Lecture by Ben Okri

Where is the frontier between the real world, the dream, and the fable? For the writer Ben Okri, heir to the rich cultural tradition of Nigeria, the country of his birth, these thresholds are not as evident as they might seem. Okri calls for a recovery of the primal gaze that will enable us to appreciate the world in all its dimensions, both the immediate reality and the mystery running through it. This pure gaze, close to that of a baby’s, observes the world with wonder, divines more possibilities than the ones that seem evident, and questions established limits. For Okri, this free and at once powerful gaze is what enables us not only to imagine the world we want but also to transform the one we have.