Fall Apart was rejected when he wrote
it. My Toads for Supper was rejected too. But I went
back to work and it was eventually accepted. After
publishing three novels, even those who rejected it began to
ask me to have my works published.
What is your message to both young and old Nigerian writers?
They should continue writing. They should be proud of their
writing career. Wherever I go I introduce myself as a
creative writer. That is my occupation, my passport. And I
want to be so identified because there is something that
comes through when you are able to communicate with your
readers. They should not be unduly worried about the fact
that things are not moving that well. They should see it as
a mission to continue writing. And I think public reading of
works can also encourage writers. It will enable people hear
you even if you are not published. This is one of the areas
that need development in
Nigeria. I think everyone should just continue writing.
At 77 should we still expect any book from you?
Well… [Laughter] We say in Igbo that a jaw cannot go to sleep
when there are palm kennels to be eaten. There are a lot of
things to write about. So I keep the hope that I can still
write more in future.
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