DOCSLIB.ORG

Social Consciousness, Metaphysical Contents and Aesthetics in Select Anglophone African Factions

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Social Consciousness, Metaphysical Contents and Aesthetics in Select Anglophone African Factions SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS, METAPHYSICAL CONTENTS AND AESTHETICS IN SELECT ANGLOPHONE AFRICAN FACTIONS By Abidemi Olufemi ADEBAYO (Matric No.104957) A Thesis in the Department of English, Submitted to the Faculty of Arts in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY of the UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN SEPTEMBER, 2014 CERTIFICATION I certify that this research was carried out by Abidemi Olufemi ADEBAYO in the Department of English, University of Ibadan, under my supervision. Professor Nelson O. Fashina Date Department of English University of Ibadan ii DEDICATION To all men of goodwill in Africa. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I acknowledge God for the gift of life. I thank my supervisor, Professor Nelson Fashina, for the sound tutelage I received from him all through the different stages of my academic career in the Department of English, University of Ibadan. He sowed the seed of thorough academic scholarship in me in my undergraduate days, nurtured it during my Master‘s degree programme and fortified same in the supervision of this research. I thank the professor profoundly. The impact of his mentoring on me is indelible. I also thank all the lecturers in the Department for constant encouragement and advice. Specific mention is made of Professor Lekan Oyeleye, Professor Remi Raji-Oyelade, Professor Tunde Omobowale, Professor Ayo Kehinde, Professor Obododinma Oha, Dr. Remy Oriaku, Dr. M. T. Lamidi, Dr. Toyin Jegede, Dr. Nike Akinjobi, Dr. Ayo Osisanwo, Dr. Ayo Ogunsiji and Dr. Adesina Sunday. I benefited from their wealth of knowledge. They guided me in the course of writing my thesis. It is important to me to appreciate the suggestion that Yinka Akintola made on how to procure books for the research. I also thank Mr Gbenga Laoye for explanation on administrative processes. I want to thank my typist, Mrs. R. B. Olatunji, for not disappointing me when I had deadlines to contend with. Thank you all for enabling me benefit from you. iv ABSTRACT Anglophone African factions, which are narratives containing a blend of African real-life socio-political events and fictive accounts, and which sometimes connect writers‘ metaphysical reference with their social consciousness and aesthetics, is central to literary expression in Africa. Yet, studies in African literature have focused on these philo-literary features only in fiction, neglecting their engagement in factions, thus barring a balance in African literary scholarship. This study, therefore, investigated the connection between social consciousness, metaphysical contents and aesthetics in African factions, with a view to establishing their role in the writers‘ creative vision. The research employed George Herbert Mead‘s theory of interactionism, the principle of mutual social relation, in investigating the writers‘ pursuit of social goals, aided by their metaphysical leaning in the selected texts. Four Anglophone African factions were purposively selected, for regional and gender balance. These included Nomad by Anyaan Hirsi Ali(East Africa), A Dream Fulfilled by Thandi Lujabe-Rankoe(Southern Africa), You must Set Forth at Dawn by Wole Soyinka(West Africa) and A Daughter of Isis by Nawal el Saadawi(North Africa). The texts were subjected to literary analysis. Four indexes of social consciousness were observed across the factions sampled: the Somali war, racial segregation in South Africa, military brutality in Nigeria and gender imbalance in Egypt. These were respectively fictionalised within the ambits of idealisation, infallibility, fairness and equality. The hostile socio-political environment in Africa informed the writers‘ references to metaphysical phenomena in advancing their goals. This manifested in atheist