Podcasts about Achebe

Per festeggiare la Festa della Liberazione, ecco 5 grandi scrittori anticoloniali (più uno bonus) apparsi su Medio Oriente e DintorniIscriviti al canale Telegram per la mappa con tutti i luoghi di Milano legati all'universo di Medio Oriente e Dintorni, divertiti a scoprire: ristoranti, kebab, luoghi di culto, shisha club, negozi di tappeti, ristoranti e tanto altro; prossimamente verranno aggiunte anche altre città d'Italia, fatti trovare prontoMentre qui trovate tutti i link di Medio Oriente e Dintorni: Linktree, ma, andando un po' nel dettaglio: -Tutti gli aggiornamenti sulla pagina instagram @medioorienteedintorni -Per articoli visitate il sito https://mediorientedintorni.com/ trovate anche la "versione articolo" di questo podcast. - Qui il link al canale Youtube- Podcast su tutte le principali piattaforme in Italia e del mondo-Vuoi tutte le uscite in tempo reale? Iscriviti al gruppo Telegram: https://t.me/mediorientedintorniOgni like, condivisione o supporto è ben accetto e mi aiuta a dedicarmi sempre di più alla mia passione: raccontare il Medio Oriente ed il "mondo islamico"

Invincible is BACK for Season 3 and we are hoping they get back to that Season 1 pacing! Also we are still in the midst of Solo Leveling Season 2! A lot to talk about here!Some more topics on the docket this week! - Jonathan Majors to Return as Kang?! - Fiege mulling bringing the superstar actor back into the MCU fold...- Achebe to be the Villain of Black Panther III played by Denzel Washington?! - July 2025 might break box office records!- We talk about 'The Thing' of it all when it comes to the Fantastic Four - Marvel Executive Says that they are 'Not Recasting T'Challa'- Kit Harrington rumored to play 'Hush' in 'The Batman 2' - RDJ Doctor Doom with be a one use MCU character?! -Comics of the Week and moreRemember to Like, Comment and Subscribe!---------------------------------Follow us on Social Media!

The Fantastic Four trailer is finally here, and fortunately, Mendte, Mashko, Features, Lance, and Baby Huey are breaking it down faster than Reed Richards solving a multiversal crisis. Meanwhile, Benedict Cumberbatch is backtracking on his Avengers: Doomsday comments, Anthony Mackie is catching some heat online, and Chris Evans is once again reminding us that retirement means retirement… or does it? We've also got our Spider-Man review swinging in, plus a wild rumor that Denzel Washington might be bringing some next-level menace to Black Panther 3 as Achebe. All that and more—so grab your pull list, hit play, and let's get into it. That's That!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/that-comic-podcast--5896499/support.

We are watching one of the best new anime's out right now in Solo Leveling! Season 2 is dropping BOMBS on us as it's been revealed that Jinwoo's Dad is now involved in the story?! Things just took a turn! Some more topics on the docket this week! - Anthony Mackie says Captain America "Doesn't Represent America"?! - Achebe to be the Villain of Black Panther III?! - Glenn Powell to Write and Star in a Captain Planet Movie?! - Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four to have Superbowl Promotion?! - Warhammer Series Starring Henry Cavill is Confirmed! - Vincent D'Ononfrio says he and Charlie Cox pushed for "Dark and Gritty" Daredevil with Marvel and they were on board! - RDJ Dr Doom vs Loki God of Stories in Avengers Doomsday?! -Comics of the Week and more Remember to Like, Comment and Subscribe! --------------------------------- Follow us on Social Media!

GCU ON THE INTERVIEWS!GCU interviews Author Chinedu Achebe @chineduachebe about his book WHEN IT ALL FALLS DOWN. We'll get catch up with this previous guest and GCU award winning author for our first interview of the season! Join hosts @authoruntamed and @booksandsoul1 on Wednesday, January 15th at 9 pm EST only on the Get Caught Up Podcast audio platform! Follow us IG: @getcaughtuppodcast and Facebook at Get Caught Up Author Podcast, TikTok, and YouTubeSponsorships anchor.fm/getcaughtup Donations Cash App $UP2016 #podcasts #dopeblackpodcasts #spotifyforpodcasters #literarypodcast #authorpodcast #podcastinglife #googlepodcasts #podcasters #podcastlife #podcaster #podernfamily #podcastmovement #podcast #podcastshow #podcastersofinstagram #thepodcastpost #podsincolor #talkradio #applepodcasts #podbean #podcastaddict #blackpodcasters #chineduachebe #getcaughtuppodcast

Penn State Berks professor, Dr. Thomas Jay Lynn, joins us on the front porch to discuss Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Tom's book, Chinua Achebe and the Politics of Narration: Envisioning Language, has been called "a notable contribution to Achebe studies." Tom takes us deep into the world of Things Fall Apart and highlights important and lasting contributions Achebe made to world literature and the West's understanding of Africa and the impacts of colonization. We learn more about Achebe's Igbo way of viewing the duality of life and how that duality is represented in his writing and his very flawed main character, Okonkwo. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/frontporchbookclub/support

Penn State Berks professor, Dr. Thomas Jay Lynn, joins us on the front porch to discuss Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Tom's book, Chinua Achebe and the Politics of Narration: Envisioning Language, has been called "a notable contribution to Achebe studies." Tom takes us deep into the world of Things Fall Apart and highlights important and lasting contributions Achebe made to world literature and the West's understanding of Africa and the impacts of colonization. We learn more about Achebe's Igbo way of viewing the duality of life and how that duality is represented in his writing and his very flawed main character, Okonkwo. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/frontporchbookclub/support

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart is the oldest book we've discussed on the front porch; it was published in 1958 just as the European colonization of Africa was being dismantled. The book's setting is the beginning of colonization in the 1880's in what is now Nigeria, but was then Igboland. Achebe immerses us deeply into the culture of the Igbo people through the eyes of the esteemed, but highly flawed, Okonkwo. Near the end of the book, British missionaries and courts arrive and Okonkwo must decide how he will save his village and his way of life. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/frontporchbookclub/support

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart is the oldest book we've discussed on the front porch; it was published in 1958 just as the European colonization of Africa was being dismantled. The book's setting is the beginning of colonization in the 1880's in what is now Nigeria, but was then Igboland. Achebe immerses us deeply into the culture of the Igbo people through the eyes of the esteemed, but highly flawed, Okonkwo. Near the end of the book, British missionaries and courts arrive and Okonkwo must decide how he will save his village and his way of life. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/frontporchbookclub/support

This week's guest is Michael Donkor whose new novel Grow Where They Fall is a meticulous and tender exploration of two formative moments in the life of one Kwame Akromah, twenty years apart. Kwame is Black, Gay, British of Ghanian descent, a dedicated teacher, a dependable friend—character traits and conditions of life that weave around each other and interact, with unpredictable results—whether for the ten-year old boy or the grown man—at times lifting Kwame up, at other times dragging him down. Grow Where They Fall manages to be as gentle as it is spirited, as moving as is fun to read, and Donkor handles the changing register of life, and of London, in these different decades, with skill and verve. It is a book not just about growing up, and perhaps growing old, but also, in a sense, about growing out — growing out of the roles handed down to us by our families, growing out of friendships, growing out of jobs, and growing out of our own fixed ideas about ourselves. It's also a book which asks the essential human question: Is it ever really possible to know where we are going without first knowing where we have come from?Buy Grow Where They Fall: https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/books/grow-where-they-fall*Michael Donkor was born in London in 1985. He was raised in a Ghanaian household where talking lots and reading lots were vigorously encouraged. Michael read English at Oxford where he developed a particular interest in the works of Woolf, Lessing and Achebe, and later undertook a Masters in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway. Michael worked in publishing for a number of years, but eventually decided to put his literary enthusiasms to other uses: in 2010, he retrained as an English teacher, teaching A-Level students, trying to develop a curious excitement about books and storytelling within his students. He now lives in Portugal, where he works as a bookseller. In 2014 Michael was selected by Writers Centre Norwich for their Inspires Mentoring Scheme, and worked with mentor Daniel Hahn. His first novel, HOLD, which explores Ghanaian heritage and questions surrounding sexuality, identity and sacrifice, was published by 4th Estate in 2018, and was longlisted for the Dylan Thomas and shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prizes. Michael was also selected by Scottish Poet Laureate Jackie Kay as one of the most important contemporary British BAME authors. He has written for the Guardian, the Telegraph, BBC Radio 3, the TLS and the Independent. Adam Biles is Literary Director at Shakespeare and Company. His latest novel, Beasts of England, a sequel of sorts to Animal Farm, is available now. Buy a signed copy here: https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/books/beasts-of-englandListen to Alex Freiman's latest EP, In The Beginning: https://open.spotify.com/album/5iZYPMCUnG7xiCtsFCBlVa?si=h5x3FK1URq6SwH9Kb_SO3w Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

De historicus en de romanschrijver lijken tegenpolen: de één verdiept zich in de feiten, de ander verliest zich in fictie. In de vijfdelige serie Verzonnen verleden gaan journalisten Pieter van Os en Julie Blussé in gesprek over vijf beeldbepalende historische romans. Met deze week: Chinua Achebe's klassieker Een wereld valt uiteen. Okonkwo: een man die op het breukvlak van verschillende tijdsgewrichten tevergeefs probeert vast te houden aan een wereldbeeld dat heftige concurrentie krijgt van een groeiende groep machtige buitenstaanders. Een wereld valt uiteen is een historische roman uit 1958, die vanuit het perspectief van Okonkwo beschrijft hoe zijn Ibo-dorp aan het einde van de 19e eeuw langzaam maar gestaag gekoloniseerd wordt door de Britten. “Achebe was een van de eersten die de gekoloniseerde Afrikaan liet terugpraten.” Aldus Vamba Sherif, zelf geboren in Liberia en auteur van verscheidene historische romans die zich afspelen in westelijk Afrika. Daarmee zette de Nigeriaanse Achebe een trend: veel hedendaagse historische romans tonen geschiedenis vanuit een perspectief dat in de geschiedboeken nauwelijks is terug te vinden. Te gast naast Vamba Sherif is Raf Njotea. Deze Vlaamse scenarist maakte een podcast over zijn vader, een Ibo die in de jaren zeventig naar België emigreerde. “En als je over mijn vader praat”, aldus Njotea, “dan is Okonkwo nooit ver weg.”

