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The Burden of Memory, the Muse of Forgiveness (Paperback, New Ed) Loot Price: R822
Discovery Miles 8 220

The Burden of Memory, the Muse of Forgiveness (Paperback, New Ed)

Wole Soyinka

Series: W.E.B.Du Bois Institute S.

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Loot Price R822 Discovery Miles 8 220 | Repayment Terms: R77 pm x 12*

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A disturbing moral dilemma is explored by the noted Nigerian writer. In the first and by far the weightiest of the three essays that make up this volume, Nobel laureate Soyinka (Art, Dialogue and Outrage, 1994, etc.) struggles with a dilemma: how should societies respond to the commission of despicable acts in public life? These can occur on a systemic level, such as slavery in the US or apartheid in South Africa, or through the hands of an individual tyrant such as the current ruler of Nigeria, Sanni Abacha. In either case, forgiveness, a salve on the wounds to promote healing, would seem to be the morally superior option, even if such generosity is beyond the capabilities of most people. But is excusing morally outrageous behavior moral or simply foolish? Perhaps healing requires revenge, an excising of the cancer. Are we to imagine, for example, a repentant Poi Pot walking the streets like any other man, freed by the forgiveness of those whom he did not manage to kill? Soyinka identifies forgiveness as "a value far more humanly exacting than vengeance" yet cannot swallow the proposition that it will, by itself, suffice. Something is missing from a process which absolves the perpetrators of tyranny so completely that they assume the same moral or civil status as those whose conduct is crime-free. Soyinka's answer is reparations, a paying back from victimizer to victim, but even this sits somewhat uneasily. As in the remaining essays focusing on negritude, there is a sense that the playwright in Soyinka is building layers of thought not to resolve the issue, but to illustrate its unresolvability. No definitive analysis proving that reparations will solve the moral dilemma is to be found here, and perhaps that is part of the cost of despicable acts: once committed, there are no longer answers with which we should be completely comfortable. Powerful stuff. (Kirkus Reviews)
When Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka's The Open Sore of a Continent appeared in 1996, it received rave reviews in the national media. Now comes Soyinka's powerful sequel to that fearless and passionate book, The Burden of Memory.

Where Open Sore offered a critique of African nationhood and a searing indictment of the Nigerian military regime, The Burden of Memory considers all of Africa -- indeed, all the world -- as it poses the next logical question: Once repression stops, is reconciliation between oppressor and victim possible? This book speaks not only to those concerned specifically with African politics, but also to anyone seeking the path to social justice through some of history's most inhospitable terrain.

General

Imprint: Oxford UniversityPress
Country of origin: United States
Series: W.E.B.Du Bois Institute S.
Release date: 2000
First published: February 2000
Authors: Wole Soyinka (Professor)
Dimensions: 204 x 135 x 15mm (L x W x T)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 208
Edition: New Ed
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-513428-5
Categories: Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Cultural studies > General
Books > Humanities > History > African history > General
Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Ethnic studies > General
Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social issues > Equal opportunities
Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political control & freedoms > Human rights > Civil rights & citizenship
Books > History > African history > General
LSN: 0-19-513428-1
Barcode: 9780195134285

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