spirituality in Nomad, where Ali battles the spiritual aspect of the blood line and links human creative inspiration to atheist consciousness. It was also noted in references to African spirits such as Ngai in A Dream Fulfilled where Lujabe-Rankoe pursues folk liberation from apartheid and sees her reunion with folks after exile as divine and, so, makes supplications to Southern African spirits. It reflected in eulogy for deities such as Oro and Orunmila in You must Set Forth at Dawn where Soyinka describes the Oro festival he witnessed as ‗blissful‘ and this invigorated him on exile journey through Benin Republic, and seeks reunion with Pierre ‗under the canopy of ‗Orunmila‘ in the afterlife. This animist consciousness also reflects in A Daughter of Isis where Saadawi pursues the rights of women in Egypt through Isis. When in danger while advancing her social cause, Saadawi claims the spirits are with her and she is ‗no longer alone‘. References were also made to the Supreme Being by all the writers for inspiration. The writers express their social and metaphysical temper in the factions through aesthetic resources, such as goal-oriented code mixing, creative sentence inversion, vivid imagery and sensational hyperbole, for attaining idealisation, infallibility, fairness and equity. Social consciousness, metaphysical contents and aesthetics in the factions by Hirsi Ali, Thandi Lujabe-Rankoe, Wole Soyinka and Nawal el Saadawi are connected through fictionalised socio-political realities, contextualised within experiential exigencies, and creative lingua- literary resources of the writers. Thus, their convergence is instrumental to projecting the writers‘ perspectives, and the metaphysical and socio-cultural pulses of African societies. Key words: African factions, Social consciousness, Metaphysics, Literary aesthetics, Word count: 499 v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Title page i Certification ii Dedication iii Acknowledgements iv Abstract v Table of Contents vi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 Background to the Study 1 The Research Texts as Factions 5 Linking the Conceptual Theories 7 The Choice of the Faction as Subgenre for the Research 8 Choosing Ali, Lujabe-Rankoe, Soyinka and Saadawi as Research Authors 10 Research Limitation 12 Research Objective 14 Thesis Statement 17 Analytical Procedure 17 Terms and Concepts Used in the Research 18 On Ayaan Hirsi Ali 19 On Thandi Lujabe-Rankoe 21 On Wole Soyinka 22 Genres of Soyinka‘s Writing 25 On Nawal el Saadawi 26 Genres of Saadawi‘s Writing 28 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW: AFRICAN SOCIAL SYSTEM, SPIRITUALITY AND LANGUAGE OF THE FACTIONAL TEXT 29 Preamble 29 Faction as a Literary Subgenre 30 vi Perspectives on Interactionism 32 The Subgenre of Autobiography as a Nonfiction Form 33 The Concept of Art for Art‘s Sake 35 Metaphysics: From Socrates to Smor and Boeree 38 Theism, Deism and Pantheism in African Religious Consciousness 41 The Potency of the Yoruba Pantheon 46 The Complexity of Ogun‘s Attributes in the Yoruba Pantheon 49 Isis: The Character of a Mother Goddess 53 African Literature and the Current Social Realities 56 Muses, Musing and the African Literature of Occidental-Arabian Religions 61 Beyond Style As Choice, The Man Or Deviation 63 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 68 Preamble 68 The Qualitative Research Approach 68 Adoption of Literary Analysis 69 The Application of the Interactionist Theory 69 Subregional Consideration in Text Selection 70 Need for Generational Factor 71 Consideration for Metaphysical Inclination 71 Gender Factor in Text Selection 72 CHAPTER FOUR: SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS, METAPHYSICAL CONTENTS AND AESTHETICS IN NOMAD AND A DREAM FULFILLED 73 Preamble 73 Social Consciousness in Nomad 73 On Ali‘s Feminist Temper: The Radical Approach 80 Ali‘s Other Social Concern 82 Metaphysical Paradigm in Nomad 85 Aesthetic Approach to the Language of Nomad 92 The Nature of Lujabe-Rankoe‘s Social Consciousness in A Dream Fulfilled 