Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Appearances
Global News Podcast
Moscow says West "fragmenting" over Ukraine
I couldn't write for a while, and then I started writing again. I felt terror. I thought, what if I never write again?
Global News Podcast
Moscow says West "fragmenting" over Ukraine
It does, it does. Actually, my block, and I don't like to use that expression because I'm too superstitious, but my something that happened that I couldn't... The space. Yes, the space. That's good. It happened when I became pregnant. I'm not sure that it was just entirely physiological, but something changed, and I just could not get back into that sort of magical place where I can write fiction.
Global News Podcast
Moscow says West "fragmenting" over Ukraine
I have always longed to be known, truly known by another human being. Sometimes we live for years with yearnings that we cannot name until a crack appears in the sky and widens and reveals us to ourselves.
Global News Podcast
Moscow says West "fragmenting" over Ukraine
It's interesting how little of literature is about women and women's bodies, women's sort of physicality. We all come from a woman's body. And that isn't really a thing that is explored very deeply in literature.
Global News Podcast
Moscow says West "fragmenting" over Ukraine
We should say that there is no place in the world where women are equal. There are places that are better and places that are worse, but gender equality does not exist yet. I think that what's happened in places like the U.S. has been surprising because I did not think that we would be talking about women's reproductive rights in 2025.
Global News Podcast
Moscow says West "fragmenting" over Ukraine
Our bodies are the only things that we have that actually ours when you really think about it. And I actually understand people who oppose abortion. I understand that position. But it's a position you cannot impose on everyone. And to do that in policy, in law, just feels to me a way of saying that you do not recognise a woman's full humanity.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I'm so amused that you then went to Google. Wait, this doesn't sound right.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Yes. Trevor, you do know that there is such a thing as the first person narration.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
No, I'm just saying for me. But also it's a wonderful compliment. Can I just say that? Because it means that you still believed this world that I created.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Because I'm interested in this moment because I think, well, COVID... COVID is, I think for a writer, COVID is gold because especially lockdown. Lockdown was so surreal, so unique, so original that you cannot but use it. It's like perfect material because you can do anything with lockdown. And I think people reacted to lockdown in such different ways.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
So you kind of start with lockdown was your canvas and you can really do anything with it. So I remember, I'm not sure, I didn't set out to, I don't even think of it as a COVID novel. I think of it as, because COVID in some ways is only a, so you want a character who's looking back. You want a character who I'm very interested in looking back. I'm very, I'm almost addicted to nostalgia.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I'm kind of always, you know, and a kind of melancholy as well. COVID just felt to me the perfect setting to have that character look back. And so she's locked down. She's alone in her house. And she looks back. So I think if COVID hadn't happened, I suppose I would have, maybe I would have made her fall sick and then be in hospital.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Yes. Okay. Yes. It's not that I think that COVID had any, well, it's up to the reader. I was going to say, I don't think COVID has any particular meaning in the novel. No. But I think it's to say that the sort of authorial intent was not to make COVID a character, really, but to make COVID backdrop.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Because I think that COVID, I don't think I've written, this is not the COVID novel, because I think there's just so much more that would have to be in it to make it the COVID novel, if that makes sense. Yeah, I understand.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Love, dreams, a certain kind of melancholy, longing. I think it's my most grown-up novel, which is to say that it's the novel in which I'm most willing to acknowledge even embrace uncertainty and I don't need to have all the answers and I don't need to I don't need to you know have it all together I feel like I had a sense of responsibility with Half of a Yellow Sun, for example.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And with Americana, I was setting myself free from being the good daughter of literature. I was like, I'm just going to do what I want. And now I feel like I've grown up. So dream counts. I mean, of course, it's also my diary, as Trevor said. It feels like it to me. It really does. That's the best thing I've heard in a long time.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Wait, what do you mean by that? Because it's a book about women's lives.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Yeah, well, okay. Because I have some pretty good men in my life and I don't know that I could have that rule.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
But really, back to Trevor's question. Who did you... Yes, we know that you're... Okay, so...
