The Obama – Osama Narrative
Literacy – and, in the case in point, the crafting of narratives – is a basic trait in defining rationality and civilization, especially in post-modern times.
Our challenge, in giving account of the huge events we live through these days, is in the telling, in the production of story patterns that would click with people’s attention span – not just as spectators, neither as far as being an active force in the play – but definitely as real characters on a common stage.
“All the world is a stage”, reminds us Shakespeare in “As you like it”, and throughout his whole oeuvre1. On my behalf, I go so far and say that events themselves, nowadays, can be staged to some extent. What is actually left to us – non regisseurs of the ballet, and not even protagonists – is the fulfilment of details, in a “bait and switch” tactic for our imagination.
The chain of events I take into consideration is what I call the Obama – Osama plot. I claim no particular ideological, political, or religious reason for the choice, apart from a personal interest and taste which follows some narratological considerations. Read the rest of this entry »