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart is one of the most influential and important examples of world literature in the twentieth century, so we're very excited to dig in over the next few weeks. In this episode, we're talking about Achebe's lovely prose, his high wire act protagonist-wise, how books like this can open our eyes, and much, much more. Oh—and this is one of those special episodes featuring all four of us. Happy listening! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

It's another enriching episode of the CanadianSME Small Business Podcast. Dive deep with us into the realm of community-based financial empowerment, led by the insights of two revered personalities from Alterna Savings. Known for its standout commitment to entrepreneurs and small businesses, Alterna Savings consistently carves its niche in the financial arena. With us are Jean Barrett, Manager of Alterna Savings' Community Microfinance Program, and Mary Achebe, Credit Officer. Their combined experience surpasses 25 years in banking, accentuated by an unwavering devotion to community microfinance.Key Highlight Points:Discover what makes Alterna Savings stand out in the financial world, offering much more than just traditional banking services.Understand Alterna's 'hands-up' philosophy in their Community Microfinance Program, a transformative strategy enriching numerous entrepreneurs.Explore the distinct groups Alterna's Community Microfinance Program ardently aims to empower and support.Get to know about the holistic array of support that Alterna offers to entrepreneurs, making sure they're well-equipped for success.Learn about Alterna's cutting-edge products, services, and support structures, all designed to facilitate the dreams of small business owners.Guidance for the enthusiastic entrepreneurs keen on tapping into the vast potential of Alterna's Community Microfinance Program.We express our deepest appreciation to both Jean and Mary for gracing this episode and sharing a goldmine of insights about Alterna Savings and its Community Microfinance Program. The commitment Alterna shows to championing small businesses and entrepreneurs is palpable and commendable.Huge thanks to our amazing partners who make this podcast a reality: RBC, our banking stalwart always at the forefront in supporting Canadian SMEs; UPS, our shipping partner ensuring seamless business connections, and Xero, simplifying financial intricacies for businesses nationwide.For those hungry for more insights, wisdom, and stories, subscribe at https://canadiansme.ca/subscription/.   Let's harness the combined power of tech and human expertise to enlighten and inspire your entrepreneurial aspirations.

Hi readers! Kari here. Just a reminder: This week, we're revisiting Things Fall Apart to properly set the tone for next week's book, No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe. Published in the 1960s, No Longer at Ease is the second work of Achebe's African Trilogy. It deals with themes such as cultural integrity versus colonialization and assimilation.  So, this week, we're revising the first work in the trilogy, Things Fall Apart. Although this is required reading in High School for nearly everyone, we discovered this book anew while reading as adults. The layered, delicate themes became more pronounced, and I'm glad this one made it to our schedule. Next week, we'll dive into No Longer at Ease, a book neither Alexis nor I have read. We're excited to read it for the first time with all of you. So, if you're stateside, enjoy your long weekend, and wherever you are in the world, we hope this book makes you feel something extraordinary, as it did with us. Enjoy!

Hi readers! Kari here. Alexis and I are switching up the schedule this and next week to correctly set the stage for No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe. Published in the 1960s, No Longer at Ease is the second work of Achebe's African Trilogy, which begins with the distinguished High School required read Things Fall Apart. It deals with themes such as cultural integrity versus colonialization and assimilation.  So, this week, we thought it's fitting to revisit one of our favorite works of historical fiction that also tackles these themes in a beautifully illustrious way — Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. Next week, we'll revisit Things Fall Apart by Achebe. Then, on the 14th, we'll return with No Longer at Ease, a book neither Alexis nor I have read before. We're excited to read it for the first time with all of you. So, if you're stateside, enjoy your long weekend, and wherever you are in the world, we hope this book makes you feel something extraordinary, as it did with us. Enjoy!❤️

Una de las obras más vendidas de la historia de África. Nos sumerge en la cultura y tradiciones de la tribu Igbo en Nigeria durante la llegada de los misioneros y colonizadores británicos. Esta es la primera novela en la literatura mundial en la cual la cultura africana es contada del punto de vista de un africano y no de un occidental. El autor logra esto a través de la historia de Okonkwo, un guerrero y líder respetado en su comunidad, que de repente tiene que presenciar el choque entre la tradición de la cultura africana y la influencia cristiana occidental. Achebe nos presenta una poderosa reflexión sobre el choque de civilizaciones, el valor de la identidad cultural y los estragos del colonialismo, todo ello enmarcado en una narrativa cautivadora y llena de profundidad.

For this episode we read the 1958 novel by debut novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. The novel became the first work published in Heinemann's African Writers Series in the UK, starting in 1962. “Things Fall Apart” is the first book in Achebe's trilogy about African history, and has been read by high schoolers for generations as the archetypal modern African novel in English. It is a staple book in schools throughout Africa, is widely read and studied in English-speaking countries around the world, and continues to be listed on included on “most important books” lists whenever they're published.  Episode Links This episode's book - "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe Next episode's book - "Johny Got His Gun" by Dalton Trumbo; "Beloved" by Toni Morrison; "As I Lay Dying" by Willaim Faulkner Tell us what YOU think about this book, or anything else you're reading, in our GoodReads or Facebook groups, or talk to us on twitter using the #BigBookPodcast hashtag. If you'd like to make a suggestion for future reading send us your recommendations on the Big Book Club Podcast page on the Arlington Public Library website. We're Reading Jennie – “Gangsters vs. Nazis: How Jewish Mobsters Battled Nazis in Wartime America” by Michael Benson Pete – “The Sirens of Titan” by Kurt Vonnegut

Professor Kozlowski takes on C. S. Lewis' An Experiment in Criticism to examine the ethical responsibilities of the audience to a work of art or literature, and to discuss how the world of criticism has changed in fifty years. Among other topics, he'll discuss: bad-faith criticism, criticism from marginalized perspectives, intrinsic and extrinsic criticism, and Lewis' own problems with elitist gatekeeping and inflammatory criticism for self-aggrandizement. Suggested supplementary readings include: Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island C. S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Achebe's "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness" To see what else Professor Kozlowski is up to, visit his webpage: https://professorkozlowski.wordpress.com/ And please consider contributing to Professor Kozlowski's Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/ProfessorKozlowski - where you'll also be able to vote for and suggest new topics for future lectures.

A fascinating theme by Karen Steinberg, as a consequence of which Europeans might, for once, have a SKOSH of an advantage. There were a few relatively unfamiliar names in the grid - ________ Achebe, "Things Fall Apart" author, CHINUA; 59D, Little ________, who sang "The Locomotive", EVA; and the very rare, 22A, Six-time MLB All-Star Mookie, BETTS (in its second appearance ever in the grid, previously clued as Britain's Crown Princess way back in 1946!). Contact Info:We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com.Also, we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and strike up a conversation!

On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Chinedu Achebe, author of the novel, The Miseducation of Obi Ifeanyi. Chinedu is Nigerian-American. He graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelors degree in Economics. He published his first book, Blunted on Reality in 2012. Chinedu has also written articles in the Huffington Post, Medium, and Bella Naija. He currently lives in Houston, Texas with his wife and son.In our conversation, he discusses the historical event that inspired his writing, why he doesn't mind if readers have problems with some elements of his fiction, and why he thinks most books marketed toward Black people are overrated. Support the show

The Aunties get into actress, singer, beauty influencer, Yetunde Oduwale's business ... The Nigerian-British actress is best known for her role as Gladys Adebanjo, in the hit comedy series Meet The Adebanjos. If you watched the new popular crime drama on Netflix “You Don't Know Me” on Netflix, Yetunde plays 'Abebi'. She also played Comfort in Youngers, Gbemi in Kayode Ewumi's Enterprice, Mrs Achebe in The First Team and Mrs Charlton in The Larkins.

GCU interviews Author Chinedu Achebe @chineduachebe Join us as we learn more about him and his novel, The Miseducation of Obi Ifeanyi. You don't want to miss it! Join hosts @authoruntamed and @booksandsoul1 on Wednesday, May 11th at 9 pm EST only on the Get Caught Up Podcast Follow us IG: @getcaughtuppodcast on Twitter @gcu_podcast. Sponsorships anchor.fm/getcaughtup Donations Cash App $UP2016 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/getcaughtup/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/getcaughtup/support

Art and Rob unravel the geopolitical issues of a made up country near Wakanda. Rob can be found on their podcast, Stasis Pod. Art is also on Creepy Critters, Over Innsmouth, and Into the Rewatch podcasts. You can help by donating to Patreon. Find us on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok as @alphabetflight or at the Hodge Pod Facebook Group.