97 vii Gender Reading of A Dream Fulfilled 102 Lujabe Rankoe‘s Metaphysical Consciousness in A Dream Fulfilled 105 Aesthetic Reading of A Dream Fulfilled 111 Comparative Approach to Investigating Social Consciousness, Metaphysics and Aesthetics in Nomad and A Dream Fulfilled 116 Comparing the Perspectives of the Apostates: Ali and Soyinka 118 CHAPTER FIVE: SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS, METAPHYSICAL CONTENTS AND AESTHETICS IN YOU MUST SET FORTH AT DAWN AND A DAUGHTER OF ISIS 120 Preamble 120 Social Consciousness in You must Set Forth at Dawn 120 The Nationalistic Social Consciousness 122 The International Ramification to Soyinka‘s Social Consciousness 135 Metaphysical Paradigm in You must Set Forth at Dawn 143 Sources and Significance of Metaphysics in You must Set Forth at Dawn 143 Deconstructing a Metaphysical Superstructure in You must Set Forth at Dawn 143 The Combative Metaphysics: Intratextual 145 The Combative Metaphysics: Extratextual 146 Soyinka‘s Metaphysics: The Communal 148 Monist and Pluralistic Metaphysics in You must Set Forth at Dawn 153 Soyinka‘s Pluralistic Metaphysics: The Metamorphosis 156 Soyinka‘s Pluralistic Metaphysical Metamorphosis in You must Set Forth at Dawn 157 Significance of Metaphysics to Social Consciousness in You must Set Forth at Dawn 163 Aesthetic Contents of You must Set Forth at Dawn 174 Resources and Communicative Essence of Aesthetics in You must Set Forth at Dawn 175 Social Consciousness, Metaphysical Contents and Aesthetics in A Daughter of Isis 201 A Daughter of Isis from Social Consciousness Perspective 202 Saadawi‘s Quest for a New Social Order – Feminist Cause 203 Saadawi‘s Gender Advocacy Approach in A Daughter of Isis 206 viii Saadawi‘s Quest for a New Social Order: Other Notable Concerns 209 Saadawi Laments Effects of World War II 209 The Condemnation of Religious Opportunism 210 On Poor Educational System in Egypt 211 Corruption
Load more

Recommended publications
  • LIVING OPENLY SECULAR in BLACK COMMUNITIES a Resource for African-Americans Living Openly Secular in Black Communities: a Resource for African-Americans
    LIVING OPENLY SECULAR IN BLACK COMMUNITIES A Resource for African-Americans Living Openly Secular in Black Communities: A Resource for African-Americans. Copyright © 2015 Openly Secular. Some Rights Reserved. Content written by Jodee Hassad and Lori L. Fazzino, M.A., University of Nevada, Las Vegas Graphic design by Sarah Hamilton, www.smfhamilton.com This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International. More information is available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ Openly Secular grants permission for all non-commercial uses, including reproduction, distribution, and adaptation, with proper credit to Openly Secular and provides others with the same rights. 4 ABOUT THE Openly SECULAR Campaign Openly Secular is a coalition project that promotes tolerance and equality of people regardless of their belief systems. Founded in 2013, the Openly Secular Coalition is led by four organizations - Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, Secular Coalition for America, Secular Student Alliance, and Stiefel Freethought Foundation. This campaign is also joined by national partner organizations from the secular movement as well as organizations that are allies to our cause. OUR MISSION The mission of Openly Secular is to eliminate discrimination and increase acceptance by getting secular people - including atheists, freethinkers, agnostics, humanists and nonreligious people - to be open about their beliefs. SPECIAL THanks We would like to thank secular activist Bridget Gaudette, and Mandisa Thomas from Black Nonbelievers, Inc., www.blacknonbelievers.org, for providing direction and feedback on this project. USING THIS TOOLKIT In this toolkit you’ll find key ideas, quotes from openly secular individuals, and links to the Openly Secular website that will provide you with more information about various topics.
    [Show full text]
  • John Lennon – Człowiek I Artysta Niespełniony?
