I don't believe in universal appeals. I agree the reception of a text is a function of the times, how could it be otherwise? The famous example in english literature is shakespeare, who fell out of favor with the critical public at various points, including notably in the 19th century. He was revived in the 20th century. Now,..., we have to specify where the performances might be and for whom. For example zefferelli's romeo and juliet, which i saw as a young man, was super wonderful for me. Now i doubt i'd feel that way, and the youth of today no doubt are far different from my young self of 60odd years ago. And the commercialization of literature by globalized culture brings a broad debasement to what had once been regarded as classics.
Certainly the same is true of things for apart or any work of literature.
Or film.
The trick for us is to be able to read texts that might not be in step with our times, but to see values and virtues, some of which perhaps we couldn't have appreciated earlier. Or maybe also the opposite is true: to shuck off what we once took to be great and now we find tedious.
Ken
Kenneth Harrow
517 803 8839
Emeritus Professor of English, Michigan State University
Harrow@msu/edu
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu>
Sent: Sunday, March 17, 2024 11:06:50 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Today's Quote
So, you understand context!
Things Fall Apart could this be written to a greater acclaim but it won't be about Okonkwo. It can be about Lumumba or Sankara or Achebe. A Man of the People be Peter Obi!
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM, CDOA <chidi.opara@gmail.com>
Date: Sunday, March 17, 2024 at 10:03 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Today's Quote
I am of the opinion that the popularity of literary productions are somehow dependent on the time they appear on the scene. A literary production about apartheid now for example, may not receive as much attention as it would have done in the 1970s and 1980s, inspite of how qualitative such productions are.
-CAO.
On Sunday 17 March 2024, Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:
I am curious. Why did you make this point?
If "Things Fall Apart" and other creative works produced in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s were written in the 1990s and 2020s, they probably wouldn't have been as acclaimed as they are.
-Chidi Anthony Opara (CAO)
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Chidi Anthony Opara is a Poet, Professional Fellow of Institute Of Information Management Africa, MIT Chief Data Officer Ambassador, Registered Freight Forwarder and Editorial Adviser at News Updates.
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Chidi Anthony Opara is a Poet, Professional Fellow of Institute Of Information Management Africa, MIT Chief Data Officer Ambassador, Registered Freight Forwarder and Editorial Adviser at News Updates.
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