go 
Ezenwa- 
Ohaeto 
I am constrained to lament the death of Nigerian 
writer, emphasise his contributions and celebrate his passage. Once more another 
tree has fallen in the forest of African literature. The list of departing writers is 
increasing in quick succession: Flora Nwapa, Zulu Sofola, Amos Tutuola, Sony Oti 
the dramatist and musician and now John Munonye. Death has visited again, 
leaving us staring - in a dazed manner. . . 
John Munonye who was born in April 1929 had barely celebrated his 70th 
birthday in April 1999 before his departure on May 10, 1999. In the ebullience of 
the activities associated with the transition to civilian politics in Nigeria his death 
was not accorded the full respects it deserved. The writers did not assemble formally 
to bid him farewell; his former students did not gather as a group to pay tribute 
and several of his colleagues were not even aware of his passage. But that is not 
surprising considering the fact that his works never really received the attention they 
rightly deserved. 
John Munonye did not see a published copy of his last novel which 
Heinemann, Nigeria, had accepted to publish many years ago and 
which they haa1 listed as forthcoming in oil those years- John 
Munonye did not see the publication of his collection of short 
stories which he had given to a local writer/publisher many years 
ago. John Munonye did not receive all those flattering articles by 
scholars and promotion-conscious critics that sometimes deflower 
African Literature. John Munonye did not receive the attention of 
biographers who have now woken up to the necessity for literary 
biographies of African writers. But it must be stated that critics 
like Azubuike lloeje, Adebayo Williams, Charles 
Nnolim and myself (in interviews) gave Munonye 
some full length critical attention, but there was the 
need for more of such studies. In addition Ernest 
Emenyonu had in 1997 solicited and gathered 
essays for a book he wanted to edit on The 
Emerging Perspectives on John Munonye. If 
John Munonye did not receive the critical 
attention he deserved he certainly made his 
readers happy through his ability to narrate 
captivating stories almost effortlessly. 
John Munonye was not physically imposing 
but his literary works portray an 'impressive 
<GL£NDORA n Qumerly on the Ar
John Munonye was not physically imposing but his literary works portray an 'impressive 
intellect'. In The Only Son he captures with telling accuracy the tribulations of a 
mother with an only son. His perception of the mother-son relationship in a colonial 
situation will remain one of the most perceptive and illuminating by African writers. 
The sequel entitled Obi extends the story to young adulthood and the consequences 
of kindred conflicts are analysed. In Oil Man of Obange he narrates one of the most 
emotionally touching stories that contrasts Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood 
in chronicling the thankless job of parenthood among a deprived disillusioned 
people. The tragedy of the Oil Man of Obange clearly portrays the futility and the 
hope associated with overwhelming desires to improve the economic and social 
conditions in a society full of social disparity. In A Wreath for the Maidens Munonye 
criticises the futility of wars and condemns the attendant vices and terrible carnage. A 
Dancer of Fortune chronicles the life of one of the most captivating comic characters 
ever created by John Munonye. This character known as Ajasco uses his wit and 
intelligence to survive and triumph over his adversaries and adversities. In A Bridge to 
a Wedding which he regarded as his retirement novel Munonye appears to bring all 
the strands of the stories in the preceding novels together in order to emphasise the 
need for reconciliation and harmony in human relationships. 
There is no doubt that John Munonye's fictive versatility deserves more critical 
attention. The excuse that he was threading the path mapped out by other writers is 
mistaken because he brought to novel writing a sense of purpose, an ability to 
analyse and study his human characters closely, a knowledge of intricate domestic 
relationships and a sense of life that is constantly under pressure but which refuses 
to give up the struggle. He was clearly devoted to literature especially after his 
retirement from public service and decision to live in his hometown of Akokwa in 
Imo State, Nigeria. The few years he travelled outside his home town was on the 
invitation of Ernest Emenyonu as the Provost of Alvan Ikoku College of Education, 
Owerri, who had nominated him as a writer-in-residence. Sadly many of his colleagues 
at that time never appreciated his presence in their academic ignorance 
and myopic pursuit of intrigues against themselves. 
