The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (Heinemann African Writers Series)

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Ayi Kwei Armah, author of The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (first published in 1968 and recently reprinted by PER ANKH) writes a preface to the new edition, and tells how--to this day--no critical assessment of the book has zoomed in on the conceptual content of the title or the thematic core: the provenance of the concept and image of the beautyful ones. And he has a little issue to settle with Chinua Achebe, the famous Nigerian author.

Upset by his wife’s reaction, the man walks out into the night. He finds it difficult to suffer the resentment of loved ones and to feel unable to fulfill their wishes. Called by the sounds of Congo music, he stands outside the home of a naked man he knows as Teacher. Teacher is reading on his bed when the man enters. The two sit in silence while listening to the radio before the man initiates conversation. It is implied that the men are friends, as Teacher asks him if he is having trouble with his wife again. The man insists that this instance is more serious.Working as a railway clerk, the unnamed protagonist refuses a bribe at work. On his way home, he runs into his old classmate Koomson, who is now a corrupt minister in Nkrumah’s government. Upon returning home, he is confronted by his wife, Oyo, who does not understand why the man refuses to participate in financial dealings which would better their family’s life. Oyo comments on a deal Koomson has mentioned to her involving fishing boats that she believes will make their family rich. The man feels guilty, even though he knows that he hasn’t done anything wrong. He slips out at night to meet with his friend Teacher, who helps him to discuss his feelings of guilt and shame. Teacher, although he has given up all hope himself, encourages the man to remain steadfast. Liukkonen, Petri. "Ayi Kwei Armah". Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi). Finland: Kuusankoski Public Library. Archived from the original on 10 April 2008. Corruption is the national game;" "many had tried the rotten ways and found them filled with the sweetness of life," he writes, and he is right. Very intense and intensely written. Also beautifully written. I could only absorb about one chapter a day, both in content and language. Occasionally Armah gets carried away with an elaborate metaphor or description , but generally it works.

The title of the work, ‘ The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born,’ refers to a text by Ghanaian writer Ayi Kwei Armah, published in 1968. It refers to the Nigeria of today, which is slowly coming out of the shadow of British colonialism.Ayi Kwei Armah’s The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born is a work of prose-fiction that explores the pseudo-socialist and highly corrupt democratic regime of the autocratic one-party ruler, Kwame Nkrumah. Armah employs a mechanism that arises from corruption to antagonize the military officers who ultimately plan the coup that topples the Nkrumanists from power. It left me with a lot of food for thought and a new respect for Ayi Kwei Armah. But damn if reading this book isn't like reading One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich: A Novel: you know it is an important work dealing with important themes, but it is sheer torture to get through. As the man enters the railway building to start his day’s work, he notices that the night clerk has fallen asleep on the job. After the clerk wakes up, he reports that there was not much work during the night but that the night was bad for him because he was alone. The narrator muses on how the night shift can increase one’s loneliness because of the sounds of the trains moving towards their destinations. Some of the telephone lines went dead during the night, but that is a common occurrence. The man looks over the log book as the night clerk departs. Armah remained silent as a novelist for a long period until 1995, when he published Osiris Rising, depicting a radical educational reform group that reinstates ancient Egypt at the centre of its curriculum.