Episode 117 Notes and Links to Nadia Owusu's Work          On Episode 117 of The Chills at Will Podcast, Pete welcomes Nadia Owusu, and the discuss, among other topics, her early love of language and her experiences living in multiple countries, her relationship with her parents and her parents' families, aftershocks both literal and figurative, colonialism and trauma, tradition, and coming to terms with her past and all of our pasts.       NADIA OWUSU is a Ghanaian and Armenian-American writer and urbanist. Her debut memoir, Aftershocks, was selected as a best book of 2021 by Time, Vogue, Esquire, The Guardian, NPR, and others. It was one of President Barack Obama's favorite books of the year, a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice, and a 2021 Goodreads Choice Award nominee. In 2019, Nadia was the recipient of a Whiting Award. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The New York Times, Orion, Granta, The Paris Review Daily, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, The Literary Review, Slate, Bon Appétit, Travel + Leisure, and others. Nadia is the Director of Storytelling at Frontline Solutions, a Black-owned consulting firm that helps social-change organizations to define goals, execute plans, and evaluate impact. She is a graduate of Pace University (BA) and Hunter College (MS). She earned her MFA in creative nonfiction at the Mountainview low-residency program where she currently teaches. She lives in Brooklyn.     Nadia Owusu's Website   From The Guardian, Feb 2021: "Nadia Owusu: 'I wrote as a way to process trauma' "   Buy the Award-Winning Aftershocks   Aftershocks Review in The New York Times At about 2:50, Nadia describes her childhood reading interests and relationship with language, including the “important” Their Eyes Were Watching God and Things Fall Apart   At about 4:20, Nadia discusses books as constants in her life as the family moved often in her childhood   At about 5:00, Nadia responds to Pete's question about Achebe's book and its significance in African countries today   At about 6:40, Pete wonders about texts that were thrilling/transformational for Nadia as a high school/college student    At about 7:55, Pete and Nadia discuss the many places in which Nadia grew up, and she explores how reading connected to this upbringing, including ideas of empathy    At about 10:00, Pete asks Nadia about James Baldwin and his connection to Pan-Africanism   At about 12:00, Pete and Nadia discuss the implications of the Anansi and the African diaspora, and Nadia details the meaning of the term “bush” as used by her father and in the Ashanti culture as a whole   At about 14:35, Pete and Nadia discuss narrative and ideas of time in her book, and Nadia gives more insight into the significance of a family trip to Ghana and ideas of “double-consciousness”   At about 16:40, Nadia talks about not having a lot of information about, and connection to, her Armenian heritage, and how being Ghanaian and Armenian-American informed her life and the trip mentioned above   At about 18:30, Nadia describes the familial and political structures of Ghanaian peoples, and how they were and have been affected by colonialism   At about 20:20, Pete remarks on the specifics of “aftershocks” of the book's title, as well as the skillful ways in which Nadia writes about how much of  African life is still affected by European colonialism   At about 21:10, Nadia expands on the ways in which colonialism continues to   At about 22:30, the two talk about colonialism's specific legacy in Tanzania, particularly with regards to oppression coming from organized religion and the horrid debacle with George Bush's   At about 25:50, Pete and Nadia trace the book's beginnings and the earliest “aftershock” that came in 1988 with the disastrous Armenian earthquake    At about 28:50, Pete and Nadia parse the usage of the word “aftershock” and trauma's everlasting effects    At about 30:15, Nadia responds to Pete's questions about her exploration of her Armenian family   At about 32:50, Pete wonders about the circumstances of Nadia's mother leaving the family and its connections to misogyny and internalized misogyny    At about 35:05, Pete makes a request regarding beloved Aunt Harriet   At about 36:45, Nadia responds to Pete's questions about difficulties and challenges in writing a memoir, especially with regards to public and unfiltered exposure for her and those in her life   At about 40:45, Nadia discusses the importance of the book's blue chair motif and the history of the chair   At about 44:50, Nadia talks about her father and the term of endearment “Baba”   At about 45:30, Nadia explains her process in writing about Kwame, her half-brother, and how his case mirrored that of many victimized by racist law enforcement practices   At about 48:00, Nadia talks about her first-hand experience in New York City during 9/11   At about 49:30, Nadia explains how listening to Coltrane and allowing herself “madness” led to breakthroughs during her tough times   At about 51:20, Nadia discusses her ideas of her father as “man-god” and his contradictions and ideas of faith    At about 52:00, Shout out to the great Malala and her father!    At about 53:55, Pete shouts out the creative and meaningful ending chapters of “Libations” and “Home,” and Nadia gives her rationale for these two chapters, including her interest in ceremony   At about 56:10, Pete makes comparisons between Aftershocks and Jean Guerrero's Crux, in that books work    At about 57:20, Nadia shouts out contemporary writers who thrill, including Caleb Azumah Nelson, Hanif Abdurraqib, David Diop   At about 58:15, Pete highlights the interesting variety of work that Nadia does, and Nadia talks about future projects   At about 59:55, Pete asks Nadia about meaningful feedback from readers of her book   At about 1:02:00, Nadia gives out her social media and contact information, and shouts out Café Con Libros, The Word is Change as cool booksellers to buy her book   At about 1:03:10, Nadia reads from “Failures of a Language,” a chapter from her book     You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow me on IG, where I'm @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where I'm @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both my YouTube Channel and my podcast while you're checking out this episode.  This is a passion project of mine, a DIY operation, and I'd love for your help in promoting what I'm convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form. The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.     Please tune in for Episode 118 with SJ Sindu, a Tamil diaspora author of two literary novels, two hybrid chapbooks, and a forthcoming graphic novel. Her first novel, Marriage of a Thousand Lies, won the Publishing Triangle Edmund White Award and was a Stonewall Honor Book and a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award. Sindu's second novel, Blue-Skinned Gods, was published to high praise in November 2021 by Soho Press. A 2013 Lambda Literary Fellow, Sindu teaches at the University of Toronto Scarborough.      The episode will air on April 13.   

Neste episódio entrevistamos a professora, pesquisadora e doutoranda pela UDESC Tathiana Cassiano, que falou conosco sobre seu trabalho de História das Áfricas a partir da Literatura. Nossa relação com essas histórias tem sido há muito tempo mediada por leituras que nos foram legadas pela historiografia europeia. Para criar um canal direto com o continente africano, local onde repousam muitas de nossas raízes, Tathiana desenvolveu um trabalho sobre a escritora nigeriana Flora Nwapa, em busca de conhecer e analisar as histórias sobre as Áfricas, especialmente das experiências das mulheres da etnia Igbo, do sudeste nigeriano. A partir das pesquisas de Tathiana passamos a conhecer esta autora, suas obras e os impactos que elas tiveram na sociedade nigeriana e, também, em outras partes do mundo, como no Brasil. Ouçam este episódio, leiam literatura africana! Enviem seus comentários e perguntas! Arte da Capa Arte do Episódio: Augusto Carvalho Financiamento Coletivo Ajude nosso projeto! Você pode nos apoiar de diversas formas: PADRIM  – só clicar e se cadastrar (bem rápido e prático) https://www.padrim.com.br/fronteirasnotempo PIC PAY [https://app.picpay.com/user/fronteirasnotempo]– Baixe o aplicativo do PicPay: iOS / Android PIX: [chave] fronteirasnotempo@gmail.com Saiba mais da nossa convidada Tathiana Cristina da Silva Anizio Cassiano Currículo Lattes Instagram Twitter e-mail: tathi.leandro@gmail.com Laboratório de Estudos Pós-Coloniais e Decoloniais – AYA – https://ayalaboratorio.com/ Literatura Africana ACHEBE, Chinua. O mundo se despedaça. São Paulo: Cia das Letras, 2009. ACHEBE, Chinua. A flecha de Deus. São Paulo: Cia. Das Letras, 2011. ADICHIE, Chimamanda Ngozi. Hibisco Roxo. São Paulo: Cia das Letras, 2011. MUKASONGA, Scholastique. A Mulher de Pés Descalços. São Paulo: Ed. Nós, 2017. NWAPA, Flora. Efuru. Londres: Heinemann, 1966. Produção da convidada e indicações bibliográficas sobre o tema abordado Laboratório de Estudos Pós-Coloniais e Decoloniais – AYA – https://ayalaboratorio.com/ Mulheres na História da África – Projeto da Unesco – https://en.unesco.org/womeninafrica/ CASSIANO, Tathiana Cristina. História das Áfricas e Literatura: as mulheres igbos na escrita literária de Flora Nwapa. Revista Transversos. Dossiê: O protagonismo da mulher negra na escrita da história das Áfricas e das Améfricas Ladinas. Rio de Janeiro, nº. 21, 2021. pp. 114-132. Disponível em: . ISSN 2179-7528. DOI: 10.12957/transversos.2021.54915. ACHEBE, C. Morning Yet on Creation Day: essays. New York: Anchor Press and Doubleday, 1976. AMADIUME, I. “Macalester International African Women: Voicing Feminisms and Democratice Futures”. Macalester International, v. 10, 2001, p. 47–68. BALLESTRIN, L. M. de A. “América Latina e o giro decolonial”. Revista Brasileira de Ciência Política, n. 11, 2013, p. 89–117. CALHEIRO, I.; OLIVEIRA, E. D. “Igualdade Ou Desigualdade De Gênero Na África? Pensamento Feminista Africano”. Revista Brasileira de Estudos Africanos, v. 3, n. 6, 2019, p. 93–110. CARNEIRO, A. S. A construção do outro como não-ser como fundamento do ser. 2005, Tese (Doutorado em Educação) Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2005. CHUKU, G. “Nwanyibuife Flora Nwapa, Igbo culture and women's studies”. CHUKU, G. (Ed). The Igbo Intellectual Tradition: Creative Conflict in African and African Diasporic Thought. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. p. 267–293. EVARISTO, C. “Literatura negra: uma poética de nossa afro-brasilidade”. Scripta, v. 13, n. 25, 2009, p. 17–31. FALOLA, T.; HEATON, M. M. A History of Nigeria. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. HALL, S. Da Diáspora: identidades e mediações culturais. Belo Horizonte: Editora UFMG, 2003. HOUTONDJI, P. J. “Conhecimento de África, conhecimento de africanos: duas perspectivas sobre os Estudos Africanos”. Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais, n. 80, 2008, p. 149–160. LEITE, A. M. Oralidades e Escrita pós-coloniais: estudos sobre literaturas africanas. Rio de Janeiro: EdUERJ, 2012. LUGONES, M. Colonialidade e Gênero. Disponível em: . Acesso em: 13 set. 2020. M'BOKOLO, E. África Negra História e Civilizações: tomo II (Do século XIX aos nossos dias). Salvador: EDUFBA, 2011. MARTINS, C. “Nós e as Mulheres dos Outros. Feminismos entre o Norte e a África”. Geometrias Da Memória: Configurações Pós-Coloniais. 2016, p. 251–277. MEILASSOUX, C. Antropologia da Escravidão: o ventre de ferro e dinheiro. Rio de Janeiro: Jorge Zahar Editor, 1995. MORTARI, C.; WITTMANN, L. T. “O equilíbrio de histórias: experiências no ensino de história por meio de narrativas africanas e indígenas”. SILVA, G. J. DA; MEIRELES, M. C. (Eds.) A Lei 11.645/2008: uma década de avanços, impasses, limites e possibilidades. Curitiba: Editora Appris, 2019. p. 15–41. NNAEMEKA, O. “Feminism , Rebellious Women , and Cultural Boundaries : Rereading Flora Nwapa and Her Compatriots”. Research in African Literatures, v. 26, n. 2, 1995, p. 80–113. NNAEMEKA, O. “Negofeminismo: teorizar, praticar e abrir o caminho da África”. Revista Ártemis, v. XXVII, n. 1, jan. 2019, p. 33–62. NWAPA, F. Efuru. Londres: Heinemann, 1966. NNAEMEKA, O. “Women and Creative Writing in Africa”. OLANIYAN, T.; QUAYSON, A. (Eds.) African Literature: an Anthology of Criticism and Theory. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007. p. 526–532. OYEWÙMÍ, O. “Conceptualizing Gender: the eurocentric foundation of feminist concepts and the challenge of African Epistemologics”. COSDERIA Gender Series, v. 1, 2004, p. 1–8. NNAEMEKA, O. La Invención de las mujeres: una perspectiva africana sobre los discursos occidentales del gênero. Bogotá: Editorial en la frontera, 2017. PANTOJA, S. A. “Historiografia Africana e Os Ventos Sul: Desenvolvimento e História”. Revista TransVersos, n. 8, dez 2016, p. 46–70. QUIJANO, A. “Colonialidade do poder e classificação social”. SANTOS, B. DE S.; MENESES, M. P. (Eds). Epistemologias do Sul. Coimbra: Edições Almedina, 2009. p. 73–117. UMEH, M. “The Poetics of Economic Independence for Female Empowerment: An Interview with Flora Nwapa”. Research in African Literatures, v. 26, n. 2, 1995, p. 22–29. UZUKWU, E. E. “Igbo World and Ultimate Reality and Meaning”. Ultimate Reality and Meaning, v. 5, n. 3, set. 1982, p. 188–209. Redes Sociais Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Instagram Contato fronteirasnotempo@gmail.com Expediente  Arte da vitrine: Augusto Carvalho; Edição:  Talk'nCast; Roteiro e apresentação:  Beraba. Como citar esse episódio Citação ABNT Fronteiras no Tempo: Historicidade #46 História das Áfricas e Literatura. Locução Marcelo de Souza Silva, Thatiana Cassiano, Cesar Agenor Fernandes da Silva. [S.l.] Portal Deviante, 29/12/2022. Podcast. Disponível: http://www.deviante.com.br/?p=52045&preview=true Madrinhas e Padrinhos Adilson Lourenço da Silva Filho, Alexsandro de Souza Junior, Aline Lima, Álvaro Vitty, Anderson Paz, André Luís dos Santos, Andre Trapani Costa Possignolo, Barbara Marques, Carolina Pereira Lyon, Ceará, Charles Calisto Souza, Cláudia Bovo, Daniel Rei Coronato, David Viegas Casarin, Elisnei Menezes de Oliveira, Ettore Riter, Flavio Henrique Dias Saldanha, Iara Grisi Souza e Silva, João Carlos Ariedi Filho, José Carlos dos Santos, Lucas Akel, Luciano Abdanur, Manuel Macias, Marcos Sorrilha, Mayara Araujo dos Reis, Willian Spengler e padrinho anônimoSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

