The  burden of memory, the muse of forgiveness
By: Wole Soyinka.
Series: W.E.B. Du Bois Institute; W.E.B. Du Bois Institute (Series)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 1999
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 208
Subjects: Senghor, Léopold Sédar, 1906-; Reconciliation; Amnesty -- Africa; African literature -- 20th century -- History and criticism; Black literature -- 20th century -- History and criticism; Politics and literature -- Africa -- History -- 20th century; Blacks in literature; Africa -- Politics and government -- 1960-; Nigeria -- Politics and government -- 1984-1993
Description: The Burden of Memory considers all of Africa - indeed, all the world - as it poses the logical question: Once repression stops, is reconciliation between oppressor and victim possible? In the face of centuries-long devastations wrought on the African continent and her Diaspora by slavery, colonialism, Apartheid, and the manifold faces of racism, what form of recompense could possibly be adequate?

In a voice as eloquent and humane as it is forceful, Soyinka examines this fundamental question as he illuminates the principle duty and "near intolerable burden" of memory to bear the record of injustice. In so doing he challenges notions of simple forgiveness, of confession and absolution, as strategies for social healing.

Ultimately, he turns to artpoetry, music, painting - as one source that may nourish the seed of reconciliation, art as the generous vessel that can hold together the burden of memory and the hope of forgiveness. Based on Soyinka's Stewart-McMillan lectures delivered at the Du Bois Institute at Harvard. The Burden of Memory 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.
Notes: Includes index.