xxiv Preface
The debts to “Kongi” are equally as great, even if they are infinitely
more difficult to assess or express. I can only say that I hope the honesty
and frankness of the analyses and evaluations of his work and legacy in
this study constitute an adequate acknowledgment of these debts which I
share with all who have found much profit and inspiration in his writings
but which really began about thirty-four years ago when he taught my
undergraduate dramatic criticism class and for a brief period acted as
supervisor of my studies as a graduate student.
Finally and ultimately inexpressibly, my mother, of unforgettable
memory. Pablo Neruda has declared: “There is no space that is wider
than that of grief.” In bringing this project to completion not before I
had experienced that grave illness and slowly regained my strengths, I
learnt that great grief can be a psychically sustaining emotion, that it
can powerfully bring to consciousness hitherto barely recognized or ac-
knowledged dimensions of the self. But I made this discoveryonlywhen
I was finally able to overcome the great folly of repressing my emotions
and could then grieve, really grieve for your loss, Morounranti Aduke.