African societies have historically respected women's authority, spiritual power, physical strength, and moral judgement. Their cosmology upholds gender complementarity. Professor Nwando Achebe (Michigan State University) and I discuss pre-colonial gender relations across Africa. Transcript: https://www.draliceevans.com/post/female-monarchs-and-merchant-queens-in-africa Book: https://www.ohioswallow.com/book/Female+Monarchs+and+Merchant+Queens+in+Africa Author, Professor Achebe: https://history.msu.edu/people/faculty/nwando-achebe/

Il primo podcast tratto dalla prima "live ufficiale" del 2021, fra libri, film e storie alla ricerca della decolonizzazione sotto un punto di vista culturale attraverso Africa, Caraibi e mondo islamicoTrovate tutti i link qui: https://linktr.ee/mediorientedintorni, ma, andando un po' nel dettaglio:

A nice, quick-and-dirty bonus episode on "The Voter," Achebe's early stab at A Man of the People! For the rest of our conversation, see the bonus episode from a few weeks ago on The Many Saints of Newark...

Gerry and Aaron talk about what may be their favorite Achebe novel yet, A Man of the People, originally published in 1966. Also they try to figure out whether or not America had a coup.

Join Liz and Adam as they talk about China Achebe. Achebe was from Nigeria. He saw that media around the world did not show the true culture of Nigeria and Africa. So, he set out to tell the story of African people Is there an author who tells about your culture very well? Adam mentions a few authors in this program. Here are links so you can check them out. Haruki Murikami: https://www.harukimurakami.com/Jose Saramago: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1998/saramago/biographical/Join our YouTube channel to get access to exclusive videos and script PDFs:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPeqE9km-sipc9NCw02_4RQ/joinhttps://spotlightenglish.com/biography/nigerian-writer-chinua-achebe/Download our app for Android at http://bit.ly/spotlight-androidDownload our app for iOS at http://bit.ly/spotlight-appleFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/spotlightradioAre you learning English? Are you looking for a way to practice your English? Listen to Spotlight to learn about people and places all around the world. You can learn English words, and even practice English by writing a comment. Visit our website to follow along with the script: http://spotlightenglish.com

Another week on the short stories from the 50s and 60s! This week it's "Chike's School Days," "The Sacrificial Egg," and "Akueke." If you like stories in which nothing really happens, then this is the podcast for you! Sincere apologies for the slightly tinny sound in spots -- somebody stepped on an egg, and there was a problem with Gerry's mic that only showed up on the recording...

