Faith Adiele's use of Self-Irony and the Braided Essay


Courtney A. Cannon

Blog Post—The Nigerian-Nordic Girls Guide to Lady Problems—by Faith Adiele

7 October 2017



Topic: Importance of Self-Irony

Question: How can you use other lenses to define your experience, as in social constructs or    social spaces?



In crafting a deeply personal piece of creative expression there can be a risk in relying too heavily on identifiers and demographic associations to carry the narrative. Repeatedly referring to an illness and recovery, detrimental relationships, economic turmoil, or the woes of “coming of age,” can become stale and mundane. What is worse, constantly referring to a “dramatic” situation can be seen as a literary ploy or gimmick, a lazy reliance on the part of the author to manipulate or solicit a particular reader’s response, and downright offensive to the emotional intellect of the reader. Faith Adiele’s masterful craftmanship in seamlessly incorporating the negative experience of Ovarian Cancer within the fabric of her multifaceted social demographic spaces does not fall into this cliché of the “topic” book. Adiele’s The Nigerian-Nordic Girls Guide to Lady Problems is a unique weave of interrelated scenes, emotions, textures, and memories. I would classify her moving from the scenes of illness to her childhood and personal identifications as a very long braided essay. However, her crafting of the complex moves from space in the body, to memory, to present contemplations of the two has greater depth because of her candid tone and hints of self-deprecation. Her honesty of awkwardness, anger, self-disgust, unanswered questions, all bring humor and lightness to the auditory experience for the listener. Adiele crafted her interlocking weave of scene with physical sensations and emotional memories with purposeful humor and self-irony. Such an approach brings new life to topics of disease and racial issues, both of which can be brushed off by unyielding readers. However, her use of self-irony brings surprise, shock, laughter, and creates genuine emotional connection between her intimate story and the reader. Her narrative becomes welcoming to the listener as each layer unfolds with her humor and humanity. Humor, when used to discuss “hard” topics answers the questions of the listener: “So what?” “What’s different about your tale?” “Everybody has a similar story…what’s so unique about yours?” Her humanity is expressed in the self-irony and humor of her telling her own tale. The topics of suffering and finding comfortability within self-identity becomes entertaining and relatable as she shifts from seemingly separate unrelated scenes of disease, youth, family, and relationships—constructing a whole character for the listener to envision and then understand. I appreciate her seamless use of the “braided” technique and her honest tone of self-irony as she grapples with the all too familiar issues of identity and social constructs and protagonist flaw and impairment.

Comments

  1. ElmazwritesOctober 8, 2017 at 6:14 PM

    this is great Courtney and i appreciate your observations that move to the depth of her multi-layered story. Here's a moment that i think shaped: "However, her crafting of the complex moves from space in the body, to memory, to present contemplations of the two has greater depth because of her candid tone and hints of self-deprecation. Her honesty of awkwardness, anger, self-disgust, unanswered questions, all bring humor and lightness to the auditory experience for the listener"
    no one has mentioned the "humor" as part of the craft that creates a unique narrative and personalizes the book as you have.
    e

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  2. AnonymousOctober 8, 2017 at 10:10 PM

    I really appreciated your analysis. I think that you are spot-on about Faith's use of irony and humor to disarm her readers and move beyond the stale feeling that can come from intensive focus on one person's specific health or traumatic issue. I'd never heard the term "braided essay" before, but I can see how that term applies very well to this essay.
    I think there are interesting questions about what evokes a "whole person," as you described it, for one's audience. What aspects of demographic information are necessary? How much historical background of one's life and family is needed? If, like Faith, we are a member of a culture our readers might not be familiar with, what does that do to the writer's obligations to inform us? or does the impetus rest on us as readers to inform ourselves as we read?
    I am struggling with these questions myself as I work on my longer memoir. I am curious to hear more of your thoughts.
    -Ari

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  3. AnonymousOctober 9, 2017 at 2:23 PM

    I liked how you pointed out how cliche a book like this could get, it has all the usual elements, but Adiele is able to go beyond our expectations and keep this genre fresh. It was fun to read so I forgot about all work that went into this book, how a project like this could get preachy or dwell too much on a certain topic. The humor kept me interested and reading, I can't imagine the book without it.

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