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March 21, 2007

SPEAKING ILL OF THE DEAD

Writing for the Mail & Guardian, Binyavanga Wainaina has some problems with the way Ryszard Kapuscinski is being remembered.

Since he died, Kapuscinski has been called “the master of modern journalism”, “Translator of the World”, “the Greatest Reporter in the World”, and “Third World chronicler”.

He is also the guy who came up with my all-time classic lines about Africa:

  • “Let us remember that fear of revenge is deeply rooted in the African mentality.”
  • “In Africa, drivers avoid travelling at night -- darkness unnerves them, they may flatly refuse to drive after sunset.”
  • “Africans eat only once a day, in the evening.”
  • “In Africa, the notion of abstract evil -- evil in and of itself -- does not exist.”
  • “Africans believe that a mysterious energy circulates through the world.”
  • “... in Africa, a cousin on your mother’s side is more important than a husband.”

    • It was Kapuscinski, more than any other single writer, who inspired me to write the satirical essay “How to Write about Africa”.

    UPDATE:  It appears the author is not without his own controversies, about which you may find more here.

    Posted by TEV at 12:07 AM in World Beat |

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