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
That's lovely. No, I love that you're thinking about such things as being an honorable person. Yeah. Yeah, I think the whole idea of being in love is that you are not, in fact, sophisticated. I mean, there's a kind of lowering of your, just every imaginable barrier and guard that you have when love happens, I think. And Kwame... Okay. I mean, could we have some empathy for Kwame? I don't know.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I would love. No, I'm now intrigued.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
No, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what happened.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I've been traveling. That's what I mean. I just assumed you would know that that's what I meant. I don't assume anything when people tell me how they are.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I mean, I think, I think the question with Kwame would be why? I mean, what do you think happened? I just feel like something must have happened to him. Speaking of trauma and trauma response, maybe it was a kind of exaggerated trauma response. This is what I felt while reading the book as a man.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Yeah. Yeah, completely. You don't agree? No, I'm just curious. So men tell love stories about how they were... Completely.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Yes, Trevor, but I'm just worried that we're sort of going into the both sides territory. I think that there are some relationships where one person is an asshole.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And that asshole may not acknowledge that they were the asshole, but it doesn't mean that they're not. I just feel as though reading this book that's about women's stories about men, I'm struck by how it's been out, I don't know, two weeks. I'm struck by how many people have said to me, what about the men? What about the men's stories? Which is what Trevor is doing. Whoa, whoa, whoa.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
We can rewind the tape.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
You said how, no, you said how do the men, no, you said something about what about the men's point of view.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
No, there isn't. Oh, okay. That was very cleverly done. But no, because, but anyway, it doesn't matter because I'm, it just struck me because I think that there is a kind of expectation we have, I think, that in reading that we, maybe even unconsciously, That we still look for the men, if that makes sense.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I mean, but after five days of doing that when you haven't really slept. And I don't sleep well when I'm traveling. I don't sleep well in strange places and in hotel rooms. I left Seattle at 4.30 this morning.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I think if it were a book about men telling their stories, that I don't think as many people would have asked me, well, what did the women think? Hmm. I would have. Not that. Yeah, no, you definitely would have. But we all know that you're different. But anyway, so Trevor, what else do you want to know?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And often you're actually not. But it's a perception people have. So you're in your husband's house. Nobody knows what you're doing, what sort of life you actually have. So for many women, it's a kind of freedom, really, in a strange kind of way, in a perverse kind of way. Obviously, we want to live in a world where a woman doesn't need to do that to achieve freedom.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Yeah. So I'm not at all suggesting that I don't like meeting my fans because I actually do. But no, it's.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
But if you live in a society that imposes that kind of thing on you.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
But that's the reality. Yes, which is why it can then be a kind of strange freedom.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I don't know. I really don't know. This is the thing about writing fiction. I don't like the why questions. Because there's a lot that's not... I am intentional, I hate that word, about lectures and essays. I can tell you what I had in mind for The Danger of a Single Story, for example. But with fiction, it's different. It's... So rich African, because it's true.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I mean, because I'm interested in, so I think I write about things that I'm interested in, obviously. So when you talk about academia, American academia, I'm interested in that. It's also a world I kind of know because I've spent time there. And so I can write about it with a kind of authority and authenticity, I think. But it's also because I'm interested in all of the,
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
The permutations of American academia. I think dream count, I don't like the Y questions. I think you could say that dream count is, I think in some ways it's part satire, especially the bits that are about academia. Okay. Right. But I think as satire always does, there's truth there. Like I'm kind of holding up a slightly mocking mirror to certain things that happen. Right.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
But I mean, there's also obviously I'm writing realism. And so it's kind of, you know, when you see people who read Dickens and there's a sense in which you could say reading Dickens can give you a clearer sense of London at the time, clearer than reading history. I know exactly what you mean.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
So I kind of like to think that that's what I am doing with my fiction, which is I'm creating art, but there is, of course, also a kind of social and political component to it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I don't set out to... I like to think that my points are more blurred in my fiction. So in other words, if I had to write an essay about American academia, I think it would be very blunt.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
