Countering Mind-forg’d Manacles in Ben Okri’s The Freedom Artist (2019)

Abstract

Summary This article seeks to unveil Ben Okri’s antidote to the proposition that the “normal” world is an asylum for mind control. Acknowledging its rich literary undercurrent, I posit that The Freedom Artist (2019), countering Blake’s “mind-forg’d manacles” in “London”, is a culmination of Mental Fight (1999); the novel is a linear progression of the anthology’s subtitle: “an anti-spell for the 21st century”. Although aligning my reading with the view that Okri’s eleventh novel is a penetrating exploration of how our freedom is being eroded by today’s post-truth society, I argue against the grain of organised religions’ promise of redemption, exploring the possibility of mental and emotional freedom via high order thinking/[HOT consciousness. The novel’s double narra-tive provides interlocking blueprints for ontopoiesis/heightened consciousness. The initiation of the young male protagonist, Mirababa, runs parallel to that of Karnak, whose lover, Amalantis, is arrested and spirited away by the thought police for voicing the forbidden question: “Who is the prisoner?” The discussion is perforce limited to the “initiations” – one a spiritual immersion, the other a transformation to intuitive logic for the Bildungsreisende. Both re-awakenings are made manifest by masterfully em- bedding the major arcana of Tarot wisdom within the distinctly dystopian storylines for the enhancement of consciousness.