Jesus : "The truth will set you free"
John Keats: "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all/ Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
And to what category do you confine Mein Kampf ?
Coincidentally, - and - without being obtuse, evasive, philosophical or profound, a simple example should clear up the fog that could otherwise be clouding this discussion - and hopefully - simultaneously - the answer should suffice as the absolutely correct answer to the not so problematic question posed by our Prince of Commentators, the one and only Professor Ayo Olukotun ( I love the man) and his question was or still is " Who is Nigeria's Desmond Tutu ?"
My short answer is, not that he didn't play his part, but God forbid that Nigeria would have such a clown albeit decked in an Anglo-Catholic Church of England's Archbishop's gown, or uniform, but if the real intention in that question could be appropriately re-worded to read , " Who fits the role of " the conscience of Nigeria " then the answer is, in both fact and fiction, prose, poetry, dramaturgy, autobiography, newspaper oratory , literary and not so literary essays, political commentaries, busy directing traffic in down town Lagos, forever humanely engaged in truth and reality, on stage, off stage, in and out of prison in Nigeria, on and off the printed page and on the world's stage, without a doubt that person, a moral visionary with a moral conscience devoid of ecclesiastical jargon is
Our Brother from Abeokuta , Wole Soyinka
Indeed he is and has been that for the past 55 years and counting.
The point of coincidence or confluence with Tutu ( May his kind soul rest in peace) is not oblique either - it's there for all to see and judge: Nobel Laureate Soyinka's extraordinary/classic assessment of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission that occur in his Reparations, Truth, and Reconciliation in the collection titled The Burden of Memory the Muse of Forgiveness
( BTW, I watched Larry King on CNN for years, during which time I have only witnessed a break in transmission exactly twice: the very first time was to save us the viewers further embarrassment when Archbishop Tutu was more than bending over backwards, symptomatic of Tutu - in the holy Name of Jesus, to apologise for some of the crimes committed by his alleged Boer brothers in Christ - and the second time was during an interview with Richard Holbrooke who I intuit was going too far in revealing what sounded like some behind the scenes inner details about when Nixon sent him off to China as his special envoy, to open up things over there, a little. On both occasions somebody at CNN must have pulled the jack out to cause a break in transmission and thus to save the day – in Tutu's case to save him from further polluting the air in that CNN studio… sorry, sorry, sorry.., and should we delve into greater detail you would be feeling more sorrowful and sorry too
Youssou Ndour : Toxiques ( there's a message in the music)
Perhaps, only great fiction (including creative nonfiction) but only when it handles truths that reality avoids or evades. Perhaps, any honest "text" —regardless of the source. When, for instance, a Nazi minister notes that the future belongs not to the people but to those who know how to organize the people.PS.In some courts of law, people are required to swear on the Holy Bible or the Holy Quran, that they will be telling facts, not fiction, swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth , and nothing but the truth.Some presidents take their oaths of office on those Holy Books...There's The Legends of the Jews
There's also all those African Folktales
Might as well toss in Jonathan Swift, Hermann Hesse, Amos Tutuola, One Hundred Years of Solitude and magical realism , J. K. Rowling, J. R. R. Tolkien
Lou Reed : Magic and Loss
On Wednesday, 29 December 2021 at 22:46:53 UTC+1 Cornelius Hamelberg wrote:
Dr Oohay,
I'm inclined to agree with you completely. Should we take your word for it, that "Fiction tells truth that reality cannot handle."? ( When? Sometimes? All the time? Every time? Whose fiction? )
Very interesting indeed. As in, truth talking to reality here : "Don't fall apart on me tonight, I don't think that I can handle it"
The very first seven lines the Quran prepares both the believer and the unbeliever:
2 This is the Scripture whereof there is no doubt, a guidance unto those who ward off (evil).
3 Who believe in the Unseen, and establish worship, and spend of that We have bestowed upon them;
4 And who believe in that which is revealed unto thee (Muhammad) and that which was revealed before thee, and are certain of the Hereafter.
5 These depend on guidance from their Lord. These are the successful.
6 As for the Disbelievers, Whether thou warn them or thou warn them not it is all one for them; they believe not.
7 Allah hath sealed their hearing and their hearts, and on their eyes there is a covering. Theirs will be an awful doom.
To what category of Literature do you assign Sacred Texts ?
And to what category does the autobiography belong ?
Sometimes reading the Gospel - "inspired scripture" accounts of Jesus' miracles, Jesus turning water into wine, Jesus walking on water, Jesus feeding 5, 000 people on five loaves and two fish, Jesus rising from the grave after three days and ascending bodily through the stratosphere without an oxygen mask , and before that the ten plagues and the children of Israel crossing the Red Sea and then wandering in the wilderness , their shoes not getting worn out and manna continuously falling from Heaven, I suppose that the unbelievers have to consider that on the other hand, "Truth is stranger than fiction" (can be)
But , re- " Fiction tells truth that reality can't handle " and " Truth is stranger than fiction",
can we say that about my favourite Polish writer Bruno Schulz, or Kafka, Dostoevsky, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and his The Gulag Archipelago, Ayi Kwei Armah's Two Thousand Seasons, The Healers, Alan Paton 's Cry, the Beloved Country, Emanuel Swedenborg's Heaven and Hell
On Wednesday, 29 December 2021 at 18:39:34 UTC+1 Dr. Oohay wrote:Fiction tells truth that reality cannot handle."Those you think you offended might even be having a good laugh at your expense for epistemic brashness"-Adeshina.Adeshina,What if I don't care?-CAO.
On Tuesday, December 28, 2021, 'Adeshina Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> wrote:Ọ̀gá Chidi,You assume you're telling the "Truth" and hence you do not need to apologize to those you have offended. Could you possibly be wrong about what you considered the truth? And even if you're the gatekeeper of the truth, shouldn't decency inform how the truth is purveyed (after all, the bitterest of tablets comes coated forproper swallowing😁)Those you think you offended might even be having a good laugh at your expense for epistemic brashness.Adeshina
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhoneOn Tuesday, December 28, 2021, 1:29 PM, Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM <chidi...@gmail.com> wrote:
I know that I offended some people this year(2021). I hope to offend more people next year(2022). The truth is bitter, but must be told.-Chidi Anthony Opara (CAO)
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Chidi Anthony Opara is a Poet, IIM Professional Fellow, MIT Chief Data Officer Ambassador and Founder/Publisher of, www.publicinformationprojects. org)
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