Influences
Okri has described his work as influenced as much by the philosophical texts in his father's book shelves as it was by literature, and Okri cites the influence of both Francis Bacon and Michel de Montaigne on his A Time for New Dreams. His literary influences include Aesop's Fables, Arabian Nights, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Okri's 1999 epic poem, Mental Fight, is also named for a quote from the poet William Blake's "And did those feet ...," and critics have noted the close relationship between Blake and Okri's poetry.
Okri was also influenced by the oral tradition of his people, and particularly his mother's storytelling: "If my mother wanted to make a point, she wouldn't correct me, she'd tell me a story." His first-hand experiences of civil war in Nigeria are said to have inspired many of his works.
Read more about this topic: Ben Okri
Famous quotes containing the word influences:
“Whoever influences the child’s life ought to try to give him a positive view of himself and of his world. The child’s future happiness and his ability to cope with life and relate to others will depend on it.”
—Bruno Bettelheim (20th century)
“Do not seek anxiously to be developed, to subject yourself to many influences to be played on; it is all dissipation.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I don’t believe in villains or heroes, only in right or wrong ways that individuals are taken, not by choice, but by necessity or by certain still uncomprehended influences in themselves, their circumstances and their antecedents.”
—Tennessee Williams (1914–1983)