The Burden of Memory, the Muse of Forgiveness

The Burden of Memory, like The Open Sore of a Continent, derives from the three lectures Soyinka gave at the DuBois Institute (the inaugural lectures of the Genevieve McMillan Foundation). Where The Open Sore offered a searing critique of the Nigerian military and its repression of human and civil rights, The Burden of Memory addresses the next logical question in a broader global context: is reconciliation between oppressor and oppressed possible? If the review coverage and print attention given his last (and more narrowly focused) book is any indication, this new offering by Africa's most prominent voice of human conscience is sure to receive widespread attention not only among those concerned with African politics, but for any informed reader seeking to trace the path of democracy as it finds its way on inhospitable terrain.