Stories about Literature from April, 2007
Iraq: George Orwell's 1984
Iraqi blogger Majed Jarrar argues that our present has a lot in common with George Orwell's 1984.
France: What You May Not Have Read About Voltaire
Racisme et Histoire: Le Tabou posts a collection of quotes from some of France's most famous philosophers, writers, and politicians (e.g., Voltaire, Ferry, De Gaulle) you might not read in history books. “I repeat, the super races have a right, because they have only one duty. They have the duty...
Jamaica: New Caribbean Novels
Jamaican Geoffrey Philp is excited about The River's Song – a new book by by Jacqueline Bishop – and other soon-to-be-released Caribbean novels.
Japan: Reflections on postwar “Child's Play”
Debito reproduces a passage from John Dower's famous book “Embracing Defeat” dealing with the games children played in post-WW2 Japan, including “holding a mock black market, playing prostitute and customer, and recreating left-wing political demonstrations.” Debito comments that Dower's account “is something rarely considered in historical accounts: The barometer of...
Cameroon: Autobiographies, biographies, and memoirs from Cameroon
Dibussi Tande on Cameroonian national figures with autobiographies, biographies, and memoirs: “For example, Albert Mukong and Christian Tobie Kuo both wrote two volumes of their memoirs. Same with Jean Martin Tchaptchet (who shared that infamous last meal with nationalist leader Felix Moumie in Geneva in 1960), who has published two...
Peru: Tributes to a Peruvian Poet
At the age of 61, Peruvian poet José Watanabe succumbed to cancer and left behind many admirers of his work. The son of a Japanese immigrant father and a Peruvian mother, Watanabe had no desire to visit his father's homeland recalls El Blog Del Morsa [ES] during a dinner with...
Writers in Guatemala
In Guatemala, most of the writers find it really hard to publish a book, and even harder to make it profitable. They often work as journalists, analysts, engineers and also write regularly. Few of them are full time writers, many of them, unknown locally. However, they have found, through blogging, an opportunity to express themselves, to share their works, and to promote the interest among Guatemalans, especially in poetry and short stories.
Kuwait: Gender Roles in 1001 Nights
Kuwaiti blogger Kuwaiti Femme shares with us an academic paper on The Interpretation of Gender Roles In a Thousand and One Nights. ‘I picked “A Thousand and One Nights,” … I'd never really looked at the stories before… and I'm sorry I hadn't sooner… They are just so absorbing… I...
Madagascar's E-Library
The Madagascar Electronic Library, now in its sixth month of existence, is home to over twenty free ebooks that have been downloaded over 6,000 times, writes (Fr) Actualité culturelle malgache.
A week goes by in Kuwait
The unpredictable weather, shoddy telecom services and the rapid surge in the stock market are just some of the topics keeping Kuwaiti bloggers entertained this week.
El Salvador: Poet of the Revolution, Roque Dalton
Tim Muth of Tim's El Salvador Blog introduces us to Salvadoran poet, Roque Dalton, who devoted his life to the overthrow of the ruling oligarchy. In addition to links to essays about this literary intellectual, Muth's article summarizes the events that led to his eventual death at the hands of...
Trinidad & Tobago: Naipaul's Reading
Posting from Trinidad, where Sir Vidia Naipaul is making several appearances in honour of his 75th birthday year, Caribbean Free Radio reports from one of the author's readings: “Naipaul’s reading style isn’t particularly good, in the classic sense, but his stilted, slightly quaint delivery is oddly effective, and easy on...
Vietnam: Vietnam Readings
Chris Harvey compiles a list of his favorite books about Vietnam.
Iran:War for oil
ZaneIrani talks about Collin Kelley‘s poem,”war for oil” where we read No liberation force is coming, no toppling of statues or searches,for weapons of mass destruction.Here is famine, genocide,dark skin pouring black oil that holds no currency.
Chilean Love Poetry Online
Love is one of the universal languages. One of the Chilean poets who wrote poems about love was Pablo Neruda. Not only do Chilean bloggers have Neruda’s romantic prose in their digital DNA, but so do bloggers around the world. Here is a selection of Pablo Neruda’s poetry that has spread throughout the net.
China: MeMedia Issue 4: Copyright Kills Creation, Life's Precious, Ching Ming Festival
This week comes the fourth issue from the newly-formed MeMedia roundup of all that's hot around the Chinese blogsphere including the upcoming Taiwan Bloggers BoF, copyright discussion in Hong Kong, kickback cost of medicine in China, in memory of the deads in Ching Ming Festival and much more. [技术和互联网 2007...
Dominica: Looking for Wide Sargasso Sea
Bronte Blog reprints an article by Ellen Vanstone about Dominican author Jean Rhys and her acclaimed novel, Wide Sargasso Sea.
Trinidad & Tobago: Naipaul's Visit
Writer (and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, 2001) V.S. Naipaul is in Trinidad for a week of celebrations honouring his 75th birthday year. Jonathan Ali shares his thoughts on the visit.
Jamaica: Elegy for Virginia Tech
“What happened…goes beyond what the mind can fathom, the heart can bear, the soul can possess”: Jamaican Geoffrey Philp posts an Elegy for Virginia Tech.
Serbia: Peter Handke
At Belgrade 2.0, a discussion of writer Peter Handke's relationship with Serbia.
Jamaica: Decolonization of the Mind
Further to his post on Frances-Anne Solomon, who called creation “a form of terror, particularly when you come from a colonial context”, Geoffrey Philp examines fellow Jamaican Olive Senior's poem Colonial Girls School, which grapples with decolonization of the mind.