    Tom 12/2020, ss. 43-72 ISSN 0860-5637 e-ISSN 2657-7704 DOI: 10.19251/rtnp/2020.12(3) www.rtnp.mazowiecka.edu.pl Andrzej Dorobek Mazowiecka Uczelnia Publiczna w Płocku ORCID: 0000-0002-5102-5182 JOHN LENNON – CZŁOWIEK I ARTYSTA NIESPEŁNIONY? JOHN LENNON: A MAN AND ARTIST UNFULFIILLED? Streszczenie: Niniejszy esej jest próbą syntetycznego, poniekąd psychoanalitycznego, ujęcia biografii Johna Lennona, zarówno jako ewidentnie zagubionego geniu- sza muzyki popularnej, jak i ofiary chłopięcego kompleksu zaniedbania przez uwielbianą matkę – później wysublimowanego w kompleks kobiecej dominacji i przeniesionego na Yoko Ono, jego drugą żonę i awangardową „muzę.” W re- zultacie ich związek, w znacznym stopniu wyidealizowany przez media, został ukazany w kontekście relacji Lennona z innymi kobietami (na przykład z ciotką Mimi), sprzecznych cech jego osobowości oraz ewolucji światopoglądowej i ar- tystycznej, która doprowadziła najpierw do dramatycznego rozdarcia między popowym supergwiazdorstwem a awangardowym artystostwem, ostatecznie zaś – do faktycznej niemocy twórczej w ciągu ostatnich pięciu lat życia. Per- John Lennon – człowiek i artysta niespełniony? spektywę komparatystyczną dla tych rozważań wyznaczać będą biografie Elvisa Presleya i Micka Jaggera. Słowa kluczowe: kompleks, trauma, dominacja, „krzyk pierwotny”, gwiaz- dorstwo, artyzm, niespełnienie Summary: In this essay, the author attempts at a synthetic insight into the biography of John Lennon, both as a confused genius of popular music and a victim of the childhood complex of motherly neglect: later transformed into the one of female domination and transferred onto Yoko Ono, his second wife and avant-garde “muse.” Consequently, their marriage, largely idealized by media, is shown here in the context of Lennon’s relations with other women (mainly his mother and aunt Mimi), his contradictory psychological traits and artistic/ ideological evolution that resulted in being torn between pop superstardom, avant-garde artistry and, in last five years, virtual creative impotence.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 15: Resources This Is by No Means an Exhaustive List. It's Just
    Chapter 15: Resources This is by no means an exhaustive list. It's just meant to get you started. ORGANIZATIONS African Americans for Humanism Supports skeptics, doubters, humanists, and atheists in the African American community, provides forums for communication and education, and facilitates coordinated action to achieve shared objectives. <a href="http://aahumanism.net">aahumanism.net</a> American Atheists The premier organization laboring for the civil liberties of atheists and the total, absolute separation of government and religion. <a href="http://atheists.org">atheists.org</a> American Humanist Association Advocating progressive values and equality for humanists, atheists, and freethinkers. <a href="http://americanhumanist.org">americanhumanist.org</a> Americans United for Separation of Church and State A nonpartisan organization dedicated to preserving church-state separation to ensure religious freedom for all Americans. <a href="http://au.org">au.org</a> Atheist Alliance International A global federation of atheist and freethought groups and individuals, committed to educating its members and the public about atheism, secularism and related issues. <a href="http://atheistalliance.org">atheistalliance.org</a> Atheist Alliance of America The umbrella organization of atheist groups and individuals around the world committed to promoting and defending reason and the atheist worldview. <a href="http://atheistallianceamerica.org">atheistallianceamerica.org< /a> Atheist Ireland Building a rational, ethical and secular society free from superstition and supernaturalism. <a href="http://atheist.ie">atheist.ie</a> Black Atheists of America Dedicated to bridging the gap between atheism and the black community. <a href="http://blackatheistsofamerica.org">blackatheistsofamerica.org </a> The Brights' Net A bright is a person who has a naturalistic worldview.
    [Show full text]
  • The Muslim Woman Activist’: Solidarity Across Difference in the Movement Against the ‘War on Terror’
    ORE Open Research Exeter TITLE ‘The Muslim woman activist’: solidarity across difference in the movement against the ‘War on Terror’ AUTHORS Massoumi, N JOURNAL Ethnicities DEPOSITED IN ORE 13 March 2019 This version available at http://hdl.handle.net/10871/36451 COPYRIGHT AND REUSE Open Research Exeter makes this work available in accordance with publisher policies. A NOTE ON VERSIONS The version presented here may differ from the published version. If citing, you are advised to consult the published version for pagination, volume/issue and date of publication ‘The Muslim woman activist’: solidarity across difference in the movement against the ‘War on Terror’ Abstract Feminist scholars have widely noted the centrality of gendered discourses to the ‘War on Terror’. This article shows how gendered narratives also shaped the collective identities of those opposing the ‘War on Terror’. Using interview data and analysis of newspaper editorials from movement leaders alongside focus groups with grassroots Muslim women activists, this article demonstrates how, in responding to the cynical use of women’s rights to justify war, participants in the anti- ‘War on Terror’ movement offered an alternative story. Movement activists deployed representations of Muslim women’s agency to challenge the trope of the ‘oppressed Muslim woman’. I argue that these representations went beyond strategic counter-narratives and offered an emotional basis for solidarity. Yet, respondents in the focus groups illustrated the challenges of seeking agency through an ascribed identity; in that they simultaneously refused and relied upon dominant terms of the debate about Muslim women. Keywords Muslim women, social movements, war on terror, collective identity, symbol Introduction Something horrible flits across the background in scenes from Afghanistan, scuttling out of sight.