Nevertheless, it was at that institution that John Munonye delivered his last public 
lecture on the 14th of July 1993. He had entitled it 'The Last to Go'. In that lecture 
Munonye starts by going down memory lane: 'twenty years ago, in the year 1973, 
following three great years as head of this institution and among staff and students 
whom there could have been none better I stood on this very platform, this very spot 
almost, to announce with some feeling of distress my impending departure'. He 
adds: 'And now, here I am, back to stay and live in the College again; back to the 
very house in Shell Camp, as we used to call it, which gave me two of my novels; 
and back in the even more elevated role of resident artist'. He acknowledges that his 
experience as a resident would provide grist for his writer's mill for as he argues: 
'What is art, especially literature, about after all if not perceptible representation of 
human feeling-of agonies and ecstasies, hopes and despairs, passions, elations, 
levities, visions ... and human feeling'. He then confesses that the title of his paper 
'The Last to Go' is taken from a poem by America's great Walt Whitman in which he 
says:
But for all this liberty has not gone 
out of the place, nor the infidel 
entered into full possession. When 
liberty goes out of a place it is not 
the first to go, not the second or 
the third to go. It waits for all 
the rest to go, it is the last. 
John Munonye then extends the metaphor of the 'last to go' to refer to art in 
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Nigeria. It was at the peak of the terrible military destabilisation of the country. He, 
therefore, asks his audience not to lose hope but to confront the philistines and to 
go on with their artistic pursuits inspite of the deprivations of the moment. He 
criticises the tendency in the Contemporary Nigerian situation in which the people, 
while relegating and even abandoning their art, believe themselves highly religious 
and are ready at very short notice to rise to the highest pitch of zealotry and 
Pentecostal emotions. It is a paradox worth investigation. 
Munonye insists that all great cultures have always risen above such impediments to 
produce literary works that can stand the test of time. He emphasises that 'Literature 
is in fact the area where Nigeria has scored its highest on the world scene; not 
politics certainly, or commerce, or science or agriculture or sports either'. He points 
out, however, that literature faces 'the serious danger of premature decadence'. This 
decadence John Munonye observes is reflected in the environment in the cities. He 
argues that there are both communal and private responsibilities for making the 
society habitable and pleasant. Munonye also points out the deficiences of the 
publishing industry: 'What many of them do at the moment with men of authority 
and money is, in my thinking, absolutely damnable. They print things and then 
make fund- raising events with them, with hardly much regard for literary or 
intellectual quality. Such practice is of course literary inflation; or debasing of the 
artistic and academic coinage'. All the same he recognises the fact that there is 
rising cost in book production. The writer then reminds his audience that 'Chinua 
Achebe, Wole Soyinka and the rest are as human as you are. They were lucky in a 
way to have discovered themselves in good time. You are now being presented with 
such an opportunity to discover yourself. 
He adds that 'the present clouds will lift one day, for sure; and may be then, on 
going through your files you will discover things that you never thought you did 
write so well and which publishers would be happy to take to the world to see'. 
John Munonye concludes that the degree of neglect for the arts in our 'contemporary 
Nigerian society is to (his) mind, approaching suicide proportions'. But he 
ends on an optimistic note when he urges his audience to remember: 
But for all this, all the present 
difficulties, art has not gone out 
of our hearts. Nor has the 
barbarian entered into full 
possession. When art goes out it 
is not the first to go, not the 
second or the third to go. It waits 
for all the rest to go, it is the last. 
Unsurprisingly the writer received a standing ovation at the end of the lecture. 
Perhaps there were some members of the audience in whose minds some literary 
seeds had been sown. It was such an insightful lecture and his creative works that 
made the death of John Munonye painful. 
Ezenwa-Ohaeto 
Humborst University at Berun, 
Berlin, Germany 
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