Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - The art of enjoyment: Thoughts on literature + fun

sorry about my error below: "vitures" should be "virtues." also, you could add to this short list of subversive authors beyala's first two novels. and, ironically, you could se easily put her in the camp of the complacent, reassuring authors for many of those of her "parisian" novels that became stocked w stereotyped figures of africans abroad, sort of like  osuafia.
ken

if we could continue this thread a bit, assuming that literature involves getting into the mind of others, or, let's say, getting into the spaces (thoughts) created by others, what if those others were crazy, violent, racist, murderous? what if they were fascists, totalitarian, etc? what if the authors created texts that not only figured monstrous or repellant figures, but celebrated them? what if the authors were celine or de sade or burroughs or marechera etc
what if they were texts that were basically subversive, let's say subversive of patriarchal orders that comforted dominant classes or ruling classes or colonial classes?
what if they were confusing or opaque or arrogant....
i am saying this because the vitures ogugua and ikhide are celebrating would seem to emphasize the positive and progressive side of literature, and i think we need to accommodate, if not more, the necessity for a literature that disturbs the order to which we have been accustomed. and that means, especially, the order of literature itself.
to give an example. for the first 10-15 years, nollywood totally disrupted the order of african cinema, and still elicits negative reactions about its worthlessness (i didn't say trashiness since i like trash). yet more and more, it is being celebrated as having breathed new life into a struggle media. i wouldn't argue it educated or informed its audiences; i would dispute its value as represented reality in realist terms whatsoever. it was and is closer to melodrama, a genre once disparaged enormously by film scholars in the 1950s, until peter brooks wrote a great study of melodrama and people started taking it seriously
ken

On 5/23/13 11:42 AM, Anunoby, Ogugua wrote:

Literature informs on the mind, thoughts, ways, and experiences of own and other people. Literature is life as human beings lived it and continue to live it. How better to understand the human condition and its possible future. Thank goodness for literature. If only more people paid attention.

 

oa

From:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Ikhide
Sent: Wednesday, May 22, 2013 9:15 AM
To:USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com; Ederi@yahoogroups.com
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - The art of enjoyment: Thoughts on literature + fun

 

 "I’ll say it clearly: being a reader of good books—by which I suppose I refer to novels, creative nonfiction, short story collections and poetry—is a beneficial thing. I think that it is the grandest tragedy that there should be billions upon billions of human lives, of which we get to live but one—even those who have faith in the immortal soul agree they are limited to just the one, even if it extends outward into eternity—and I think books are the closest we can get to being inside the mind and living the experiences of somebody else. If you’re skeptical, take a look at this 2006 study which suggests that the brain “does not make much of a distinction between reading about an experience and encountering it in real life.” Similar studies show that “individuals who frequently read fiction seem to be better able to understand other people, empathize with them and see the world from their perspective,” an intellectual capacity referred to as “theory of mind.”

The best books also contain aspects of history, science, philosophy, and cultural critique. They inspire us to be more introspective as well as to be more curious about the parts of the world might otherwise be dark to us; whole regions of this earth, whole sagas and histories, obscure anecdotes and philosophical concepts might never reach our minds were they not attached to a story that drew us in. I think language has its limitations only if you allow it to, and that a steady exposure to poetry and lyrical prose can discourage the clichés and banalities that so often bog down common conversation. Finally, we learn from one another often through metaphors and allegories, and having in one’s mental repertoire a vast collection of stories can only heighten one’s ability to communicate with others."

 

http://www.wholebeastrag.org/adam-segal/2012/10/24/the-art-of-enjoyment-thoughts-on-literature-fun.html

 

- Ikhide

 

Stalk my blog at www.xokigbo.com

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Join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide

 

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--   kenneth w. harrow   faculty excellence advocate  distinguished professor of english  michigan state university  department of english  619 red cedar road  room C-614 wells hall  east lansing, mi 48824  ph. 517 803 8839  harrow@msu.edu

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--   kenneth w. harrow   faculty excellence advocate  distinguished professor of english  michigan state university  department of english  619 red cedar road  room C-614 wells hall  east lansing, mi 48824  ph. 517 803 8839  harrow@msu.edu