    [Show full text]
  • Romantic Liberalism
    Romantic Liberalism The role of individuality and autonomy in the opposition to Muslim veils among self-professed ‘enlightenment liberals’ By Gina Gustavsson Post-doc at the Department of Government, Uppsala University Visiting scholar at Nuffield College, University of Oxford [email protected] To be presented at the PSA annual conference, Cardiff, March 2013 NB: Work in progress, please do not cite or circulate without author’s permission Abstract This paper questions the theoretical coherence and empirical fruitfulness of ‘enlightenment liberalism’. In recent years, this concept has established itself outside of political theory and in the empirical literature on immigration, ethnicity and citizenship. This literature tends to single out enlightenment liberalism as the main culprit behind recent instances of intolerance in the name of liberty. The paradigmatic case of this is taken to be the legal prohibitions against the Muslim veil that have recently been adopted by several European countries. The present paper, however, tries to show that the focus on enlightenment liberalism has in fact led to an unsatisfactory account of the opposition to the Muslim veil in previous research. In what follows, I first examine the theoretical roots of ‘enlightenment liberalism’, which results in the conclusion that the concept contains two very different strands: one rooted in the ideal of Kantian autonomy and another rooted in Millian and Emersonian individuality. This latter strand, I suggest, should be called ‘romantic liberalism’. It is this strand, I then show in the empirical analysis, that seems to have inspired some of the most vehement critics of the Muslim veil. Although they have been pitched as typical ‘enlightenment liberals’, I argue that they are in fact ‘romantic liberals’.
    [Show full text]
  • The New Atheism: Ten Arguments That Dont Hold Water Free
    FREE THE NEW ATHEISM: TEN ARGUMENTS THAT DONT HOLD WATER PDF Michael Poole | 96 pages | 01 May 2010 | Lion Hudson Plc | 9780745953939 | English | Oxford, United Kingdom ARIZONA ATHEIST: The 'New' Atheism: 10 Arguments That Don't Hold Water?: A Refutation Chris Bell. Two contemporary atheists who do not believe God exists - Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens - also seem to be overly angry persons. Dawkins reckons that 'good scientists who are sincerely religious Michael Poole, Visiting Research Fellow in Science and Religion at King's College, London, has written a small book of ten chapters - 96 pages - which could and should! His main question: do the ideas of the The New Atheism: Ten Arguments That Dont Hold Water and noisy 'new atheists' hold water? He devotes a little chapter to each of the ten most common arguments for not believing in the existence of God, and in summary, says: Science and religion are addressing different questions. For example, science cannot help us with 'Why is there something rather than nothing? Although Dawkins asserts in one place 'Atheists do not have faith' This illustrates what he calls 'the fallacy of the excluded middle' a recurring phrase in the book - choosing between only two positions when others are logically possible. Most of the favorite theoretical constructs are here: Planck's constant, the god meme, functionalism, instrumentalism, direct vs. The target-audience is obviously undergraduates. The flavour is quite British: Chapter 10 is titled 'Unpeeling the Cosmic Onion' a fascinating discussion of 'universe' and 'multiverse'there's mention of 'grown-up talk' etc. I believe that a serious flaw in Poole's apologetic is the absence of a Christological basis for belief in the existence of God: the approach is mostly scientific and philosophical.
