By NORBERT CHIAZOR
This review examined the key narrative tools used to achieve verbal aesthetics in MY BEAUTIFUL NEIGHBOUR, an engaging and didactic short story written by Communication Expert and Storyteller Professor Edith Ugochi Ohaja.
Verbal aesthetics refers to the artistic and stylistic use of language to create beauty, evoke emotions and enhance meaning within a literary text.
Aesthetics as a multidisciplinary field also applies to mass communication, philosophy and fine art. Greek philosophers, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were the forerunners of the study of aesthetics, with their thoughts on beauty, sublimity and ugliness.
MY BEAUTIFUL NEIGHBOUR made an interesting reading. A riveting short story by Ohaja, a lecturer with the Department of Mass Communication, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). The tale centres on the life of a 29-year-old “handsome bachelor” Ikemefuna alias Ebony who lives in a suburb of Enugu, Trans Ekulu (South Eastern Nigeria), and his encounter with a beautiful married woman, Anastasia (Mama Chinonso). Ebony’s adventure explores universal themes of beauty, love, lust, crime, mystery, fear, faith, empathy, and good neighbourliness.
The verbal aesthetic projection pertains to the dialogues, thoughts and soliloquies that run through the intricate plots of the fictional work, told in simple elegant diction. The conversations of the main characters—Ebony, Mama Chinonso, and Chidinma (Razor)—are couched by the author in casual and formal tones, enlivening the story with vivid imagination and creating illusions of reality.
Ebony rues vulnerably: “a gust of wind blew in through the open door” and “raised much dust and I sneezed repeatedly.” In utter helplessness, he complains, “How I hate the harmattan season!” The resonant alliterative rendition by the author is evocative in achieving verbal aesthetics.
Ebony, the story’s protagonist, is real and speaks mostly in first-person narrative: “Did I tell you before that I am handsome? … I’m 6ft tall, ebony-complexioned … with a pointed nose, a natural cleft in my chin, even white teeth, a killer smile and a voice to die for.”
He further amplifies his gifts of musical histrionics and athletic prowess: “Seriously, I sing and play the guitar….people cry and empty their purses when I perform…. a track and field athlete during my school days…” One can almost hear city crooner Kiss Daniel of the “Buga” fame and Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt talking as we imagine Ebony.
Ebony tells the reader that he gets “loads of attention from ladies” desperate to “settle down,” all of them “scurrying around like squirrels.” Humorous sarcasm. Poignant verbal aesthetics.
The authorial description of Mama Chinonso (Tasia)—gorgeous ravishing beauty as verbalized by Ebony—is markedly powerful. She has “twinkles in her brown eyes.” Ebony informs about his crush, a half Nigerian-half Greek native, endowed with “pale pink lips, lovely legs and masses of hair.” He adds that she is “5ft. 9″…with some neat curves.” She has a high-bridged nose and perfect dentition (the kind the Bible describes in the Song of Solomon as “each with its twin”).
He deepens the verbal expression to eerie naughtiness when he reveals that “We used that love stuff from Solomon to toast girls back in JSS.” Tasia teases that her pastor would love to display him on the pulpit.
Ebony at some time gambles with his life, enamoured with advance fee fraud (419) and shady Ponzi schemes. “Who ever profited from building castles in the air?” An idiomatic punch line laying bare the futility of unrealizable day dreams.
In a moment of trouble and panic, Ohaja enrobed Ebony with the toga of Jacob who “dreamt and saw the ladder going from earth to heaven,” a biblical anecdote so intriguing.
“Razor,” an inanimate object describing Chidinma, is an ingenious aesthetic tool that vivifies her caustic tendency and “sharpness of her tongue,” just as the writer calls her CIA to underscore her inquisitive persona. 27-year-old Razor is metaphorically labeled a “cat” because of her agile and active frame.
Quite revealing in verbal aesthetics was his spiritual encounter when his demon-possessed sister slumped, dying. Running into his bedroom, he met “Lord Jesus,” saying:
“Would you like us to conclude our discussion now?”
“With all due respect,” I said, “there’s a dead body out there. Shouldn’t you be more concerned?”
“Dead or alive, Chidinma is mine.” He must have seen the look on my face, ’cause he added, “But I’m on it as we speak.”
The fluidity and intimacy of conversation between Christ and Ebony is direct and life-like, making one suspend disbelief of Christ’s physical presence.
The intercession of Mama Chinonso helped bring Razor back to life. Ebony sighed with relief that “listening to Razor snoring softly almost made my heart burst with joy” as she lapsed into peaceful sleep.
Ohaja’s portrayal of Ebony’s beautiful, virtuous and prayerful Christian neighbour leaves much to cheer. “Beauty is only skin deep,” he quips to resoundingly reecho Mama Chinonso’s exquisite standing—a sort of Angel in human form inspiring Ebony and Razor to “surrender” to God.
Words like “Naija,” “Oyibo,” “Nna men,” “250k,” and “5k” are Nigerian slangs adding human interest and flavor to the narrative.
In My Beautiful Neighbour, Ohaja meticulously employs stylistic devices that enhance aesthetic appeal while reinforcing moral and thematic concerns. A delightful story laden with enduring life lessons.
The reviewer—Norbert Chiazor—is a journalist / communication scholar.
