Name It

My sister and I have a number of movies that we tap for quotes endlessly. We quote movies the way, I presume, people used to quote books and poems before movies and television. So why should I not do the same thing in my book?

There is an idea out there that book knowledge is superior to knowledge gained through television or the screen in general. I could write the book with only literary references, but how many people would catch the allusions? If I write the book with only movie reference, how many will catch on? [And will I get flack for using such pop material and snubbing thousands of years of literary tradition?] Of course it depends on the books and films we're talking about, but, in general, most likely, many more readers will connect with the film references. To oversimplify, the tradition of exchanging strictly literary quotes among the masses is not as healthy as it once was. It's an emperor in a democratic country; titular and with less power to influence and communicate than it once had.

But a book that only leans on movies has an odd flavor to it. It's the white rapper, the Mexican cook in the Thai restaurant; something that just seems miscast. Now if I indulge in both, though, a little Coming to America here and a little Heart of Darkness there, now you're legit. Or at least more so.

The horror

Before the night's first customer sits down, a cook has to have his mise en place ready. Michael Ruhlman, author of The Elements of Cooking, defines "meez" as:

"Literally, 'put in place,' mise en place is the kitchen term for your setup, the gathering and preparation of all the tools and food you need to complete the task at hand."

Strewn around my apartment are my literary mise en place. Books on African folklore and wisdom literature, African fiction and poetry and, of course, relevant '80s movies (there are two in particular).

That being said, I'm improving my knowledge of African literature. And yet, are Africans m primary audience? Probably not. Westerners will be, I reckon. And what works tell of Africa and Africans from the Westerner's point of view? Well, two come to mind: Isak Dinesen's Out of Africa and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

While I'd like to be as clever as Joyce - dropping references left and right in multiple languages - I know that at the end of the day I'll be talking to myself. Therefore, rather than nibble around the plate with an assortment of obscure references (no knuckle-curves here), I've decided to stick with a few rather well-known works to work off of. Heart of Darkness will be one of those works.

Heart of Darkness would allow me to conceivably turn this one-sided story on its head at the expense of its former protagonists. And by having the African characters quote it back to the Westerners they come across, it sends a message to the American characters: You do not act in a vacuum. We have read your books, we follow your economy and politics, we know your geography. And this knowledge of your world is our power. Do you know ours?

Heart of Darkness and Coming to America, a recipe for literary laughs.