William Butler Yeats - Easter,1916 - The Poetry That Inspired Things Fall Apart   Hi, I'm Christy Shriver, and we're here to discuss books that have changed the world and have changed us.    And I'm Garry Shriver and this is the How to Love Lit Podcast.  We have just wrapped up our four part series on Chinua Achebe and his groundbreaking book Things Fall Apart.   Generally, between books, we take a moment to look at a poem or a shorter piece that in some way connects to the longer piece we have been discussing. This week and next week, we want to discuss W. B Yeats, the Irish poet who wrote the poem “The Second Coming” from which Achebe took the title of his book.  Christy, what can you tell us about this poet, beyond the fact that he won the Nobel prize for literature in 1923?  Should we really like him?  Bottom line- is he boring for those of us who aren't poetry heads?      HA!! Well, as you know- I'm always trying to pitch the idea that poetry is for everyone- you don't have to be a melodramatic person all caught up in their feels to find value in poetry.  It's a tough sell, and every year when I get new kids in class- I have the arduous task of making this case.  In fact, school starts for me tomorrow- if you're listening to this in real time, we are recording this in the fall of 2021 and school is starting back for us this week- and even though I am teaching all American Literature this year- this year- from AP all the way to regular English and all the levels in Between- I'm starting with the Irish poet William Butler Yeats- and actually this poem that we're talking about today.  The reason I'm doing it- for one thing- Yeats is on my mind- but the bigger reason is because this poem is an occasional poem- an occasional poem is where you are moved by an occasion and this occasion provokes feelings that need to be recorded.  My students are coming back to school after being locked in their homes- some of them have not been out in a year and a house.  The first thing we are going to do is write an occasional poem, and we're going to model it after Yeats.  If you're a teacher and interested in this assignment, it's on our website, but otherwise, my point is- Yeats was a guy who knew how to say things that we feel and here he conveys strong emotions about the identy politics of his day- something we all know a little bit about these days.  But Yeats has become popular because he knows how to express things people understand and identify with. The Coen brothers were inspired by him in their movie “No Country for Old Men” .  He's shows up in episodes of Cheer's, the band the Smith's have alluded to him and even Joe Biden in a foreign policy speech has alluded to the very poem we're talking about today.  But to answer your question, yeah, if we should like him- that's always difficult to say.   Honestly, he's from an era that's long gone and from a part of the world, that's different than for many of his readers.  He's also  little difficult to dissect because he loves symbols.    Those were a lot of disclaimers there.      BUT, if you do get into him, there are a lot of people that actually enjoy his work- not just poetry heads.  You'll  see him on a lot of those brainy quotes.    I guess that's true.  I actually just saw a meme on LinkedIn that quoted him.      So, because Yeats has such a large body of work and is so complicated, we're going to spend this week talking about him and the poem “Easter, 1916” then next week we'll move to the poem Achebe uses for his book title, “The Second Coming”.  It's harder to understand than the one we're doing today.  It's slightly apocalyptic and so complex, but don't think it doesn't have intrigue- Yeats had a complicated romantic life in general that we'll talk about some today, but ultimately it resulted in a strange but successful marriage with a woman, named George,  who besides having the interesting ability to dictate messages from the other side, as in ghosts and stuff- was 18 when they met, btw-he was 46.  So there you go…stay tune…    Ha- okay!  I can see how that age gap might turn some heads, especially at the turn of the 20th century.  So, can we expect symbols and philosophy?    That's some of it.  But also, his body of work is so large; it's complicated; it has a lot of variety.  He started out talking about all the myths and beauty of his home country.  But he didn't stay there.  His work is romantic; it's political; it's spiritual- he didn't just write poems either, he wrote plays- but in all things the one thing that is true in all of it is that - his work is Irish- there is so much magic and mystery embedded in this history and culture of Ireland- those of us who don't share the heritage of leprechauns, fairies, and magic are at a disadvantage by never having visited the amazing end of the rainbow we call Ireland.    I know that's a sore subject with you.  To get personal for a minute, Christy and I have gone with students on EF or Education First on several trips to Europe over the last few years.  In 2020, we had a trip planned with students from here in the Memphis area to tour Ireland and Scotland.  We were finally going to go but, of course, Covid struck the world, and that got cancelled.  Ireland is still on the bucket list, hopefully we'll get lucky soon to be able to discover for ourselves the beauty and the mystery of the place- but until then, we will live vicariously through Yeats, U2 and most recently- The Derry Girls- Yes, I'm not ashamed to admit we watch and love that show.       It is a fun show- and really contextualizes in some very funny ways this ethnic challenges Ireland faces.  Poor James Maguire, one of the characters on the show is English- born- but has to attend an all girls school for his safety- due to his accent.  Their making fun, but we all know, of course, that racial tensions and identity politics can get ugly in a hurry.  Anyway, getting to Achebe, and Yeats, it's really not surprising to me that Yeats caught Achebe's attention.  And in many ways has a lot in common with Chinua Achebe.    Well, they are from two very different places in the world, how do you mean?    Well, first of all, and this is a big one- both men were men between two cultures- and this is something those of us outside of Great Britain or even Europe don't always have in the forefront of our minds.  The Irish and the English are NOT the same people group.  The Irish are descended from the Celts; The English are Anglo-Saxon.  The Irish, like the Igbo, had a different language for centuries and in Yeats day when he visited the country side- it was the heart language of many of the country people.  The Irish are Catholic; the English are Protestant.  But the Irish are also animistic in many ways, especially the country people, and it was this culture that enchanted Yeats as a child, as did the animism of the Igbo for Achebe. Of course, the largest similarity between these two men are their lived experiences with colonialism.  Yeats lived through the Irish Independence, as did Achebe through the Nigerian one.  Both experienced the violence of transition and post-colonialism.      Again something a lot of the world forgets about.  We think of colonialism in terms of Africa, Asia and the Americas, but the English efforts to colonize Ireland date to the 1500s, so we are talking about a long term antagonism and complicated history.    And William Butler Yeats was born in Dublin,  Ireland in 1865 in an English protestant household to a promising middle class lawyer.  So, you can already see the set up for a front row to political conflict.    1865, for Americans means the Civil War, but for those in Ireland, there was another horrific crisis.  Just like the stable crop in Nigeria is the yam; the staple crop of Ireland was the potato, and in 1845 a strain of white mold hit the potato crop and a great famine broke out.  Literally millions died of starvation and millions of others were forced to take their chances crossing the ocean and fleeing to America.  Besides just the natural catastrophe of the agricultural disaster, an even worse problem was the British government's reaction to it.  There was a lot of prejudice in England towards the Irish, which we talked a little bit about when we talked about Frankenstein and Mary Shelley, but basically the government basically did too little to feed a starving population.  In fact, a lot of absentee English landowners- and who those guys were were basically were the hedge-fund owners of their day, those guys went so far as to still export Irish food supplies and evict poor tenant farmers who couldn't pay their rents.  So, beyond being a natural disaster, the natural disaster brought out the worst in many people and so as these things often do- natural crisis turned political.  Many more Irish, even Protestant ones, who otherwise may not have been political people, began to see the importance of Self Rule in Ireland- Many who called Ireland home whether they were ethnically Irish or ethnically English began to strongly support political changes that would be costly.    And that of course is Yeat's family's case- except with a twist.  Yeat's father, decided when Yeat's was two that he was going to leave Dublin and move to London to attend art school.       At first pass feels slightly irresponsible.     I think his wife thought so.  William's mother, whose family was rich and from the countryside- was not a fan of urban London bohemian poor person life. In fact, she couldn't deal with it and broke down emotionally.  Her depression got to the point that she became bedridden and basically droped out of the picture until her untimely death.  So, we have children, who, like many of us, are dropped into multiple cultures and are displaced.  We have little William, his brother Jack, and two sisters who are basically living in household where their parents hated each other.  They also, for the most part, lived in poverty, but they had this wealthy side of the family who lived well but far away in Ireland, in a town called Sligo.  During the school year, Yeats lived this impoverished life in a London slum where he was the Irish poor kid, but in the summer he would go to his grandparents fancy house in Sligo, this nice town on the coast.  However, Sligo is a Catholic area, so even though he can identify with the people in this community because he's from the same countyr, he's not from the same ethnic or religious group.   He's the Protestant outsider kid from London.    Except he's not even really protestant either is he.        No, he really isn't- and I guess that's the Bohemian art side of this father.      His father did not believe in Christianity, which as we know, in that time period was a majority view.    And I guess that's what made the folklore and animism of the Irish culture so attractive to little William.  In Sligo, he learned about Irish folklore- which is something I don't know a whole lot about, except that it's magical- literally.  And we know he loved all this because he wrote about later in life.  He talked about people he knew growing up that taught him about magic and ghosts and would swear they had seen fairies.  He gathered these stories in his head and used them as inspiration for his early writing career.    Well, like we talked about last week, lots of people all around the world are animistic, so is it possible that the cultural tradition of the people in Ireland, also in some ways connects to several beliefs of the Igbo.      I think that's likely fair to say.  Irish mythology certainly has a pantheon of gods, and ancestors also play a role in all of that.  Yeats was definitely an animist as we'll talk about next week with a serious piece “The Second coming”, but his career started here with these fanciful stories.  One famous poem called, “The Stolen Child” is based on this idea that sometimes fairies steal human children, and it seems thatYeats likely really did believe in fairies.  He kind of reminds me a little bit of William Blake, in fact, a lot of Yeat's stuff reminds me of William Blake, especially the spiritual stuff.      And I want to be careful here not to get into the weeds here, but one time someone asked him if he really did believe in fairies, to which he responded something to this gist of- well, none of us really know what we do and don't believe until we're put to the test- and in fact, our behaviors say more about what we believe than what we tell people whether we realize it or not- which is kind of an interesting response.      I guess he's wanting to say, all of us believe in things we won't own?  We claim to not believe in ghosts until we step into a haunted house and then no matter what we say, we run out like crazy people away from them.      I think it's something like that.   W. H. Auden when he wrote a poem eulogizing Yeats referenced this part of him as his silliness- but says it this way, “you were silly like us” and though it's strange to believe in fairies- and maybe silly- Yeats is kind of honest about his strangeness or silliness.       And is that what people like about him?  Do you think Part of the reason he could feel the strangeness of things so deeply has to do with this multi-cultural upbringing?  Being, to use Achebe's words living at a crossroads of cultures.    I do, just like Achebe.  And he definitely feels for the birth of his nation-- and that's the poem we're going to talk about today, “Easter, 1916” but before we go there, there's another part of him that has fascinated the world- another strangeness.  Yeats had a strange fascination with this woman named Maud Gonne.      Who is she?    I would say, Maud Gonne is what Brittney Spears might call a Femme Fatale.     Oh dear, Brittney Spears makes an Irish appearance!       I think Yeats would have like Britney, actually.  But anyway, the story goes that Yeats writes a poetry book.  It gets published and actually becomes pretty popular.  One person who noticed it was a woman named, Maud Gonne.  She was independently wealthy- very rich in fact, young, beautiful, well educated and an extremely aggressive Pro-Ireland political activitist and actress.  Like Yeats, she was from Ireland, but Anglo-Irish- so not ethnically Irish, but from Ireland.  I know that gets confusing.  After Yeat's book came out, she went to see him in London, and he immediately fell in love with her.  They hung out for the 9 days she was there in London- and apparently that was enough to inspire a 45 year infatuation.  He was going to be in love with her for most of his life.  He proposed to her more times than I can find out- exactly-  I've heard numbers like 18 times- she rejected him every single time.  He wrote love poem after love poem for her. He wrotes plays for her to act in.      Sounds a little bit like Petrarch and Laura- he seemed to enjoy unrequited love- the impossible woman.     Yeah- except it gets weirder.  Yeats, was absolutely convinced Maud was this virginal innocent rose.  Even after birthing two children with a married French journalist, sadly one child died.  The other, however, did not, Iseult.  Anyway, Yeats- in the face of insurmountable evidence- believed Maud was virginal until finally she told him the truth years later that the child was actually hers.    How did that go over?     Well, at first he quit writing poetry about her, but then he did what most men would do who can't get over their femme fatale even after 45 years.    Oh, and what is that?    He waited until the Iseult turned 22, and then tried to talk her into marrying him.    By her, do you mean the daughter?  Or did he try to get the daughter to talk her mother to marry him.      Oh no, you were right the first time.  He proposed to the daughter- and she seriously considered it.      Well, there you are.  I'm assuming she looked like her mother.    You assume correctly. She looked uncanningly like her mother did at that age.      Nice.  So, are we to assume it's a physical obsession that lasted all those years?    Part of it, I guess.  I'm sure, it would be a fascinating psychological study, if people do stuff like that.  He definitely was enamoured with Maud Gonne's beauty, but they also connected spiritually.  They both shared a lot of these animistic beliefs, not fairies, but connecting with the other world and things like that.  But, one other thing that really attracted him to her was her politics.  She was a extremely vocal spokesperson for the Irish homeland- something Yeats believed in too.  He wasn't as big of an advocate as she was because she was for violence and he was against that, but she had real conviction.  She gave speeches, organized protests, did a lot of the things we seen political activitists do today- all of this was to overthrow British rule.     Well, let me add that in the late 1890s, this would have been very progressive.  Gender stereotypes were deeply entrenched during this time period, especially in Ireland.  It's unusual for a man of this period to find this kind of independence so irresistibly attractive.      I agree, but Yeats is one of those men that is attracted to strong women- Maud Gonne and her daughter weren't the only ones.  He had a very deep and personal relationship  with another woman named Olivia Shakespear, who actually was in love with him and whom he blew off. He also was besties with another powerful Irish nationalist woman named Lady Augusta Gregory. She actually worked with him on an important project to help create an Irish theater, and even supported him financially.      Anyway, the reason I bring all this up besides the fact that it's just kind of interesting, is that the poem Easter, 1916 is a political poem, but it's deeply personal as well.  Yeats did that sort of thing a lot- he would take a world event and make it personal.  The poem “Easter, 1916” is considered the most powerful political poem every written in the English language- of course that's always arguable.  But it is powerful.  But it also connects personally.         In 1903 Maud Gonne- the ultimate unattainable woman- actually marries someone else- ending for a time Yeat's continual marriage proposals.  She marries an Irish revolutionary named Major John MacBride.      And not long after this, political chaos is breaking out all over the world. Tell us about it, Garry.     Well, just in terms of Ireland, after the potato famine- which I cannot overemphasize how serious that is, we have what has been called The Land Wars.  To oversimply, in the 1800s rural tenant farmers were starving, they couldn't pay their rents, they got evicted by rich often absentee landlords, and then violence erupts.  By this time, concessions were being made and many tenants were buying their own property.  The Irish were making progress towards a better life, but it's a mess.  Many were still leaving for America; many were still convinced they needed their own country.  The country is totally divided.  