COMMENT ON AY KWEI ARMAHS BEAUTIFUL ONES ARE NOT YET BORN My initial comment just got lost.

I agree with you and thanks for this review. Armah was and is spot on in identifying the ills of post-colonial Ghana. And the key to understanding this book is the title. Armah himself, in an article in the New African, stated that reviewers and critics have not actually used this key to open up his novel yet. As you rightly pointed out the misspelling of the 'beautiful' has several significance. One of which is what you said: 'the rejection of European sensibilities'. This is seen in all of Armah's novels. He argues cogently that we need to develop our own African sensibilities. And I totally concur. What would a homogenised world be like? I hate to see that. And another is that 'beautyful' as used here has nothing to do with physical beauty. It has everything to do with innate uprightness; the character of a person. I am no student of Literature; hence, I hardly can tell the difference between existentialism and realism and all those things. My view is this: a story needs to be told the best way it could be told. Should one follow rigidly the dictates of set-up rules? I don't think so. If we were all stuck with rules, creativity would spiral into nothingness. Hence, I don't agree with Achebe's 'caustic' remarks on Armah's novel. In fact Soyinka described Two Thousand Seasons (another of Armah's novels) as woody yet I know Soyinka's own The Interpreters has been described as very woody. All these are academic and personal tangos. Armah talked about it in the said article. Besides, why should the man be named? I love stories which do not name characters. THE MAN has definite characters and this alone is enough. Armah did not say 'a man'. He knows that this man's definite characters of incorruptibility makes him unique and makes him stand out. In fact, reading The Healers and Two Thousand Seasons, Armah clearly showed the characteristics of THE MAN and what the man is not. For instance, THE MAN could be a Healer and such people hates competition but promote cooperation. They hate division and individuality. They think in the common interest of the common man. Armah's novels fit each other like a puzzle and he who wants to completely understand and appreciate them must read enough of his books. Besides, I don't mind that the country was named. Ghana was the first country south of the Sahara to gain independence. At post-colonial rule, the nation descended into corruption and he who was corrupt was rich. This post-colonial ailment affected a lot of countries. Hence a country, that prides itself to be the hope of Africa as indicated by the 'Black Star' symbol in its flag, is representative enough for the continent.