The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, July 26, 1983 - Page 7 Prof reinterprets English By KAREN TENSA When students read The Great Gat- sby for Professor Lemuel Johnson's English courses, they usually skip over parts they don't understand. Instead of being open to new or strange ideas, most students shut themselves off to the unfamiliar, says Johnson. Students probably don't understand half of what they read, Johnson says but he is determined to change that. "I WON'T allow my students to silen- -PROFILE ce the text," says Johson, who teaches Core III, a required course on modern literature for students concentrating in English. "For example, when we read The Great Gatsby in class, I ask my studen- ts who Ferdie is. They never know," says Johnson in his quiet, accented voice. Ferdie is the chauffeur for Daisy Buchanan, the main character in the novel. Johnson likes to quiz students on "servants in the background who keep the story going" to encourage more than a quick, surface reading. FOR STUDENTS to understand a novel, they must read the full content of the book - even the parts they consider insignificant, he says. Some of the most important messages in English literature are con- veyed through innocuous characters or through characters who are relegated to the background, Johnson explains. All the main characters in The Great Gatsby are white and rich yet "step and fetch it" servants like Ferdie are key to keeping the main characters' lives fun- ctioning, Johnson says. BY FOCUSING on seemingly in- 'Some students don't really believe that other groups aside from their own culture exist - and for all practical purposes, for some they don't. -Lemuel Johnson English professor significant characters Johnson teaches students to search for deeper meaning instead of simply skipping over parts of the book that are obscure or difficult to understand. "I don't want to terrify them with this concept, though, and make them realize how much work they must do," he says. Johnson's teaching style is not characteristic of other University. English professors who stick to the "norms of literature" in their courses. "I THINK that ideas are bounded by gender, race and culture," said John- son, who was born in Nigeria. "For example, a white University student will be puzzled when reading a book by a Latin American who identifies characters as being white, Anglo or pale-faced. (After reading the book) they must then think about the literature the way blacks always have." "Some students don't really believe that other groups, aside from their own culture exist - and for all practical purposes, for some they don't," he says. In Johnson's office in Haven Hall, students are exposed to books by authors who are relatively unknown. He assigns books written by Chicanos, Native Americans, Latin Americans and blacks to expose students to ex- periences of other minority groups. JOHNSON IS strongly tied to his own African culture. He is a member of the Sierra Leone Creole ethnic group, descended from a group of "rebellious" slaves based in Freetown, Sierra Leone in west Africa. A small map of Freetown sits on Johnson's bookshelf. He explains that rebellious slaves during the late 1700s were sent from British territories like Nova Scotia, Jamaica and Trinidad back to west Africa. These eman- cipated slaves founded Freetown. Although Johnson grew up in Nigeria, he went to school in Sierra Leone, whre the link to his culture intensified. WITH THE encouragement of the government in 1961, Johnson came to the United States to train for a position as a United Nations interpreter. He earned a modern languages degree at Oberlin University in Ohio as well as a second degree in Spanish, Italian, and Portugese. Looking for some variety, Johnson then "hid out" at Pennsylvania State University where courses in comparative literature made the interpreter job seem a little too "non-creative," says Johnson, who speaks 11 languages. "At first, the idea of being a UN in- interpreter seemed exciting, very glamorous," says Johnson. "But I was cured of that idea when I began to write." TRANSLATING language seemed unimaginative and dull compared to writing poetry or short stories. "I had a terror of boredom," he explains. "I thought of what it would mean to be a translator for a relatively unimportant third-world nation." Soon after, Johnson says he developed an "impatience with non- creative use of language" and came to the University, earning a doctrate degree in comparative literature in 1969. Johnson began his career at the University as a Spanish instructor in 1969. HE RETURNED to Sierra Leone in 1970 with his family to teach English at Fourah Bur College, a division of Sierra Leone University. "Fourah .Bur has an exchange program with Kalamazoo College," said Johnson. "It was intriguing - I taught the American students a special course in African culture and literature." Johnson returned to the University a year later and became an associate professor in the English department. HE HAS A great love of teaching, but admits sometimes there are days when he hears himself talking in class and "is bored stiff" and the students are so anxious to leave, their "eyes look like hot coals of fire." On the good days, though, he doesn't want class to end, he says. "I feel the absence of student's knowledge in the areas of minority literature and culture justifies my role as a teacher," says Johnson. TO READ of another cultural group is to be both blessed and threatened," he says. "I want students to know of these fringe literatures to make them aware of the necessities to make life decent and complete." Despite his advanced education and "dignity appropriate to a University professor," Johnson is, to his dying shame, addicted to Kung Fu movies, "especially the originals with Bruce Lee", and horror movies. He says they are "so bad they are delightful." "I am known to stay up late on Friday and Saturday nights to watch old movies," he says, admitting that his at- traction to these movies is "quite disgusting". HE ALSO confesses a love of the movies of the 30s and 40s, particularly Mae West films. Johnson lives in Ann Arbor with his family. His wife, Marion, is a dental hygenist and is also of Sierra Leone Creole descent. Neither of his two children are interested in "anything professorial like their father" says Johnson. Yma, his daughter, will enter Pioneer High School next fall and is interested in becoming a doctor. His son, Yshelu, named after Johnson's father, is in- terested in electronics and computers. Profile appears every Tuesday. Daily Photo by ELIZABETH SCOTT English Prof. Lemuel Johnson has a vast range of interests - from "The Great Gatsby" to old, late night horror movies.