The final idea fruition of this idea however has two immediate fillips : the death of my father last year and my recent visit to the Korean Book City - Paju. It is this latter fillip that eventually gave me the title of the blog- Library of the Nigerian Soul, for in the book written on the city it says inter alia "
“ We plan to make a breakthrough in parking by developing
4,129 square meters of cultural lot and 52,457 square meters of business lot,
the land will be exploited as cultural business lot. We also plan to provide
20,000 square meter of residential lots to be used as public housing to
employees of resident businesses. In particular, centered on two libraries, the
internationally acclaimed “Asian Knowledge and Culture Archive” and the
“Library of the Soul”, we have introduced the cutting edge development strategy
of harmonizing cultural and industrial facilities. These two libraries will
significantly increase the value of the city. Moreover we have a pan to create
the public facilities such as digital image library and image complex.
Several Asian countries are participating in the “Asian
Knowledge and Culture Archive”, which aims at creating a complex cultural space
to store, produce, preserve and circulate anthropologically distinct cultural
heritages in danger of extinction, such as histories, languages and folkways of
Asia’s plural ethnicities. It will ultimately develop into a specialized Asian
studies research centre which can present new alternatives for world knowledge
and culture, using resources to expand the memory and imagination of Koreans
and Asians alike.
The Library of the Soul has an aim to propose a new type of
funerary culture that preserves the individual’s personal history in the form
of book rather than in a graveyard or tomb. Through the Library of the Soul
program, wherein the spirit is regarded more highly than the body, a person can
create a record of their lives to be stored in the library. After his or her
death, epitaphs by friends and surviving relatives, reflections on the past,
the person’s will, and funeral guest books may be added to the life record and
made into a book. The books and a photograph of the deceased are stored and
exhibited in the library and can be viewed by approved visitors, such as
descendants, friends and surviving relatives.
This library, paying tribute to the deceased through books
rather than tombstones, is the only one of its kind in the world. Through the
operation of the Library of the Soul, reading and writing and documentation can
be made a part of everyday life. “
I believe it should be obvious that there are some essential
differences between the Paju Library of the Soul and what we will offer on this
page. The most significant one that I want to point attention to is that we
shall not be able to store confidential matters on this page as our ability to
control access is limited.This then is the reason why we shall rely almost exclusively on matters
already made public by the deceased persons and/or their surviving relatives.
I wish to also point out that nothing in the choice of
persons to be represented here is a comment on their lives.