For fiction.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Yeah. I call it a radical honesty. Okay. And that's the only way that I can feel happy. Fiction really makes me happy when it's going well, really makes me happy. And I can tell when, you know, a few times in my life when I've held back in my fiction and I can tell, you know, I can tell that I am, in some ways it's like letting yourself down. I can tell. Yeah.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Can you say when you felt you held back? In some of the stories and the thing around your neck, I think that I, you know, I held back in a way.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
No, this is a different kind of why question. I guess because I just felt like maybe I just shouldn't go there. Maybe I shouldn't be as honest as I think. Maybe I shouldn't let this character be its full self in a way. His or her full self. I don't know. But anyway, the point is, I think if I learned anything from doing that, it's that it just doesn't make me happy. It doesn't feel true.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
It doesn't feel authentic. So some of those short stories I don't like, actually. But no, dream count, no. I don't hold back. I go where the character takes me. It's a revelation.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Yes. But I also think, I feel so strongly about literature, about fiction. I think it's our last frontier. It's only in literature that we can learn things that we cannot learn anywhere else. So journalism cannot tell us about human motivation. Journalism cannot go deep into... like the terrain of the human heart, which I think is really key for almost everything in the world.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I mean, I really think the psychology of people can explain so much about the world. I mean, just the psychology of the people who are in leadership positions, I think, you know, Journalism can do that. Politics doesn't do that. To write nonfiction, especially about other people's lives, is to be constrained by certain things that you cannot possibly know.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
But I think it depends on the context, though. I think for me, it's a way of saying it is a problem. Yes. But I kind of like that I have the problem.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
But I think fiction lets you just, it's the essential thing I think that we need when it's done well. As was done in this case.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
So, yes, inspired by her. The legal department of my publishers. Inspired by? Yeah, we need to use the right language. Inspired by her.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Yeah, so inspired by it. So I remember when I, did you follow the story of Dominique Strauss-Kahn? I didn't actually.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
It was big in the UK. Yeah. It was big in Europe. Yes, and in the US. I mean, until the case was dropped. So this woman who was from Guinea and who walked as a hotel housekeeper accused him of raping her. So she walks into the room to clean it and there's a naked white man running toward her. And I remember when I first heard about it, I was just riveted by it. And it was also very melodramatic.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
He was arrested. He was already inside the plane about to fly to Paris, where he would then have started his campaign for president. It was almost a done deal that he was going to be the next French president. Wow. And so he's arrested and Americans, as is their want, did this very dramatic thing of parading him in front of journalists, which I hate. The perp walk. I think it's a terrible thing.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Which is to say that I kind of like that people are interested in the book. Yeah. Right? If they weren't, I would not be traveling for the book. So... But I don't think, well... Yeah, but I think when you say a good problem, you're already saying the problem part, no? I think if somebody said that to me, I would not take it well. Okay, there you go.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Why? Because I think, especially when it comes to sexual assault cases, we really have to be very careful to get it right. Because the world is so deeply immersed in misogyny that there are people looking for the smallest reason to discredit a sexual assault case.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And so you imagine the misogynist just aching to say things like, see, this is wrong. We don't know if he did it or not. You're already parading him. I wish they had kept it very quiet. I wish they had gone to court. I wish they had found him guilty. I wish they had publicized the evidence. That would have made me very happy because then I think the story would have ended differently. But anyway.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
So he's arrested and he's let out on bail. And then we're all kind of looking forward to the trial. And then at some point, the case is dropped. And the case is dropped because they said she had lied on her asylum application. And I just remember thinking, I was just shocked. I really was. I almost couldn't believe it. And also just the way that his lawyers talked about her.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
They just kept repeating liar and lied, lied, liar. And for the average person watching this, your assumption is going to be that she lied about what had happened. And I think this was also very, I think they deliberately did that. Yeah. But in fact, they said she lied about her asylum.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And my thinking is what we're saying to women is if you ever expect to get justice for sexual assault, then you better be perfect. You better be sinless, which therefore means you better not be human because we're all flawed. I found it really... I felt hurt, actually. And also very angry. So I wrote this very angry essay. Non-fiction. Very blunt. Which was, you know, my point was, this is bad.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And I think I framed it in... A kind of America is not like Nigeria, not like Guinea. In Guinea and Nigeria, the big man would probably not be arrested at all. So that America did this was wonderful. I felt very heartened by it. But America has disappointed me and in some ways has failed this woman. But I didn't think I would write fiction about her. I didn't plan to.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
