K-Moses Nagbe is one of the most prolific Liberian writers of our times. Better known for his non-fiction prose of incisive commentaries, as well as his thoughtful, scholarly pieces on contemporary Liberian life, he has written several books of poetry, novels, and short stories, including children’s readers, which are widely read in Liberia and now beginning to attract international attention. His fiction integrates all of the major thematic preoccupations of the post-colonial African novel, emphasizing the consequences of colonial domination, the imposition of an alien culture, the disruption of traditional society, and the pressing need for post-war re-education and regeneration.
Nagbe made his debut on the Liberian literary scene in 1986 with the short story collection, We are One, which was soon followed by the novels, The Drum Daddy is Back (1989), and Road to Romeo (1992), and the acclaimed travelogue, Bulk Challenge (1996), all which lay claim to consideration as works of literature. Following a 14-year long internecine war which has sapped the energies of many Liberians and at worst drained Liberian intellectuals of their creative and imaginative powers, Nagbe remains a persistent voice – an ever determined voice which has a creative urge and concerns of social relevance. Amidst the challenges of a life in exile, he has relentlessly been at work as a novelist, publishing three novels in succession, Sun at Midnight (2003), Wings for the Next Day (2004), and A Scream in the Storm (2004). Comparatively, these latest novels are his major works and certainly rank high among serious works of imaginative literature coming out of Liberia in recent times.
Set in modern Liberia, Sun at Midnight, Wings for the Next Day, and A Scream in the Storm evoke the peculiarities of our national existence in terms of the tensions, stresses and conflicts that are often expressed and acted out in personal and social terms throughout Liberia. Nagbe analyzes the social and political forces which exert a powerful determinant on the quality of life for the individual and communal society across the Liberian landscape. As serious works of art, these texts essentially lend us an "alternative handle," to burrow a phrase from Achebe, to the reality of the Liberian predicament.
Though Nagbe’s works are yet to receive standard literary criticism, Sun at Midnight, Wings for the Next Day, and A Scream in the Storm have turned the spotlight on him as a dazzling literary talent to reckon with, invariably burnishing him as an innovative writer who has broken away from the conservatism that has characterized most Liberian writings. In the study, African literatures in English: East and West (New York: Longman, 2000), British literary scholar Gareth Griffiths remarks that Nagbe "has emerged as a writer with an original voice in a country whose English writing has tended to be rather conservative and to be tied to a fairly old-fashioned set of themes, and a conservative style.” This goes to say that Nagbe is a decolonized writer. His writings essentially epitomize the initiative of a contemporary Liberian writer who, through imaginative art, is assisting the decolonization process in Liberia – a peculiar African nation born out of the American slave experience with a people whose mental attitude has been warped by Americanism. In this respect, Nagbe’s works constitute a critical interpretation of the Liberian situation, and thereby places him squarely in the ranks of other post-colonial African writers who share his specific concerns.
Nagbe is particularly sensitive to the breakdown of law and order, the erosion of our vaunted modern institutions and belief systems, and the dilemma faced by our young people. It is these cataclysmic situations arising out of the war that is central to his latest writings, for, as he has stated elsewhere: “As a writer I must not sit down for mere empty lamentation of the troubles that have passed in these many years. I must gather energy to help show the path of laughter and celebration.” Nagbe, having experienced the horrors of the civil war, addresses the pervasive despair, distrust, cynicism, mediocrity and disharmony that it has generated in our society. His interest in the human condition and how the individual reacts to circumstances “in our contemporary world rife with cruel manipulations, conflicts, war, death and destruction,” as he says, undergirds his impulse to teach and enlighten, while urging us to come to grips with our reality.
It is Nagbe’s experiences that may have informed his interest in imaginative writing, as well as his understanding of the role he has to play as a writer in our society. Nagbe was born in Monrovia but brought up in Sasstown, southeastern Liberia, two decades or so after the Kru uprisings of the 1930s. His grandfather was a renowned school teacher in Sasstown, as was his college-educated father, who at different times served as principal of the Sasstown Government School, Supervisor of Schools, and later Superintendent of what used to be Sasstown Territory. By the time Nagbe was a schoolboy, the Americo-Liberian settler state had been firmly established in the hitherto rebellious Kru enclave. His trajectory from Sasstown Government School in rural Sasstown to Sinoe High School in Greenville, and later at the University of Liberia, brought him into contact with the hybrid culture that had evolved in Monrovia. The fervor of anti-imperialist and anti-colonial activism that engulfed the University of Liberia in the so-called revolutionary 70s also has much bearing on the analytical depth of his works.
In effect, Nagbe offers a vision of a way around our predicament. His writings embody a spirit of optimism, telling us to not lose hope, but rather stoically accept what life serves up. With hope, we may learn and make some sense of our dire situation by turning the negative emotions that led us to self-destruction into tools of reconciliation and social harmony, as he has said: “If we can harness anger and its ego-driven motivations to produce peace, then harmony, which has left our world, is capable of returning.” Nagbe drives this theme home by conceiving somewhat devastated, traumatized men and women as his main characters, and placing them in contentious life situations from where, amidst enormous adversity, they rise to experience joy and celebration. Through his narrative method of allusion, the reader comes to identify with the actions and reactions of these protagonists who, despite the difficult circumstances surrounding them, become increasingly conscious that life is not all rosy and perfect, but is still worth living. Nagbe's characters, through their various defense mechanisms, as well as their courage, honesty, pessimism, and even cynicism, come to accept and adapt to the Liberian reality in their attempts to transcend and survive the tragedies of war.
K-Moses Nagbe is a master storyteller, endowed with a sharp sense of judgment about scene and action. Nagbe’s perceptiveness about human beings and the ways they think, feel, and react is remarkable. It is this gift and the vision of life he offers that make his works unique and worth reading. With the recent publication of his critical study, Nuggets of the African Novel: With Notes on the Liberian Literary Heritage ( 2005), Nagbe further affirms his vision and commitment to a new approach to African realities, as he writes: "In a larger sense, the Liberian story is the story of Africa and her scars from cultural misinformation and confusion, and what needs to be done in the new millennium."
