The Burden of Memory, the Muse of Forgiveness

You read Wole Soyinka's work and you become a man, period. Please don't try reviewing work you don't understand. A quotation from Henry David Thoreau on "READING" will help those struggling with understading and of course in categorising reviewers: A man, any man, will go considerably out of his way to pick up a silver dollar, but here are golden words, which the wisest men of antiquity have uttered, and whose worth the wise of every succeeding age have assured us of;-and yet we learn to read only as far as Easy Reading... a very low level, worthy only of pigmies and manikins. That was WALDEN (1854) but still relevant today.

Wole Soyinka's mastery of the English language, as I have had occasion to say on another forum, borders on the supernatural. And perhaps therein lies the man's flaw--but that is a matter I will get to in a minute."The Burden of Memory, the Muse of Forgiveness," you must understand, is "in the obligatory [Soyinka] fashion," a compilation of oral lectures the learned professor gave at Harvard. You must understand too, that the writing is basically academic, and suited more to an oral lecture. And because we speak of Soyinka, the writing is characteristically difficult.So then, his lectures-turn-books (including, of course, "The Burden of Memory, the Muse of Forgiveness") are not the best of works with which to appraise Soyinka's genius. For a true appreciation of Soyinka's literary prowess, you must read his plays and novels.The flaw, of which I spoke earlier, is captured in the question a friend once posed to me (not Soyinka): "Is not the purpose of language to communicate?" Without a full-fledged dictionary, and the will to re-read whole paragraphs, one would struggle to keep up with Soyinka's writing.In all, whether one likes it or not, the man is a literary giant, period!

I was extremely impressed with Professor Soyinka's argument for reparations not only for Africa, but for all victims of enslavement, colonialism, and oppression. His style may be difficult, but for the able reader it is an excellent introduction to the conditions, both past and present, contributing to the current state of affairs throughout the African continent. It provides much food for thought on the question of just what is justice. Bob Marley's song "War" was constantly in my mind. It would be an honor to shake Professor Soyinka's hand.

Wole Soyinka does indeed have a point/points to make. They are important points for the world-wide Black community and make them he does! This book, and particularly his essay Reparations, Truth, and Reconciliation will necessarily have detractors as they would clearly want to be distracters and not have the subject given the measure of insightful and pragmatic consideration that Soyinka provides. In fact, he rights/writes in the introduction; as prelude to our reading the essays: "The Truth shall set you free? Maybe. But first the Truth must be set free."