    [Show full text]
  • The Political Economy of Marriage: Joanne Payton
    ‘Honour’ and the political economy of marriage Joanne Payton Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD, 2015 i DECLARATION This work has not been submitted in substance for any other degree or award at this or any other university or place of learning, nor is being submitted concurrently in candidature for any degree or other award. Signed (candidate) Date: 13 April 2015 STATEMENT 1 This thesis is being submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD. Signed (candidate) Date: 13 April 2015 STATEMENT 2 This thesis is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by explicit references. The views expressed are my own. Signed (candidate) Date: 13 April 2015 STATEMENT 3 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed (candidate) Date: 13 April 2015 Summary ‘Honour’-based violence (HBV) is defined as a form of crime, predominantly against women, committed by the agnates of the victim, often in collaboration, which are justified by the victims’ perceived violation of social norms, particularly those around sexuality and gender roles. While HBV is often considered as a cultural phenomenon, I argue that the cross-cultural distribution of crimes fitting this definition prohibits a purely cultural explanation. I advance an alternate explanation for HBV through a deployment of the cultural materialist strategy and the anthropological theories of Pierre Bourdieu, Claude Lévi-Strauss (as interpreted by Gayle Rubin) and Eric Wolf.
    [Show full text]
  • Breakfast)W/)The)Beatles) .)PLAYLIST).) Sunday'dec.'9Th'2012' Remembering John
    Breakfast)w/)the)Beatles) .)PLAYLIST).) Sunday'Dec.'9th'2012' Remembering John 1 Remembering'John' John Lennon – (Just Like) Starting Over – Double Fantasy NBC NEWS BULLETIN 2 The Beatles – A Day In The Life - Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band Recorded Jan & Feb 1967 Quite possibly the finest Lennon/McCartney collaboration of their song-writing career. Vin Scelsa WNEW FM New York Dec.8th 1980 Paul McCartney – Here Today - Tug of War ‘82 This was Paul’s elegy for John – it was a highlight of the album, and as was the entire album, produced by George Martin. This continues to be part of Paul’s repertoire for his live shows. George Harrison – All Those Years Ago This particular track is a puzzle still somewhat unsolved. Originally written for Ringo with different lyrics, (which Ringo didn’t think was right for him), the lyrics were rewritten after John Lennon’s murder. Although Ringo did provide drums, there is a dispute as to whether Paul, Linda and Denny did backing vocals at Friar Park, or in their own studio – hence phoning it in. But Paul insists that he had asked George to play on his own track, Wanderlust, for the Tug Of War album. Having arrived at George’s Friar Park estate, they instead focused on backing vocals for All Those Years Ago. It became George’s biggest hit in 8 years, just missing the top spot on the charts. 3 2.12 BREAK/OPEN Start with songs John liked…. The Beatles – In My Life - Rubber Soul Recorded Oct.18th 1965 Of all the Lennon/McCartney collaborations only 2 songs have really been disputed by John & Paul themselves one being “Eleanor Rigby” and the other is “In My Life”.
    [Show full text]
  • Innovators: Songwriters
    NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES INNOVATORS: SONGWRITERS David Galenson Working Paper 15511 http://www.nber.org/papers/w15511 NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 November 2009 The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer- reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications. © 2009 by David Galenson. All rights reserved. Short sections of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit, including © notice, is given to the source. Innovators: Songwriters David Galenson NBER Working Paper No. 15511 November 2009 JEL No. N00 ABSTRACT Irving Berlin and Cole Porter were two of the great experimental songwriters of the Golden Era. They aimed to create songs that were clear and universal. Their ability to do this improved throughout much of their careers, as their skill in using language to create simple and poignant images improved with experience, and their greatest achievements came in their 40s and 50s. During the 1960s, Bob Dylan and the team of John Lennon and Paul McCartney created a conceptual revolution in popular music. Their goal was to express their own ideas and emotions in novel ways. Their creativity declined with age, as increasing experience produced habits of thought that destroyed their ability to formulate radical new departures from existing practices, so their most innovative contributions appeared early in their careers.
    [Show full text]
  • Where Does It Come from & Why Does It Persist?