So when I started writing this novel, again, a character came to me. And so I think it means that even without knowing it, I carried her with me. And then suddenly, something drops into your life and changes it forever. For me, there was just a great sadness there. Like I felt... Yeah, I felt so upset on her behalf.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
But anyway, so I wrote this character who is not really her because I've invented this character's past life. I've invented this character's interior life. But I have kept the one story about Nafisatu Jalloh, that's her name. The story that Nafisatu Jalloh tells about what happened in that hotel room. I've kept as close as possible to that version.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Because I just think that, in some ways, I think it's a way of paying tribute to her. But also, it's about so many women like her. It's about women who are powerless and who are not allowed to have dignity. The way she was, the way they talked about her, just, it wounded my African spirit.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
You do not get to decide for me what my good problem is. Oh, no, no, then we're on the same page. Okay, no, no, no.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And even the interviews that, I mean, I kind of fictionalized it in the novel, but there's an interview where I'm watching and I'm thinking, they haven't done this right. English is not her native language. And so you're asking her about something so intimate and so difficult in a language that she doesn't really speak well. It cannot go well.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
In some ways, you're setting her up to look as though she's lying. And I remember a friend of mine who said to me at the time that she had watched the interview and she said, oh, I don't believe her because she was so dramatic. She was using her hands too much. And that made me very angry as well. I thought, first of all, you don't understand there's an African world in which that is not dramatic.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
But also, this woman was trying, she was put in a position where she had to make up for what she lacked in sort of in her ability to express herself. So anyway, all of that is to say this character is inspired by Nafisa Tujalo, but isn't her.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
yeah yeah you know that's like yeah yeah and i should say that i agree with the character in my just utter horror yeah i remember when i came to the u.s and they would say things like oh something terrible happened like but the family got money you know somebody was shot maybe and then somebody be like oh the family got money and i'm thinking yeah but why are you talking about it like that's sort of i mean somebody died yeah you know yeah
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I miss my family. I don't do that thick.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And also now money being speech.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I mean, in this country. Oh, completely. Citizens United. But anyway, let's talk about Dreamcount.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I think that's fairly obvious. No, is it though? I think it's a fair read. And actually, it's a reading that I agree with, which is that, yes, the book is clearly not enthusiastic about the form and even the function of American academia today. I mean, obviously.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
So you have a woman who's Nigerian and who doesn't know anything about that whole thing, who comes looking for something better than she is. So she's come from a life in Nigeria that she thinks she kind of wants to atone for in a way. And so America becomes this, I want to find something noble and beautiful and good and honorable.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Because America is aspirational still, even to people who know that it's a very complicated place. There's still an aspirational element to America. And so she comes and she wants to do a master's and she wants to study pornography. I think we should be able to say that. You can say that. Okay. So, pornography, pornography.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And she... So it's interesting for me, as the writer, to look at this world from the point of view of a person who just does not know it and is not familiar with it. So this person is just... Taken aback, surprised, like, you know, what is going on? And also then she becomes so disillusioned by it. I think if someone wants to read that as a cautionary tale, I'm not opposed to it.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I mean, this is what can happen, which is you can make people lose confidence. that thing in them that wants to be better and dream and, and aspire, you know, there's something actually, I think quite cynical about, and, and, and it's not, it's not an obvious cynicism, but there's something quite cynical about the way that academia operates. It doesn't feel to me. I don't know.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
There's something, the beautiful things that are lacking. So I, It's not just about letting our imaginations be free and we should be able to exchange ideas. It's also just more fundamental things like compassion, you know. And I don't even like to use kindness because that word is so overused and always by people who are spectacularly unkind. So I will not use kindness, but compassion.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Do you... No, I'm with you.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Yes. The ability to understand that there are multiple points of view in the world. It's a very strange thing because... And I'm a person who grew up on a university campus, so academia has always been part of my life. Like, it's my... I get into a university campus anywhere in the world and I'm already at home. Like, it's just... I feel comfortable.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And you will think, and this is what it was like in Osaka when I was growing up. It was a place of... of many-ness of you know it was multi ideas people right and that's not the case in america it's not the case at all and and sometimes it's difficult to talk about because i you know it's you don't want to sometimes one doesn't want to agree with one's enemies right
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
That's amazing. There are people on the political right in this country who I think just espouse the most ridiculous ideas, but who also...
