Die Macht des Wortes: Das journalistische Interview als Rezeptionsform afrikanischer Literaturen in der frankophonen, anglophonen und deutschsprachigen Presse—am Beispiel von Ousmane Sembène (Senegal) und Wole Soyinka (Nigeria) (review)

Loimeier’s study sets out to explore the reception of Sembène and Soyinka through the genre of the journalistic interview, as published in francophone, anglophone, and germanophone print media. Loimeier previously edited several Germanlanguage anthologies on African literatures and authors, including Wortwechsel: Gespräche mit afrikanischen Autorinnen und Autoren. This 2002 collection of interviews informs Loimeier’s present study, which draws on his experience conducting interviews with African authors.

The study consists of eight parts. The introduction is followed by a section on the history and methodology of the journalistic interview. Loimeier then reviews the reception of the two authors in the different contexts and moves to the actual analysis, in which he discusses interviews published in “Community Press” publications, European media, film journals, and academic journals. While the emphasis is on European publications, the study also includes interviews published in Africa-based media. A summary section is followed by guidelines for “the ideal interview,” which reveals that the impetus for this study derives in part from its author’s frustration with the information deficit with which many journalists approach African authors. Parts seven and eight, respectively, contain an extensive bibliography and index.

Loimeier shows that journalists use a standard set of questions that have been asked of Sembène and Soyinka over several decades. Once an author is established in a particular way, it is apparently difficult, or even undesirable, to change that image. In the case of Sembène and Soyinka, however, it is also a matter of authors actively contributing to shaping their images. Sembène stylizes himself as an outsider, whereas Soyinka uses his reputation as a public intellectual to disseminate his views, especially following his incarceration and after receiving the Nobel Price. Questions of aesthetics are rarely part of such interviews of African authors; politics are foregrounded, and in the African context, that aspect entails the entire baggage of stereotypes and ignorance that structure the relationship between Europe and Africa. Loimeier’s study reveals that Sembène received more attention in France and that Soyinka was discussed early on in Britain, whereas Germans regarded both authors’ work in the context of growing awareness about political issues in postindependence Africa.

Despite its ambitious breadth, Loimeier’s study is cumbersome to read. The author seems to have been overwhelmed by the impressive wealth of material he compiled (which documents also the downside of the German practice of publishing dissertations without editorial help to the author). Whereas the goal of the study is to explore the presentation of African authors to a broader audience by way of the journalistic interview (11), Loimeier also considers interviews that were published in specialized and academic venues. A more in-depth analysis of these spheres would have therefore been useful—for example, readers would benefit from seeing data regarding circulation and numbers of printed copies of media and other publications. Loimeier focuses on various national contexts and highlights the role individual critics and journalists have played in popularizing both authors, but he only tangentially reviews additional factors that have influenced the authors’ specific reception histories, such as the respective colonial histories of Senegal and Nigeria, contemporary racism, issues of immigration, and marketing forces. These shortcomings notwithstanding, the study makes a welcome contribution to the study of the reception of African authors in Western countries. The substantial bibliography of over 100 pages and the nearly 2,000 footnotes will enable other scholars to make good use of Loimeier’s detailed study.

It is worth noting that interviews with creative artists can be regarded with a certain sense of humor. Here Loimeier reveals how Sembène and Soyinka have been able to manipulate their...