"I've read Gone with the Wind"

From Chris Abani's TED Talk "Telling Stories from Africa":

In other words, it's the agents of our imagination who really shape who we are. And this is important to remember, because in Africa the complicated questions we want to ask about what all of this means has been asked from the rock paintings of the San people, through the Sundiata epics of Mali, to modern contemporary literature. If you want to know about Africa, read our literature -- and not just "Things Fall Apart," because that would be like saying, "I've read 'Gone with the Wind' and so I know everything about America." That's very important. There's a poem by Jack Gilbert called "The Forgotten Dialect of the Heart." He says, "When the Sumerian tablets were first translated, they were thought to be business records. But what if they were poems and psalms? My love is like twelve Ethiopian goatsstanding still in the morning light. Shiploads of thuja are what my body wants to say to your body.Giraffes are this desire in the dark." This is important.4:22It's important because misreading is really the chance for complication and opportunity.