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
criticize american academia and i think there's truth there but they're but acknowledging that kind of i just think oh my lord but my my my feelings come from a different place comes from love comes from wanting this thing that i love to be better that's where it comes from
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
No, I'm sure that they feel that. Okay. But that you feel something doesn't mean it's true. It doesn't. And I think that when you widen the definition of something, so this is somebody who believes that black people should not have, maybe that person just feels, maybe that person supports school choice. And this is an exact example, actually.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I know somebody who is very upset because somebody supports school choice. And then the very strange conclusion was that this person who supports school choice doesn't like black people. That's not, I mean, you could feel that, but that's not necessarily rational thinking.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
So I guess my point is, it's either people have become incredibly terrible in the past 20 years, or something has changed in the way in our capacity to have compassion, to be more broad-minded, to think in more complex ways. My point being that 20 years ago, I don't think this was happening. In other words, universities were places where you could still exchange ideas.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
You weren't terrified of saying something because you'd be blacklisted for saying the wrong thing. So which is it? Is it that there are many more people now who fundamentally just have these really odious beliefs about other human beings? You said something about wearing our politics more closely. Is that what it is?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And has it then tainted the way we look and the way we judge and the conclusions that we draw?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Yeah, but I don't think that those are the people we're talking about, though. That's my point.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
So, I mean, in these circles, so people on university campuses who don't feel comfortable saying what they think are not the crazy racists on Twitter. The crazy racists on Twitter do not interest me because I don't think it's even worth... I mean, there's some people that you shouldn't even bother engaging with or trying to change their minds.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Yes, and I think it's important to say that because sometimes I think that instead of talking about that, we then sort of reach for the fringes as examples.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Yeah, it's kind of also like saying that people who think that women, there are in this country many people who still, I mean, there are people in this government who think that just by virtue of being a woman, you're somehow incapable of certain things, right? I mean... I don't mean those people. So the atmosphere on university campuses today in this country just seems to me.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And so when Trevor says and someone says, well, I can't speak to them because fundamentally they believe something that is so. And so that's my point. I'm thinking, did many people suddenly turn or did our own perception change? Because these people that somehow have become so bad that you can never speak to them again. Yeah. They're kind of in your circle.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Neither. But hold on. So are you suggesting that fame means somehow that fame corrupts art?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I mean, they were there 20 years ago, right? I mean, they're not in the fringes of Twitter. They're in your community. Yeah. Yeah. And so what is it that has happened? It just feels to me a kind of confusing extremeness of reaction and perhaps maybe of opinion. Mm-hmm. And I don't fully understand it, but I don't trust it. So I don't... Okay.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I was going to say, who is Vince McMahon?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Let me tell you... So much I want to watch.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I think we're putting too much blame on politicians. Oh no, I'm not putting all of it. And not enough responsibility on... On individuals? Yeah, and also, I mean, which came first? What you said about social media, I agree more with, which is... I mean, this whole politician thing. You think everybody watches politicians? I mean... I think everybody's affected by them.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
This is true. The same way Cristiano's not sold it. I don't expect to sell you on something. No, I am sold on something. No, I'm just thinking about it. Whatever. It's not interesting to me.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
That's fair. That's fair. But the person who supports school choice does not know.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And then there's the assumption that that person should know. And then that person is judged on that. And then that person is ignored and blacklisted. But that person does not know.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And it's also this new world where you're not even allowed. I mean, curiosity is dead. And I, you know, as a person who just, I love learning. And I just keep thinking, what have we lost in this new sort of world where people don't even, even to ask a question, you're uncomfortable. I remember when I spoke at an Ivy League university, which will be unnamed.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And so I had a few of the students in a sort of private meeting where I just, because I like to know what young people are really thinking away from the grownups. And so we started talking and then I said, you know, Are any of you, like, uncomfortable to say what you really think? Everyone was like, no. And then one person goes, yeah, but sometimes.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And suddenly all of them were like, yeah, sometimes. And even that struck me because I remember thinking we've gone from that kind of almost forced conformity to suddenly thinking, okay, maybe I can actually say what I'm really thinking. Right. Right. And there was something about it that just made me sad because I thought they were graduating.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And I thought, what have they lost out on learning in the four years they've been here? Because they've been too unsure, uncomfortable about asking questions. And again, so what I mean about these kids are not the fringe on Twitter. Do you know what I mean? But they already know that I better be careful. Otherwise, somebody will think that I'm a person who hates black people.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And so I don't know, it just made me, it just made me so sad.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Yeah, I think a large part of America's academia problem is money. There's just so much money that, I mean, even the entitlement of the students is, It's about money.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
They're high. And so students feel like, well, I've bought this. I mean, when I taught creative writing at Princeton, when I was doing a fellowship, I remember a student coming to me and saying, you gave me a C. I've never gotten a C in my life. And I was like, how is that my problem? I can show you why.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I mean, so I thought if the student had come to me to say, I want to prove to you that you've kind of, you know, here's why I should not get the C. Here's the thing on my paper. But no, the student said, I have never had a C in my life. This is my first C. And so I want you to change it. And so my first thought was, you know, I don't blame you. Maybe your father gave money to Princeton.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
But my dear, this is your grade because this is what you wrote in your paper. And we can discuss your paper. But, you know, I feel like... So it's money, money. No, really. And then, you know, they have so much money and the endowments. But there's, you know, people are giving them money. And so they have special dinners for them. And so money, I think, is a major problem.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And that's happening so much more. This whole, you know, I'm going to... I won't...
