| LITERARY
FEDERATION
FOR WORLD
PEACE |
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The
Literary Federation for World Peace
is
Reverend Moon's initiative calling writers
to recognition of the higher purpose
of literature. Beyond the value of art
for its own sake, the best literature
conveys meaning and direction to a culture
that has lost its bearings. To this
end, 300 writers, poets, critics and
literary scholars from thirty different
Asian countries flew to Washington,
D.C. in April 1997 to take part in a
remarkably successful literary conference,
"The Search for a New World Culture:
Asian
Literary Perspectives. " This was
the first meeting of what was to become
the Literary Federation for World Peace.
Participants came from every part of
Asia. They were Confucians, Taoists,
Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and Christians,
as well as contemporary secularists.
When Reverend Moon greeted this
diverse |
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gathering
of writers, he asked them, "What
is the use of literature?" No doubt
some participants felt challenged by
this question, but others found it refreshing.
Dr. Lloyd Fernando, professor
of literature at
the University of Malaysia, thought
too many contemporary writers forgot
that literature should serve some purpose
broader than itself. "They think
of the writer as a creator, like God,"
he said. " Unfortunately, like
God, they are often beyond human understanding."
Just two months later, a second conference
was held with writers from the Americas,
Europe, Africa, and Oceania-340 of them
from 110 different countries. With that,
the Literary Federation for World Peace
was formally inaugurated. The Literary
Federation has since held conferences
annually, in Washington, New York and
Seoul. Derek Walcott, the Nobel prizewinning
poet, spoke in rich, |
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Reverend Moon's
calligraphy |
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poetic
language of the intermingling
of cultures in his native Caribbean. Wole
Soyinka, the Nobel prizewinning Nigerian novelist,
made a rare public appearance. Two American
poet laureates, Rita Dove and Robert Hass,
shared something of the poet's creative process.
Other eminent speakers
included Chinese-American novelist Bette Bao
Lord, historian Paul Johnson and William Bennett,
author of The Book of Virtues. These writers
were introduced to Reverend Moon's thought
through lectures on "True Character and
Family Life Education." Many of them
expected to be preached at but were pleasantly
surprised. The Vice-Chancellor of the Royal
Nepal Academy said that although he did not
believe in God, these were the most logical
and rational presentations he had ever come
across for showing the need for moral and
spiritual principles to govern human life.
At the conclusion of the first conference,
Professor Yen Chu of the Taiwan National University
presented Reverend Moon, an expert calligrapher
himself, with a gift of Chinese writing brushes
. Reverend Moon wrote seven Chinese characters:
"The word of heaven and human literature
are united through love and heart," a
fitting motto for a federation that seeks
to remind writers that literature must serve
a higher purpose if it is not to degenerate
into empty form. |
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Above:
Derek Walcott was the keynote speaker
at the Asian Literary Conference
Right: Rita Dove, 1987 Pulitzer Prizewinner
in poetry and U.S. Poet Laureate, speaks
at the Western Literary Conference |
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