INTERVIEW: Timely novel sheds light on chaotic Somalia
30 Jan 2007 11:00:35 GMT
DALLAS, Jan 30 (Reuters Life!) - War-ravaged Somalia is the steamy setting for Nuruddin Farah's new novel "Knots" about roots, returning and regeneration -- a tale of hope set against a backdrop of seeming hopelessness.
A family catastrophe in Canada prompts Cambara, a strong-willed Somali exile, to return to reclaim her family property in war-torn Mogadiscio (the Italian spelling of the city Mogadishu used by the author) from a warlord.
In the process she finds unexpected love, befriends a jovial Irishman, a resourceful shopkeeper and some female peace activists among others, and manages to stage a play -- while throwing a couple of karate kicks along the way.
The novel is a timely portrait, given Ethiopia's recent military intervention in Somalia to help the interim government rout rival Islamists and American air strikes in the chaotic country aimed at al Qaeda-affiliated fighters.
Born in Somalia in 1945, Farah grew up in the Somali-speaking Ogaden region of Ethiopia. He has made several trips to Somalia in recent years in a bid to broker dialogue between the armed groups who have made the country a byword for anarchy.
He spoke to Reuters by phone from his home in Cape Town ahead of his North American book tour to promote "Knots" which begins on Wednesday, Jan 31:.
Q: Why this choice of topic? A Somali exile returning to try and reclaim her family property?
A: "She has already kind of lost her property in Canada, so he has become technically homeless. So she has to start everything from the beginning. She also defies death by going to Somalia and saying: "Come and get me. There is no life for me"."
Q: When were you last in Somalia?
A: "I was in Somalia a few months ago. I was brokering peace between the Islamists and the transitional government. I was trying to convince both sides that there will be a lot for them in coming to an agreement. But some of the hard-line Islamists, it seemed to me, were not aware of the dangers that would come their way. I told them if they provoked Ethiopia it would walk in and nobody would come to their aid."
Q: Is there any hope for Somalia?
A: "There is plenty of hope. I think we have all learned a lesson from this protracted civil war. We know what gun politics can bring, actually nothing but destruction. People are coming around to the idea that there is no option but peace ... I had a very hairy moment when I was there when I thought that I would be killed for $2. I knew what it felt like to be randomly selected as a victim. But there is hope."
Q: Ghana will mark 50 years of independence this year -- which many historians see as the start of the post-colonial era on the continent. As a writer, what is your assessment of the post-colonial period in sub-Saharan Africa?
A: "Let me say something that is probably a heresy. Africa has probably done much, much better over the number of years that these countries have been independent. In a country like Somalia, in 1960 when it became independent, there were 51 secondary school graduates from one secondary school. The colonialists did not build an infrastructure ... There was no university until 1970/71. So we are talking about starting everything from scratch. Now the same stories of sorrow and negligence and exploitation on the part of the colonialists is duplicated almost everywhere on the continent. In short, the national governments no matter how corrupt they have been and are, have done more progress in education and infrastructure development than the colonialists did."
Q: Any advice for aspiring writers?
A: "No one can teach you how to write except yourself. It is a self-taught profession. It is through rewriting and revising that you achieve your aim. I rewritten as often as 5 to 6 times every book that I have published."
Q: What is your favorite novel?
A: "One of my favorite novels is "The Shipping News" by E. Annie Proulx. When I read it I wished I had written it." http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N24178752.htm