In 1914, Britain finally approves Home Rule, which means that Ireland won't be independent, but will rule itself.  This seems great, except World War 1 breaks out and home rule doesn't get implemented.      And Yeats is not really on team Radical- like Maud Gonne is.  Maud Gonne wants complete independence and an Irish state.  Yeats is for Ireland, but he believes England will keep faith; Home Rule will be a reality and no one else really needs to die over this.  His, like many Irish people, was a middle of the road, ready for compromise kind of attitude.  He wants reconciliation between the people groups, which makes sense if you think about his upbringing.      But here's the complication with World War 1- what are the Irish supposed to do?  They want to rule themselves, they've been promised they are going to be given this opportunity with Home Rule, but now they've been told, we'll we get around to doing that later.  We have a bigger problem and we can't deal with this right now.  Oh and by the way, we need you to send your young men to fight.  The Irish are in an  existential double-bind.  Now they find themselves having to decide do that fight FOR the British against the Germans or do they run the risk of Germany winning?   Many Irish chose to fight with the British.  Now think about what does this mean?  Christy, you have strong feelings about World War 1- what do you think?    I really do- I hate WW1- it was just the worst.  It means trenches, poisonous gas, trench foot, it means awful political propaganda.  It means little children as young as 14 lying about the age and people knowing they were lying about their age and dying in those awful trenches for reasons they couldn't even tell you.  It means everything awful.    Ha!  True- tell us how you really feel.    Well, it's so sad.  Anyway, I guess for the Irish, it means, if they fight for the British, they earn the right for some sort of independence.  Yeats believed, and I use his words, the British may still “keep faith.”      Well, that brings us to the year 1916.  The year has been going on for a while now.  In Ireland there were basically two political parties- one for fighting for the British, another against.  There was an Irish Militia= the Volunteers- of this group- there were the National Volunteers and then the Irish Volunteers.  You can probably guess which one was for supporting the war and which one was more interested in creating a free state of Ireland.      I'm going to say the Irish Volunteers.    Yep, and I hope this isn't hard to follow- but here's what happened- we have two groups of people.  During the week of Easter 1916, we have many of the Irish Volunteers making the decision that they were going to take the opportunity that the British were distracted by the war and declare independence.  They picked Easter because of the idea of Jesus Rising again, the Irish rising again, so around 1600 go downtown, stage a rebellion, take over a bunch of buildings most prominently the Post Office and declare that Ireland is now a Republic.  The British, of course, respond by bringing in troops.  It gets violent, 485 are killed- half of those civilians.  1800 are taken to prison in Britain.  It's a big riot. For the most part, most Irish people don't support this movement.  However, the British make a terrible political mistake.  They choose to execute 16 of the leaders of the rebellion.  This caught everyone by surprise and outraged the people of Ireland.    Yeats was in the group.  It wasn't that he thought what the rebels did was right, but he understood their frustration, and the English owed them some sympathy.     Exactly, and the irony is not lost on anyone that during this same week over in Hulluch, where they were fighting the Germans, the Germans had just released an extremely deadly poisonous gas attach on an Irish division of Volunteers and 442 had died just from the gas poisoning on the first day of the attack alone.    And here's the personal connection, one of the men executed by the British for being a leader in the rebellion was Maud Gonne's husband, McBride.    Yeats is very moved by everything.  He's moved by the rebellion and he's devastasted by the response of the British in executing the rebel leaders. He says this in a letter to Lady Gregory, “I had no idea that any public even could so deeply move me,” He was not even in Ireland at the time.  He further told her later, “I am very despondent about the future.  At the moment, I feel that all the work of years has been overturned, all the bringing together of classes, all the freeing of Irish literature and criticism of politics.”  In the poem, which we're getting ready to read, he talks about four of the rebels specifically.  A couple of them he liked.  He hated McBride, not just because Maude Gonne had married him, but because he physically beat her and her daughter and since they were Catholic she couldn't divorce him.  McBride was a horrible person, but he knew him.  Dublin was a small town, and everyone knew everyone involved.  When Yeat's writes at the end of the poem that  all has changed- changed utterly.  He means exactly that.  There is no going back to the way we were thinking before.          Yes- the Irish war for independence starts in 1919 and by December 6, 1921, there is a free Irish state.     The poem was not published until 1920, so that's halfway between the war years, I guess.  It helped unify the Irish into wanting independence- he was famous.  He also made what happened in Dublin personal to everyone.  What's interesting about the poem is that it doesn't necessarily make the people who were executed holy martyrs- he even wonders if it was worth their lives.  What it did was, kind of say, well, maybe they were too fanatical, maybe they should have done it, maybe they shouldn't, but that's in the past now.  Now, I'm going to wear Green- and we all know that's the color representing Ireland, the Emerald Island.    Let's read the poem.  We'll read it stanza by stanza, and then we'll make some more comments at the end.    I have met them at close of day     Coming with vivid faces  From counter or desk among grey     Eighteenth-century houses.  I have passed with a nod of the head     Or polite meaningless words,     Or have lingered awhile and said     Polite meaningless words,  And thought before I had done     Of a mocking tale or a gibe     To please a companion  Around the fire at the club,     Being certain that they and I     But lived where motley is worn:     All changed, changed utterly:     A terrible beauty is born.      First thing to notice is that it's in the first person.  I- have met them.  These people- these were people I knew before the war.  For the most part, I didn't even care a lot about these people, “I have passed with a nod of the head or polite meaningless words”.  He points out that he had even made fun of them, “thought before I had done of a mocking tale or a gibe…at the club”- maybe he had thought they were just the crazy radical people they sat around drinking laughing at the less educated types.  Notice that he throws in the word “motley”- that's the outfit court jesters wore, the fools- they were clowns until- all changed, changed utterly- a terrible beauty is born.    And it is that phrase, “terrible beauty that people love so much”.  It's an oxymoron.  What happened was terrible- the rebellion was terrible- but they were doing it for something beautiful.  Their ideals were honest.  There death is giving life to something that is important to all of us- they were proven to be right.     but the actors in this comedy are going to transform into players in a tragedy as we move through the stanzas.  Let's read the second one,    That woman's days were spent     In ignorant good-will,  Her nights in argument  Until her voice grew shrill.  What voice more sweet than hers     When, young and beautiful,     She rode to harriers?  This man had kept a school     And rode our wingèd horse;     This other his helper and friend     Was coming into his force;  He might have won fame in the end,     So sensitive his nature seemed,     So daring and sweet his thought.  This other man I had dreamed  A drunken, vainglorious lout.  He had done most bitter wrong  To some who are near my heart,     Yet I number him in the song;  He, too, has resigned his part  In the casual comedy;  He, too, has been changed in his turn,     Transformed utterly:  A terrible beauty is born.    So in this stanza, he describes four people.  Four people he knew.  I do want to point out that these four people are not the four most important people in the rebellion.  They aren't the most significant rebels.  He picks them because they were personal friends.  “That woman”     “That woman”- Constance  Markievicz- wasn't executed, but she was from Sligo- where we went to play as a child in the summer.  She was his childhood friend.  She also was a really good human.  She was rich and born to privilege.  She actually was the first woman ever elected to parliament, and later the first woman in Europe to ever have a cabinet position.  So, she was important, but by the time she died she had given away her entire fortune and died in a ward, among the poor where she wanted to be”.  She was arrested, but was not executed during the uprising.      Then we have   “This man”- Patrick Pearse- was executed.  He was a fellow poet and a huge ring leader.  Yeats says he rode that winged horse- that's Pegasus the pure white horse with the wings .    “This other his helper and friend is a reference to” Thomas McDonagh- Pearse and McDonagh started a school together and were teachers in Dublin.  Yeats had been a guest lecturer for them many times.  He respected how they were building a generation of Irish thinkers.    “This other man”- John McBride- an abusive person – he was a drunken, vainglorius lout who had done most bitter wrong to some who are near my heart- but he still includes him here in his little list of actors.  He calls what they were involved with a “casual comedy”.  But is it funny?  Of course not.  It got serious really quickly.    Well, what I see, with the possible exception of McBride- these were good sincere people that were targeted by the British- not a bunch of thugs.    I think so- and that takes us to the third stanza- it's a little more philosophical and abstract.       Hearts with one purpose alone     Through summer and winter seem     Enchanted to a stone  To trouble the living stream.  The horse that comes from the road,     The rider, the birds that range     From cloud to tumbling cloud,     Minute by minute they change;     A shadow of cloud on the stream     Changes minute by minute;     A horse-hoof slides on the brim,     And a horse plashes within it;     The long-legged moor-hens dive,     And hens to moor-cocks call;     Minute by minute they live:     The stone's in the midst of all.    This stanza is harder to follow, Christy.    True, one of the things that is so hard about Yeats, and we're going to talk about this way more next week with the poem “The Second Coming” is that he holds symbols in such high regard.  He thinks of them as way more interesting than just one thing representing something else.  So, when we see something here, like we do in this poem that looks like it might be a symbol, we have to think of it more deeply because that's how Yeats's thinks of it.    So, what is a symbol and how do we know if something IS a symbol or not?    That's a great question.  I tell students all the time, something might be a symbol for something else if it looks out of place.  If something that shouldn't be so important is given more importance than it regularly deserves.  Here's an example, if I'm an elegant model, and everything I wear is extremely expensive, in the latest fashion, all that stuff, and I show up to an event, and I wear this very tattered and old looking bracelet around my arm-  you know- that must be a symbol.  You wouldn't be wearing it if it weren't.  You ask about it, and you find out it belonged a relative who had passed away or something like that- and all of a sudden it makes sense.  Things like that.    So, in this stanza, it starts out like we would expect- all the hearts of the people he'd been talking about have one purpose and then this purpose is connected to a stone- and not just connected he uses the word “enchanted to a stone”- what the heck does that mean/. Well, to you or me who aren't Irish- it may mean nothing.  But if you're Irish,  you likely know that one of the names of Ireland is the Island of the Stone of Destiny.  You may also know that in Irish folklore the Stone of Destiny was one of the four sacred talismans of the goddess Dana and all the kings of Ireland  were crowned upon this inauguration stone and their destiny was tied in with the magical powers of the stone.  And if you really know your folklore, as Yeats did and often referenced in a lot of other poetry, you may also know that this stone is enchanted but sometimes fatal.      Okay- so if the stone is symbolizing Ireland, what does this stanza mean?    Well, that's the thing about ambiguous writing- you have to decide what you think, and people don't agree.  What we know for sure, is we see this image of something that stays the same- a rock- if we take it to mean a symbol of Ireland, then he's making a statement about his homeland.  It's something that survives- but as things change like the living stream- it can be fatal too.  To be Irish is to have a heritage, for all of its beauty and magic, is not always safe- the stone troubled the living stream.      But then again, this is just my interpretation.  Some people thing the stone represents the coldness and the stream represents Ireland, so don't be afraid to read it and make your own ideas.  That's what poetry is all about- words bringing emotions to the surface and meaning different things to different people.    The last stanza is left cryptic in some ways because it writes out people's names again very specifically, but there's a lot of other images that can be difficult.  Let's read it and finish out.      Too long a sacrifice  Can make a stone of the heart.     O when may it suffice?  That is Heaven's part, our part     To murmur name upon name,     As a mother names her child     When sleep at last has come     On limbs that had run wild.     What is it but nightfall?  No, no, not night but death;     Was it needless death after all?  For England may keep faith     For all that is done and said.     We know their dream; enough  To know they dreamed and are dead;     And what if excess of love     Bewildered them till they died?     I write it out in a verse—  MacDonagh and MacBride     And Connolly and Pearse  Now and in time to be,  Wherever green is worn,  Are changed, changed utterly:     A terrible beauty is born.    So, here we see all of a sudden all these rhetorical questions.  He's asking the obvious question of is something like this worth it?  Is it justified?  Are there things we shouldn't do, even if the cause is noble?  He literally askes, “Was it needless death after all?”  He asks the obvious political question- England may have kept her end of the deal.       Did they love too much?      Then he kind of ends by immortalizing these names.  Kind of like saying, well, it's too late to know now.  We will never know because the sacrifice is made.  They will be immortalized.     Just so you know, Maude Gonne hated the poem.  The poem was first pubished just for friends- so she got an early copy.  She said this, “Easter 1916, No, I don't like your poem.  It isn't worthy of you and above all it isn't worthy of the subject- though it reflects your present state of mind perhaps, it isn't quite sincere enough for you who have studied philosophy and know something of history know quite that that sacrifice has never yet turned a heart to stone though it has immortalized many and through it alone mankind can rise to God.  You recognize this in the line which was the original inspiration of your poem, ‘a terrible beauty is born' but you let your present mood mar and confuse it till even some of the verses become unintelligible to many”. She went on and on but then got to the part about her husband to which she said, “as for my husband he has entered eternity by the great door of sacrifice which Christ opened and has therefore atoned for all”.  You can tell she felt free to share her mind.     Ha! Well, most of the world disagrees with her and has found it worthy.    I do want to come around to just a couple more interesting quirks before we leave it.  If you were to gray out all the words and just look at the form- Yeats deliberately wrote the poem to look like a column but a broken one- it's skinny, the lines are short and fractured.  If you were to put this poem next to a picture of the shelled building on Sackville Street where the riot occurred, it would like kind of similar.  The poem is to be the monument that outlives the photograph of the scene the most of us will never see.    And he did that on purpose.    Yep- that's why Poets write in verse- they can do stuff like that which you can't do in a story.    Also, another point to notice- he signs and dates the poem, but the date is weird.  It's not the date of the Rising, instead it's September 25, 1916 presumably the date he finished writing it. But the date of the uprising is encoded in the lines.  There are four stanzas- the fourth month- April- the first and and third stanza have 16 line (the year) the second and forth have 24 – the dates.  It's a strange way to date a poem, but the date of the event is embedded the the structure.  Then we have the  date at the end.    And so we have to ask, Garry, what happened on that date?    Well, I'm assuming you are meaning WW1- that date overlaps with the horrific Battle of the Somme. In that battle alone, the British lost almost 500,000 young lives many of them Irish.   I guess it's a final irony.  Why did Yeats included the date when he usually didn't date his poems?    Maybe as a way of reminding his readers, and here we are. It's not over yet.  A terrible beauty has been born- I have written a monument for those who dreamed of a new Ireland- but this new Ireland will have to negotiate a new modern world order- it will not be a casual comedy- and no matter where you fall on the spectrum of identity politics- we will all remember and wear Green.    And of course- all of this during Holy Week of Easter, 1916- nothing could be more ironic.  Thanks for listening.  I hope you enjoyed learning. Little of the history of Ireland as it is personalized for us by the great William Butler Yeats.  This episode we looked at his most famous political poem, next week we will look at the poem that inspired the title for “Things fall Apart”.  We look forward to it and hope you do too.    As always, text this episode to a friend, spread the word about the podcast on your own social media, and help us grow.                                                    

