The Burden of Memory, the Muse of Forgiveness [Paperback]

Nobel Laureate in Literature Wole Soyinka considers all of Africa--indeed, all the world--as he poses this question: once repression stops, is reconciliation between oppressor and victim possible? In the face of centuries-long devastation wrought on the African continent and her Diaspora by slavery, colonialism, Apartheid, and the manifold faces of racism, what form of recompense could possibly suffice? In a voice as eloquent and humane as it is forceful, Soyinka boldly challenges in these pages the notions of simple forgiveness, confession, and absolution as strategies for social healing. Ultimately, he turns to art--poetry, music, painting, etc.--as the one source that can nourish the seed of reconciliation: art is 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 DuBois Institute at Harvard,The Burden of Memoryspeaks 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.

Inspiring and original....Soyinka's analysis of the 20th century problem of memory and forgiveness in the African world is both timely and important. Soyinka's analysis of the problem is an initial volley in what will surely become a 21st century debate. --The New York Times Book Review

Robust with extensive allusions to politics, religion, history, and, of course, literature....Soyinka's quest in this book is for true restitution for all the moral and material wrongs done to Africa, whether through slavery or colonialism, whether by the West or the East. --San Francisco Examiner& Chronicle

Powerful. --Kirkus

Wole Soyinkawon the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986. He is Woodruff Professor of the Arts at Emory University, in Atlanta, a Fellow of the W.E.B. DuBois InstilC#