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
withhold my my um my promised grant yeah if you don't do and then i think israel israel palestine has really made that so much more you know whether like if you're doing that therefore and i just think i also just wish that universities were not so beholden to people who have money because then they i think they would be more courageous hmm I think.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
There's very little courage left in the public space. That's what I mean about longing for more. I'm like on my long-going dream account. I want, I'm longing for what is noble, what is beautiful. I want heroes. I want people I can look up to and admire and learn from. I think there's a large part of me that is disillusioned, disappointed, even heartbroken. I hide it in sarcasm, but it's all there.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
So like you're placed high up that the only way to come down.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
This is the reason I'm not on social media.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Yes, but it's buffet politics. I don't know. What are right-wing ideas? I mean, even... which which is why it's not about and i agree with you that nobody we're not we're not pure i mean we you know and especially when you're a person who comes from you know um the reasonable reasonable regions of the world that is africa asia latin america the middle east You kind of understand.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
You know, you have uncles who... I mean, I have relatives who still think that women really should not be walking outside the home. And, you know, and then there's me. And we still happen to get along. And I think that there are certain views that... Some of my views have changed as I've become older. Even I think in some ways my feminism has changed.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
About fame? I... Don't think about it, really. I mean, but here's why. I think of fame, and it's such a strange thing. I don't even know what to do with my face when I'm saying, I think of fame. It's kind of like... I don't think of when I think that when I'm writing fiction, because that's for me, the distinctions in what I do and in how much they mean to me. So fiction is the thing I love.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I think, for example, when I was younger, I didn't want to talk about women's bodies.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Because I felt that this is how they stigmatize women. I felt like, no, nobody should talk about PMS because they use that to justify excluding women. They'll say things like, how can a woman be president when she has PMS? She's going to press the button, right? But now I realize, actually, men press the button without PMS as an excuse. Yes. So maybe women are still the better choice, right?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Because if we can just get the hormones stable, then we're fine. But men, my God, no PMS and they're just doing crazy things. So, but that has changed for me.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
But I do think, though, that I can tell you that there are certain jokes I will not laugh at. There are certain things I refuse to laugh about.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
No, I don't think that's a good analogy.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Because when I say I won't laugh, it's not like, oh, it's just my taste. It's more that I think in some ways similar to what you said about school choice, about how the people who know that maybe...