On this week's not-exactly-a-mini-episode, Gerry and Aaron talk about two of Achebe's early short stories, "Dead Man's Path" and "Marriage Is A Private Affair," while also looking forward and backward to Things Fall Apart and No Longer at Ease and forward to Arrow of God. Along the way they somehow find time to talk about Kurt Vonnegut, Octavia Butler, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Wole Soyinka, Amos Tutuola, Cyprian Ekwensi, Flora Nwapa, Raymond Williams, Tolkien, Chekhov, Nabokov, and the Bible, too...

Gerry and Aaron are back for more Things Fall Apart, talking about parts two and three of the novel. We also talk The Sopranos, Watchmen, Breaking Bad, bad fans, The Things Fall Apart film, just a little Vonnegut, and Achebe's 1973 essay "Named for Victoria, Queen of England"...

Gerry and Aaron dive into Things Fall Apart, chapters 1-13!

The first episode of season two! Gerry and Aaron discuss the gameplan for Grad School Achebe, the history and reception of African literature inside and outside academia, Achebe's place in the canon, his uncanny recurrent deaths on social media, the finer points of pronunciation, and more. Next week: the podcast falls apart. Texts discussed: Chinua Achebe in conversation with Bill Moyers (1988) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrT6BqOckX0 Chinua Achebe in conversation with Lewis Nkosi and Wole Soyinka (1964) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uys3XuJBnro Chinua Achebe, No Longer at Ease (2015) https://thenewinquiry.com/blog/chinua-achebe-no-longer-at-ease/

Jacob spoke with famed investor Jim Rogers during the 14th episode of Keepin Kozy. Jim Rogers is one of the most well-known investors of the 20th century having co-founded the Quantum Fund and the George Soros Fund with another legendary investor George Soros. Outside of finance, he is probably better known for leaving the world of finance to travel the actual world in his memoirs Adventure Capitalist and Investment Biker. In line with Achebe's line "Things Fall Apart," almost everything related to this episode fell apart. Though thanks to the killer work of our editor Jeff-we were able to salvage this. Thanks for watching, and please rate comment and subscribe if you enjoyed this.

In this unapologetically African-centered monograph, Nwando Achebe considers the diverse forms and systems of female leadership in both the physical and spiritual worlds, as well as the complexities of female power in a multiplicity of distinct African societies. From Amma to the goddess inkosazana, Sobekneferu to Nzingha, Nehanda to Ahebi Ugbabe, Omu Okwei, and the daughters or umuada of Igboland, Female Monarchs and Merchant Queens in Africa (Ohio University Press, 2020) documents the worlds and life histories of elite African females, female principles, and (wo)men of privilege. Chronologically and by theme, Nwando Achebe pieces together the worlds and experiences of African females from African-derived sources, especially language. Achebe explores the meaning and significance of names, metaphors, symbolism, cosmology, chronicles, songs, folktales, proverbs, oral traditions, traditions of creation, and more. From centralized to small-scale egalitarian societies, patrilineal to matrilineal systems, North Africa to sub-Saharan lands, Female Monarchs and Merchant Queens in Africa offers an unparalleled history of the remarkable African women who occupied positions of power, authority, and influence. Madina Thiam is a PhD candidate in history at UCLA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The most interesting women in the world!” That's how Claire Robertson describes African women, and it's hard to disagree with her after reading Holding the World Together: African Women in Changing Perspective (University of Wisconsin Press, 2019), co-edited with Nwando Achebe. In 16 chapters, 19 contributors explore everything from issues of representation in novels and cinema, to political organizing, religious fundamentalism, slavery, love, and sexuality. Each essay is written by an expert in the field, balancing an overview of the scholarship with key examples that portray the diversity of women's experiences on the continent. Holding the World Together represents a lively, interdisciplinary effort to invite readers into the fascinating lives of African women, past and present. Elisa Prosperetti is a Visiting Assistant Professor in African history at Mount Holyoke College. Her research focuses on the connected histories of education and development in postcolonial West Africa. Contact her at: www.elisaprosperetti.net. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[English version below] Gaiscíoch mór le rá is ea Okonkwo, agus a cháil in airde ar na fir is cumhachtaí agus is saibhre ina threabhchas. Is duine ceanndána é, afách, agus is minic a theipeann air srian a chur leis a fhearg. Íocann sé féin agus a mhuintir go daor as sin. Nuair a bhagraíonn teacht ar fhir ghil ar thraidisúin an treabhcháis, Gníomhaíonn Okonkwo as a stuaim féin. Toradh tragóideach atá i ndán dó, afách. Tá an t-úrscéal seo aitheanta ar chlasaicí litríocht an domhan ó foilsíodh i 1958 é. Tá sé aistrithe chuig breis is leathchéad teangacha, agus breis is deich milliún cóip de díolta. Agus é ag cur síos go grinn báúil ar chinniúint an duine ar fad i saol ár linne. Láithreoir: Seán Ó Catháin Aíonna: Alan Titley agus Aonghus Ó Lochlainn [Leagan Gaeilge thuas] More than two million copies of Things Fall Apart have been sold in the United States since it was first published in 1958. Worldwide, there are eight million copies in print in fifty different languages. This is Chinua Achebe's masterpiece and it is often compared to the great Greek tragedies, and currently sells more than one hundred thousand copies a year in the United States. A simple story of a "strong man" whose life is dominated by fear and anger, Things Fall Apart is written with remarkable economy and subtle irony. Uniquely and richly African, at the same time it reveals Achebe's keen awareness of the human qualities common to men of all times and places Presenter: Seán Ó Catháin Guests: Alan Titley and Aonghus Ó Lochlainn

In 1958 Nigerian writer, Chinua Achebe, published his first book "Things Fall Apart". It was set in pre-colonial rural Nigeria and examines how the arrival of foreigners led to tensions within traditional Igbo society. The book revolutionised African writing, and began a whole new genre of world literature. In 2016 Rebecca Kesby spoke to Achebe's youngest daughter, Nwando Achebe.(Photo: Chinua Achebe in 2002. Photo Credit: Reuters/Ralph Orlowski/Files )

Things Fall Apart is a novel written in 1958 by the Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe. The novel tells the stories of people and life in an Igbo village both before and after the arrival in Nigeria of Christian missionaries and administrators from the British colonial empire. Achebe saw his work as countering the dehumanizing misrepresentation of Africa and Africans in colonial literature and criticism. He famously chose to write in English, despite the fact that it was a language that, as he put it, “history has forced down our throats.” In a 1965 essay, “The African Writer and the English Language,” he argued, “‘Let no one be fooled by the fact that we may write in English, for we intend to do unheard of things with it.'” More recently, the Ghanaian philosopher, Kwame Anthony Appiah, has extolled the particular “genius” of Achebe, writing, “A measure of his achievement is that Achebe found an African voice in English that is so natural its artifice eludes us” (The Achievement of Chinua Achebe”). In Collegiate Seminar, students read Things Fall Apart in their senior year. Hosted by David Arndt, Tutor, Integral Liberal Arts. With Ed Biglin, Professor of English; Claude-Rhéal Malary, Professor of Modern Languages; and Joseph Zepeda, Tutor and Director, Integral Liberal Arts.

