during my postgraduate studies courtesy of his first book of literary criticism, ‘Towards a Sociology of African Literature’, released in 1986. I would later engage with ‘Theory of African Literature: Implications for Practical Criticism’ also written by him and published in 1989.
I have read Amuta voraciously beginning with his contributions to The Guardian which was established in 1983. He was in the critical core of scholars who invested in Nigeria’s contemporary media with noticeably refreshing rigour, scholarship, style and flair at the outset of The Guardian. That generation of writers were those you always wanted to read, study and be inspired by.
I try to be as well prepared as possible and on this occasion, I just pulled out a file from my bag. Ogunbiyi flipped through and saw articles and interviews I had previously contributed to The Guardian, Daily Times, and The Herald. They included full-page stuff on literary monoliths like David Cook, Zulu Sofola, Oludare Olajubu, Niyi Osundare, Obafemi and so on.
Being southpaw conferred some uniqueness on Amuta. He earned a first class in English back in 1979, going all the way to his doctorate breaking new research grounds in literature and literary theory on his trail. You could imagine my eternal delight when as a “staff writer” straddling the features and literary departments of the Daily Times, I was called up to collaborate with Amuta to put together a special edition of “Achebe at 60”.