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
deep down in the language or in the foundation of that idea there's something that's actually quite you know toxic or something pernicious yeah so that's what I mean about there's certain jokes I won't laugh about because I just I think that there's certain jokes that are not just jokes I think sometimes people are not laughing with you they're laughing at you
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
No, no, not cannot exist. So here's the difference. I will not laugh at that joke, but I'm not going to say you cannot say that joke. Okay.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
But Trevor, I want to go back to you. You asked me a question about making a decision sort of almost solo on your own. And I don't think of it as that kind of clear-cut dichotomy because I don't think it's even possible.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I exist on the, I'm sort of lean, I lean, right wing leaning, I lean towards thinking. Okay. I really believe in sort of lucid thinking. Yeah. And I like clarity. And, you know, I'm a writer. I also like words to mean what they mean.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I like clarity of language. I like clarity of thought. I like thinking about things. And, you know, from the time I was a little girl, I just was never a person who went along with what I was supposed to do or believe. I've always kind of wanted to do it. I want to sit with this for a while and think about it. But also I want to make decisions based on knowledge and information.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
So I'm very keen on learning. Like if there's a subject and so I want to go read about it.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
So AI, I've been reading books about AI because I don't know what the hell that's about. So now I know things like there's generative AI, there's predictive AI. And did you know about the training models? But so when I say make up my own mind, it's not that I just sit there with nothing. I want to gather information and then I want to process it for myself.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Yes, I'm a student and I always want to be a student. But what I can tell you is that I'm never going to be swayed by criticism. Never. That's never going to happen. I am the daughter of James and Grace Adichie and it's not going to happen. That's it. I have my opinions. And I can have conversations with you about why I have those opinions. And I'm also very keen to know why you disagree.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
If you're a person who can actually make coherent sentences about why you disagree.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I really think it's my vocation. I think it's the reason I'm here. I really believe that. I really believe that I have an ancestral gift. So with fiction, nothing else matters. When I'm writing, I'm not, I'm not, I don't remember that I'm supposed to be this famous person when I'm writing fiction.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
exactly yes if there's disrespect i will not take it i'm just not going to and i think also i mean i remember once saying to somebody you know i was loved and i am loved i had the best parents in the world so i do not need to campaign for your love you know i don't need to do i don't need to change myself for you if you like me i'm happy that you like me if you don't like me I'm still me.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And I wish that it was easier for more people, especially women.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
So, I remember... You would make a good fiction writer. This is actually how we're supposed to see... You know, you're supposed to kind of understand everybody's point of view without necessarily agreeing. It's because he's biracial and he was born in apartheid.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
When I'm done writing fiction and I'm editing it and someone else is sort of, you know, there's an editor looking over it. That's when I sometimes have to think about audience, but even then I almost never change anything. Because for me, fiction is almost, it's sacrosanct. I don't think about my audience. It's truly almost magical, honestly.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Yeah, no, but I think when I say all, I mean the collective, you know? But you know what's interesting? And it's true. It's true about Americans. And I think it comes from, I mean, just listening to you and, you know, this person says to you, aren't you conflicted? And then you're saying, you know, let's look at the UAE. How old is it?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And I'm just thinking, you know, that American point of view often comes from a place of just not knowing very much about the world. And also not, I sometimes feel that arguments in this country are not rooted in information and knowledge. It's not just that often they can feel like performances, but it would be nice if someone said, why aren't you conflicted?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And someone else says, no, I'm not conflicted. Well, people like jokes, and so I'm going to go where people like jokes. I think that's kind of what you would often hear in America. Rather than how old is the UAE? How long does it take a society to evolve? What are the changes that have happened that speak to a certain kind of hopeful progressivism? That doesn't happen.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
So Trevor, you need to start classes. I mean, this is the class. No, but really, I'm just thinking, and I think it is true about really a lot of things. You know, I just wish that sometimes if there was a huge issue of the day, outrage of the day, that people would be like, I'm not going to have an opinion until I've read a book about it.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
But the other things, I can tell when people are bullshitting me, when people say, I love your work. And I'm thinking, no, you don't. But you actually don't.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Some, yes. Good, I love that. Oh, wow. That is the most Nigerian thing I've ever come across.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
No, honestly, unfair to expect it of everyone?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
People have a certain responsibility. It's unfair to expect it of people who are deep inside something. So, for example, to say, if you said to me, it's unfair to expect people in Gaza, or it's unfair to expect people who lived through what happened in Israel to be rational or objective. I agree with that. But the average person? No. No.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
We have a responsibility. So are you Jesus then? Are you above everyone else? How come you... No, but really. No, let me explain.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Because this argument, I'm going to say that the foundation of it is very self-aggrandizing.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
No, I mean, I'm sitting next to, this is like, wow. Is this what, No, I mean, this is amazing. But I think it can be a good thing, right? For someone, and usually it's my wonderful Nigerians. Oh, Chimamanda, I love your work. So I said to him once, I was like, which one have you read? He said, I've read them. I said, which one have you read? He's like, the one about Biafra.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