Sign on the Window is like that necktie and your Panama hat... it helps you look good in the face of utter destruction. Each week we listen to a random Bob Dylan song and this week, from 1976, "Black Diamond Bay." We talk context (5:45), the merits of traveling over staying in LA drinking a beer (12:00),the song itself (23:00, theories (30:00) and storytelling. We talk Conrad, Achebe, and Kendrick Lamar so buckle up. CONTEXT (5:45)“Black Diamond Bay” was recorded at Columbia Studios in New York City on July 29, 1975 in 12 takes, then on July 30 in 5. There is a connection to Joseph Conrad, namely the 1915 novel Victory, as Ian Bell notes:There is no hero, certainly no epic journey, least of all a spiritual rebirth. Instead, the song owes everything to Conrad’s use in Victory of doubled perspectives, physical and moral, and to the idea of fate, blind and mute, that permeates Blood on the Tracks. In ‘Black Diamond Bay’, good and evil contend; people scurry around on their plots, affairs and petty human errands; the volcano explodes regardless. The End. — Ian Bell, Time Out of Mind: The Lives of Bob DylanThis song was played only 1 time. Or was it?!?!Bob Dylan dot com, your home for most things Bob Dylan, says that the song was performed in Salt Lake City, Utah, on May 25, 1976, at the end of the Rolling Thunder Revue. Ian Bell mentions a 2003 collection by **Les Kokay (Songs of the Underground: A Collector’s Guide to the Rolling Thunder Revue 1975–1976)which notes the supposed performance but accepts that the claim is based on a single unsupported report of a show with no bootleg extant.TRAVELING OR STAYING IN LA WITH A BEER? (12:00)This song was written with the end in mind. The closing line makes it clear: there’s always another hard luck story that you’re gonna hear. Dylan told Neil Hickey in 1976:I don’t feel that to live in this country you have to watch the TV news. You learn from talking to other people. You have to know how people feel, and you don’t get that from television news.And in the end I never did plan to go anyway to Black Diamond Bay. As two traveled people who can conceptualize nameless, faceless people far away living lives of imagination and passion, do we relate to Dylan’s apathy?SONG ITSELF (23:00)Definitely a hidden gem in the Dylan catalogue, as ambitious as “Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts” and “Changing of the Guards” as a stand alone fiction. It’s got this old movie kind of vibe, the “movie-spinning” as Michael Gray calls it. You can almost see this in black and white while present day schlub, drink in hand, is vividly, embarrassingly, in color.The narrative is engaging and the chord sequences complement the mood. The level of detail is astounding as are Dylan’s casual flexes with the songs internal rhyming (“veranda” with “necktie and a;” “open” with “rope and;” “second floor” with “Ambassador;” “vous plaît” with “fly away;” “the basement blew” with “je vous aime beaucoup”).Dylan populates this islands with memorable characters. Our main character, the woman in the Panama hat, is trying to start her life over before it’s too late. The Greek tries to kill himself, fails (?, or doesn’t), but the volcano goes off anyway. The desk clerk reassures everyone the rumblings “happen everyday.” The soldier and the tiny man, the loser and dealer. The Soviet ambassador. It just goes on!Which makes the end of the song wallop. Daniel likened it to the end of Chinua Achebe’s masterpiece Things Fall Apart. The novel, which focuses in Okonkwo in nineteenth century Nigeria, closes with this passage (imagine the Commissioner in LA drinking a beer on some sofa):The Commissioner went away, taking three or four of the soldiers with him. In the many years in which he had toiled to bring civilization to different parts of Africa he had learned a number of things. One of them was that a District Commissioner must never attend to such undignified details as cutting a hanged man from the tree. Such attention would give the natives a poor opinion of him. In the book which he planned to write he would stress that point. As he walked back to the court he thought about that book. Every day brought him some new material. The story of this man who had killed a messenger and hanged himself would make interesting reading. One could almost write a whole chapter on him. Perhaps not a whole chapter but a reasonable paragraph, at any rate. There was so much else to include, and one must be firm in cutting out details. He had already chosen the title of the book, after much thought: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger. — Chinua Achiebe, Things Fall ApartThe irony that we just read an entire book on a man who will be reduced to a paragraph resonated. All those hard luck stories that you’re gonna hear are worthy, even if we concede that we don’t have the capacity to hear them all. Achiebe, and Dylan, challenges our perception and empathy for others.THE EPISODE’S BOOKLET & PLAYLISTRECOMMENDATIONSKelly “discovered” the back catalog of Kendrick Lamar. ‘Bout time. Daniel played Great Collapse Neither Washington Nor Moscow… Again (and The Redskins Neither Washington Nor Moscow… from 1986.ENDINGSKelly guessed #402. “Let’s Stick Together.” Would be our first from Down in the Groove. It’s #451. The classic "Up to Me," which originally premiered on 1985’s Biograph.Next week: No one else could play that tune...Follow us wherever you listen to podcasts. See our real-time playlist See That My Playlist is Kept Clean on Spotify. Follow us intermittently on Twitter and Instagram.Tell your friends about the show, rate and review wherever they let you, and consider supporting us by subscribing or at Patreon. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit signonthewindow.substack.com/subscribe

Last class of the semester, on Wole Soyinka's Death and the King's Horseman.  Compared and contrasted with Achebe's Things Fall Apart, which unlike the play is about the clash of cultures, and what happens when European culture arrives and destroys the cultures it is ignorant of; and with Conrad's Heart of Darkness, which makes African culture a backdrop to European reckoning with its own tragic ontology.  Death and the King's Horseman as treating British colonial culture as a catalyst and otherwise a (ridiculous) backdrop to its own concerns, concerns as archaic, as fundamental, and essential as anything to be found in Aeschylus or Shakespeare.  By way of long discussions of how we think of the audience as narratee, not as reader; and how we think of plays as having the same kind of hidden narrators as we think of novels as having hidden narratees.  Who is the audience, or who are its members, its narratees, who do we think they are, in Death and the King's Horseman?

The Context of White Supremacy hosts the fourth and final study session on legendary author, Chinua Achebe's 2009 publication, The Education of a British-Protected Child. This collection of essays touches all major areas of people activity. He reflects on the history and continuing impact of White Supremacy in his native Nigeria and the African continent on the whole, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the election of Barack Obama. Given Achebe's recent transition, we hope this session will reveal more about the creator of Things Fall Apart and unveil what might have inspired such wide White adoration for this novel. Gus hopes we have not castigated the late Achebe - he is a Victim. However, we will continue to discuss how Whites are represented in his writing. We'll also revisit a few of last week's points on the importance of African languages. [The C.O.W.S. archives: http://tiny.cc/76f6p] #TheCOWS INVEST in The COWS – http://paypal.me/TheCOWS Cash App: https://cash.app/$TheCOWS CALL IN NUMBER: 720.716.7300 CODE 564943#

The Context of White Supremacy hosts the third study session on legendary author, Chinua Achebe's 2009 publication, The Education of a British-Protected Child. This collection of essays touches all major areas of people activity. He reflects on the history and continuing impact of White Supremacy in his native Nigeria and the African continent on the whole, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the election of Barack Obama. Given Achebe's recent transition, we hope this session will reveal more about the creator of Things Fall Apart and unveil what might have inspired such wide White adoration for this novel. Achebe offers a splendid analysis of Racist techniques to keep Victims of Racism in conflict with each other and not focused on White evildoers/enslavers. It seems that Mr. Achebe may have had three or eight "White friends"; Gus will keep an eye out for passages which suggest his belief in "good Whites". [The C.O.W.S. archives: http://tiny.cc/76f6p] #TheCOWS #WorldNiggerLaw INVEST in The COWS – http://paypal.me/TheCOWS Cash App: https://cash.app/$TheCOWS CALL IN NUMBER: 720.716.7300 CODE 564943#

The Context of White Supremacy hosts the second study session on legendary author, Chinua Achebe's 2009 publication, The Education of a British-Protected Child. This collection of essays touches all major areas of people activity. He reflects on the history and continuing impact of White Supremacy in his native Nigeria and the African continent on the whole, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the election of Barack Obama. Given Achebe's recent transition, we hope this session will reveal more about the creator of Things Fall Apart. Our first session revealed the global, lethal impact of White Jesus/Christianity. White people continue to reap the benefits of Missionaries/Racists long since buried. It seems that Mr. Achebe may have had three or eight "White friends"; Gus will keep an eye out for passages which suggest his belief in "good Whites". [The C.O.W.S. archives: http://tiny.cc/76f6p] #TheCOWS #WorldNiggerLaw INVEST in The COWS – http://paypal.me/TheCOWS Cash App: https://cash.app/$TheCOWS CALL IN NUMBER: 720.716.7300 CODE 564943#