Tchicaya U Tam'si

Tchicaya U Tam'si (born Gérald-Félix Tchicaya, 25 August 1931 – 22 April 1988) was a Congolese author; his pen name means "small paper that speaks for its country" in Kikongo.https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tchicaya_U_Tam%27si&action=edit Quotes The source is to the river like origin is to identity. The identity of an individual is not a given. It is as unstable and unpredictable as the course of a budding river searching for balance.https://www.revuenoire.com/en/tchicaya-u-tamsi-congo-brazzaville/?hl=en-US#:~:text=The%20source%20is%20to%20the%20river%20like,return%20to%20its%20mother's%20womb%20%3F%20Never. I'd rather run with the wind of history or lose myself in wine, it's revenge on the agony which always comes too soon. Stop fatalism.https://www.revuenoire.com/en/tchicaya-u-tamsi-congo-brazzaville/?hl=en-US#:~:text=%5BThis%20text%20can%20be%20read%20as%20an,always%20comes%20too%20soon.%20Stop%20fatalism.%20%E2%80%9D Life is a conquest, not a reminiscence.https://www.revuenoire.com/en/tchicaya-u-tamsi-congo-brazzaville/?hl=en-US#:~:text=Life%20is%20a%20conquest%2C%20not%20a%20reminiscence.,is%20big%20and%20battered%20by%20hard%20knocks. You must be from my country, I can tell by the twitch of your eyelids and the way you always dance when you're sad.http://www.graemebezanson.com/TCHICAYA_U_TAMSI.pdf?hl=en-US#:~:text=You%20must%20be%20from%20my%20country%20I,grass%20bares%20its%20claws.%20The%20wind%20grates. We are like trees which carry one another's fruit. Thankfully when poets die, they fall on their backs with their bellies pointed to the stars. I mock those who boast of roots which cannot be seen... In short, I don't believe in roots any more than I believe in origins. In the memory of man pride has been a vice. https://www.enotes.com/topics/tchicaya-u-tamsi/criticism/criticism/clive-wake-essay-date-1975?hl=en-US#:~:text=The%20poet%20acknowledges%20the%20virtue%20of%20pride%3A,explicit%20in%20Feu%20de%20Brousse%20(Brush%20Fire). References