No, but why? Different from there's a new outreach of the day, like this story that you told of the guy who said someone had mugged him. Yes. And suddenly people have opinions. My thing is, often people don't. But there's no book to read on that. What do you want them to do?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Yes. I'm with you completely on this. And so I often also say, go to the primary source. So sometimes someone will forward something to me. Is this true? Yes. And I'm just like, where did you get this from?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I've been tricked myself. In what way?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I said, okay, what happened to me? So he starts laughing. So he starts laughing. And then he tells me, I'll read it, I'll read it. And then when it's non-Nigerians, You know, usually I can tell, but then I'm slightly gentler because, you know, sometimes non-Nigerians don't know how to handle the sort of Nigerian directness. Yes.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And because I really do believe in the idea of experts. I really do. Like I want, and this is also the thing I often say, I want a president who knows more than I do. Like, you know, I want someone in every country that I, but anyway, that's not the case. But yes, we want experts. And yes, misinformation is increasingly a problem.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
But I think there is still, and what you said about people who read about vaccines, I mean, I take your point. But I think that those people, is it fair to say that they have already started with a kind of conspiracy theory point of view, which will then, I think, shape where they read? Because if we are talking about experts, maybe they should go to maybe the CDC website. But they don't.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
So that's the point. That's what I mean about... Even the idea of experts has become corrupted.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I wish they had been more honest about that.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
If your baseline... But that's CDC action. How do we feel about it? I mean, can we really not make a distinction between... I think it was terrible. So do I. Yes. But does it cause you to then distrust everything the CDC says?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
But I think in general, because I wanted to be read, I've always wanted to be read. And I really do feel very grateful. You know how you said people have to say that? But I am actually quite grateful to be read. But I think fame was never a thing that I sought.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
It does. It does. You couldn't have said it better. Bravo! People should read more novels and short stories. I agree. And sometimes even the old ones, because there's just lovely wisdom in them, I think.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Old or recent?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
I really like Middlemarch. I think it's very long, but it's very wise and just really... I was going to say teaches you, but actually it does, you know, in a way that you're having fun, but you're also learning and you're in the hands of a very wise writer. There's a wonderful writer from Poland who wrote this book called The Beautiful Mrs., and I cannot pronounce the name, Seidenmann.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
But if you just go The Beautiful Mrs., I'm sure Google will fill it up. I also just find it very wise. I love realism. I don't really like speculative fiction. I'm not interested in science fiction. And I just feel like I learn the most from novels because I learn about human beings.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And I think it helps me understand the world and helps me... Oh, there's something I forgot to say, which I have to say. Increasingly, I'm fascinated by how what people think is sophisticated... is in fact not at all. I mean, there's a sense in which the arguments and the positions are really incredibly simple and simplistic.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
But the people who talk about them think that they're very sophisticated. Yes. And I'm thinking about that because of what you said about a certain kind of... maybe an insufficient self-knowledge.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And in some ways also because I'm not on social media, because sometimes I'm still surprised. I'm just like, oh, so that person actually knows me. So I'm not, yeah, it doesn't occupy me.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
So in other words, the way that America thinks that it is still leading the world is the same way that I think certain people in America think that they're incredibly sophisticated in their thinking, but actually it's very provincial and simple. Yes, that I can agree with. On that note.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Thank you. Thank you very much.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Thank you very much.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Yes, yes. What was it? self-preservation huh so not in a high-minded way by the way just because I know that I will get into fights with people and it will not end well so I thought so you you're the person you would reply if somebody adds to you and says I will find where you live and come to your house you know that's how we met yeah
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
This is a gospel that needs to be preached more in America. You think in America particularly? Yes. This is not the case in Nigeria, for example. And I would argue in most of Africa. People know that you can disagree with a person and still have a relationship with them. I think what's happening in the U.S. is a kind of
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
You know, this kind of practice of purity, this kind of, you know, you have to have these particular views otherwise. And then the moralizing of opinion. So somebody feels a certain way about something. It's not just that you think they're wrong, it's that you think that they're bad people.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
And I think that that moralizing then means like, because you think this way, you're a bad person and I cannot talk to you and you cannot be in my life. I think it's a particularly American thing. I really think so. And it's quite contemporary. I mean, it's recent. I came to the U.S. in 97. I don't think America was like that when I came to the U.S. I think it's recent. Do you find it like that?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
When you first came?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
But that's also because our politics in Africa is not ideological, though. Oh, what do you mean? What do you mean by that? But it's not, though. I mean, is there in South Africa a party that you could say is on the left and on the right and in the center? based on their policies?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
The Reality of Fiction with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [VIDEO]
Yeah, but I'm just thinking about what I think that this kind of polarization, even that word I don't like, I think it preceded Trump. I think Trump made it worse.