    ANTI- SEMITISM WHAT ARE ITS NEW FORMS? WHERE DOES IT COME FROM & WHY DOES IT PERSIST? WILL IT EVER GO AWAY? A SYMPOSIUM WITH AYAAN HIRSI ALI, DAVID BERGER, PHYLLIS CHESLER, JEREMY COHEN, IRWIN COTLER, MOHAMMED S. DAJANI DAOUDI, HASIA DINER, STUART EIZENSTAT, AVNER FALK, IRA FORMAN, MICHEL GURFINKIEL, DAVID KERTZER, BRIAN KLUG, DAVID MAMET, DAVID NIRENBERG, EMANUELE OTTOLENGHI, CYNTHIA OZICK, DINA PORAT, ALVIN ROSENFELD, ARI ROTH, SHLOMO SAND, MAXIM SHRAYER, CHARLES ASHER SMALL, ELI VALLEY, HANS-JOACHIM VOTH, XU XIN AND OTHERS ONLINE: MICHAEL BARKUN, BENT BLÜDNIKOW, ROBERT CHAZAN, LEONARD DINNERSTEIN, EVA FOGELMAN ZVI GITELMAN, MICHAEL GOLDFARB, JONATHAN JUDAKEN, SHMUEL TRIGANO, SERGIO WIDDER ART CREDIT 34 JULY/AUGUST 2013 INTERVIEWS BY: SARAH BREGER, DINA GOLD,GEORGE JOHNSON, CAITLIN YOSHIKO KANDIL, SALA LEVIN & JOSH TAPPER THE OLDEST HATRED IS BY SOME ACCOUNTS ALIVE AND WELL, BY OTHERS AN OVERUSED EPITHET. WE TALK WITH THINKERS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE FOR A CRITICAL AND SURPRISINGLY NUANCED EXAMINATION OF ANTI-SEMITISM'S ORIGINS AND STAYING POWER. DAVID BERGER Europe meant that Jews became the Christianity could not eliminate the evil OUTSIDERS & ENEMIES quintessential Other, and they conse- character of Jewish blood. quently became the primary focus of David Berger is editor of History and In the ancient Greco-Roman world, peo- hostility even in ways that transcended Hate: The Dimensions of Anti-Semi- ple evinced a wide variety of attitudes to- the theological. tism and Ruth and I. Lewis Gordon Pro- ward Jews. Some admired Jewish distinc- Once this focus on Jews as the Other fessor of Jewish History and dean of the tiveness, some were neutral, but others became entrenched, it continued into Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish were put off by the fact that unlike any modern Europe.
    [Show full text]
  • The Last Days of John Lennon
    Copyright © 2020 by James Patterson Hachette Book Group supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce creative works that enrich our culture. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights. Little, Brown and Company Hachette Book Group 1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104 littlebrown.com twitter.com/littlebrown facebook.com/littlebrownandcompany First ebook edition: December 2020 Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc. The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc. The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher. The Hachette Speakers Bureau provides a wide range of authors for speaking events. To find out more, go to hachettespeakersbureau.com or call (866) 376-6591. ISBN 978-0-316-42907-8 Library of Congress Control Number: 2020945289 E3-111020-DA-ORI Table of Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 — Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 — Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24
    [Show full text]
  • The Ballad of John & Yoko
    THE BALLAD OF JOHN & YOKO Written by Luken Tonjes SincerelyLuken.com ACT 1 1 EXT. NEW YORK CITY. MUSEUM OF MODERN ART. AFTERNOON 1 We see a 1966 JOHN LENNON. He is wearing an English cap, signature sunglasses, and a scarf. JOHN is standing outside of the Museum of modern art, the sound of the city bombards him, the head liner is “YOKO ONO” he is curious so he walks in. R INT. MUSEUM OF MODERN ART. AFTERNOON. It is now quiet. He takes off his cap and sunglasses and proceeds down the hall. There is a picture of YOKO as he is walking in. JOHN sees a ladder in the middle of the room with a magnifying glass hanging from the ceiling, and a canvas attached to the wall. He decides to climb it, he picks up the magnifying glass and takes a look at the canvas. It reads “yes” JOHN is in awe and takes a look to his right, there stands YOKO ONO. She is talking to someone and is laughing. JOHN gives a faint smile. CUT TO: INT. NEW YORK CITY. MUSEUM OF MODERN ART. AFTERNOON.- LATER It is towards the end of the show, there are men taking down some of the pieces. YOKO is directing them and she has a clipboards in her hand. JOHN walks up to YOKO in confidence and taps her on the shoulder. She turns quickly. JOHN Hi, I just wanted to introduce myself, I loved the show. Especially the one piece- YOKO And you are? JOHN is shot down JOHN Sorry? 2.
    [Show full text]