Literature

Dan Agbese redefines column writing

The Columnist?s Companion (The Art and Craft of Column Writing) by Dan Agbese, reviewed by Sumaila Umaisha, published by MayFive Media Limited, Lagos (2012), pages ? 305.

The name ?Dan Agbese? does not only ring a bell, it bears a special ringtone that echoes the vibrant scene of column writing in Nigeria. His brilliant performance in this genre of journalism has endeared him to many and popularized the art so much that one can hardly find a newspaper or magazine in Nigeria today that does not have columns anchored by enthusiastic columnists striving to be like him and his contemporaries.

To enhance this zealous creative climate, Agbese has just authored a book redefining the art and craft of column writing as a creative non-fiction. Titled The Columnist?s Companion,the 305-page book is a veritable guide to aspiring columnists. With the book, budding columnists groping in vain for the complicated steps of their role models could now find their bearing without much sweat.

The book is divided into four sections which are further broken into chapters. In all, there are ten chapters dealing with various aspects of column writing. The first section, containing two chapters, highlights the origin and definitions of the art of column writing and the qualities that make a good columnist. Section Two consists of five chapters dealing with the required tools for column writing, such as humour, satire and dialogue. The two chapters of the third section focus on the craft of writing, the creative ability to harness the appropriate writing techniques towards producing a masterpiece. The fourth section titled ?Columnists at Work? features a single chapter consisting of a rare collection of twenty-one sample columns written by renowned columnists like Peter Enahoro (Peter Pan), Ray Ekpu, Dele Giwa and Mohammed Haruna.

Using his wealth of knowledge and experience as well as drawing from relevant literatures, the author imparts the know-how of column writing in a manner reminiscent of his humorous and delightful style especially in his earlier columns at The Nigeria Standard, New Nigerian and Newswatch.

His informed arguments about the origin and definition of the subject-matter are well articulated.

Some of his views especially about how ?tight, light and bright? a column should be are quite critical of the current style of column writing in Nigeria where the entire back page of the newspaper is taken up by a single column. He says on page 15: ?Most columns in British and American newspapers run a maximum of 700 words. Technically, therefore, a column that is more than 850 words or a top margin of 1,000 words in a newspaper or magazine is a feature, not a column. Here in Nigeria, contemporary columnists do not feel themselves bound by this word limit. Our newspaper columns average 2,500 words and fill up a full page or more of newspapers. These lengthy columns take something away from the personality of the column. They dilute the disciplined and concentrated style of writing that is the traditional hallmark of columns as specialized or disciplined writing.?

Those who do not share this opinion might argue that as long as the write-up is compelling enough to hold the reader from the very first word to the last, the one-page newspaper column, though not conforming to the traditional word-count, is not such a bad idea. And Olusoji Akinrinsade?s column ?Lest We Forget?, which the author inadvertently (?) sampled on page 10, seems to underscore this fact rather than disprove it. It contains not a maximum of 700 words, but over 1,400 words!

The major part of the author?s discussion focuses on the qualities that make a good columnist and a brilliant column. Some of the enumerated qualities include mastery of language. ?We write to communicate,? he says. ?We communicate best if we master the language in which we communicate. ...The creative and skilful use of language sets the masters a world apart from the merely competent.? (p. 27, 28).

He also stresses the need for the columnist to be well informed, simple and persuasive in communicating his ideas, pointing out that though columnists are critics, criticism should be done with empathy because without empathy it becomes negative and prejudiced.

The author dedicates quite a portion of the book to the discussion of humour and satire as tools in column writing, stressing the fact that ?no columnist, no matter how seriously he takes himself and his writing, should be without this important tool for effective communication.? (p. 80).

Agbese?s use of humour and other literary devices makes the book a readers? delight. His use of simple language and generous examples from the masters of the art is an added advantage. Indeed, the book would have been perfect but for some few errors found especially in the sample columns.

For instance, in the piece, ?Essay on Madness?, by Chidi Amuta, on page 76, there is a glaring typographical (or is it grammatical?) error: ?No one knowwhether the teachers will be sacked for being so fainthearted as to have crossed the bounds of sanity...? It should have been ?no one knows...? And on page 108, the author quotes Reuben Abati as saying in one of his columns in The Guardian; ?I found myself in the company of for other Africans...? instead of ?I found myself in the company of fourother Africans...?

Apart from the writer?s devil, other factors, like the author?s style or perception, might have equally played a role in some of the ?blemishes?. For example, in the author?s write-up on his first meeting with Tai Solarin, cited on page 73, the author added a superfluous ?rider? which tends to affect the beauty of the expression:

?The man looked very thin and I had the feeling that if he climbed a weighing scale, the needle would stand still; he might be too light to make the needle move.?

The last part of the sentence beginning from ?he might be too light...? whittles down the humour and the elegance of the sentence.

The author?s use of the word ?late? for personalities he makes reference to in the book does not quite conform to the tradition of this kind of publication. In citing May Ellen Ezikiel?s column in Quality magazine as an example of ?Agony Column?, he addresses her as late May Ellen Ezekiel. The implication of adopting such style is that you have to address all the dead personalities mentioned in the book in the same manner ? even the 17^th century American columnist, Eugene Field, cited on page 7. By extension, it means personalities like William Shakespeare and Karl Marx would be addressed as such. Another implication is that at the death of each personality mentioned in the book (who was alive when the book was first published) the book has to be republished to reflect his new title ?late?.

In spite of these arguable shortcomings, The Columnist?s Companion is indeed a worthy companion to both aspiring and veteran columnists. It is also a must-read for students of Mass Communications and Journalism as well as the reading public interested in the art of column writing.

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