The Art of Listening

The Art of Listening discusses about the way listening has been lost in the world, but in Africa listening is a guiding principle. Mankell talks about how he has noticed over the years he has noticed through interviews that he has to answer questions much faster than 10 or 5 years ago. He brings up the fact that maybe we are given two years and one mouth to listen twice as much as we speak, but in society today we talk and talk and talk and the tiniest bit of silence freaks us out. As you continue to read the article Mankell starts to talk about how African literature is different from Western literature; African literature has stories that go and back between time periods to share a story, while in Western literature typically goes from beginning to end.

In class we read Kenneth Burke’s Parlor conversation. In this it talks about coming into a conversation that is already heavily being discussed and no one is able to tell you the whole story because none of them were even there in the beginning. This can relate to the article The Art of Listening because in the Parlor conversation you have to sit there and listen to what they are discussing in order for you to actually come into the conversation. It is showing that you cannot just keep talking or you won’t be able to know what is going on in the situation or even in your surroundings.