Comments on: Sunday Salon – March 16, 2008

By: Caribousmom

Caribousmom — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:39:33 +0000

Tanabata: I think you’ll enjoy it.

Trish: It does get a bit confusing, doesn’t it? I have stopped categorizing fiction based only on where the author is from – instead I decide based on if the novel gives a distinct feel for a specific country.

Ariel: So what do you do with an author like Coetzee who is so “African” yet now lives in Australia? I am always interested to see what other readers are doing regarding this dilemma. I’m glad to hear you’ll be reading The Story of Forgetting – I think you’ll appreciate it.

By: Sycorax Pine

Sycorax Pine — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:26:48 +0000

I too have been thinking a lot about the nature of nationality and national or regional influence in literature since starting my national/regional themed years of reading last year. It seemed complicated even with Australia in 2007: is someone who chooses to live in Australia less Australian than someone who was born there but lives elsewhere? I decided to be fairly loose in my attitude to what counted as “national” literature, only excluding works about the nation written by authors who neither lived there, nor were born there, nor were citizens of the nation. This year, when Caribbean literature is my theme, it has become even more complicated, as the writers of the region are if anything even more diasporic, and the influence of the Caribbean on emigrant writers is so lastingly strong.

In other news, I too will be reading “The Story of Forgetting” soon, so I am glad to hear that you liked it!

By: Trish

Trish — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:37:27 +0000

Wendy, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to categorize world literature. For example, Nabokov was born in Russia, but moved to the United States. His Invitation to a Beheading was published in Russian, but Lolita was published in English. Is one considered Russian literature and not the other, or both because he was Russian, or neither since was was living in the US while writing? I joined Bethany’s Orbis Terranum challenge and picked books from authors from other countries, but I wouldn’t necessarily call Portrait of Dorian Gray intrisically Irish lit just because Wilde was Irish. Would Angela’s Ashes be more Irish even though McCourt moved from there when he was 19? Anyway, you get my point! Very interesting topic to me.

By: tanabata

tanabata — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:42:49 +0000

I’ve been debating whether to subscribe to World Literature Today and I think you’ve convinced me to go for it. Sounds like a very interesting issue.

By: Caribousmom

Caribousmom — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 01:59:18 +0000

Terri: I really like the idea of being able to get access to so many books from around the globe.

LitLove and Bethany: Reading the world may take me a lifetime…but it has been fun

Megan: I know what you mean about the temptation to buy! I’ve sort of given up trying to resist it

Gautami: I’m sorry you can’t get this magazine in India…I think you’d enjoy it.

By: gautami tripathy

gautami tripathy — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:33:18 +0000

WLT sounds a fascinating magazine. However, I don’t think I can get hold of it here in India.

I too think that Indian authors who live outside of India write very differently from those who are living in India. It colours their view or broadens it, is a matter of perception.

Here is my Sunday Salon post!

By: Megan

Megan — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 22:18:46 +0000

Thanks for sharing those bits of WLT, I found them really interesting. Like some others who have commented I have never heard of it. But I stay away from magazines about books because they just make me desire more books. I made a vow that I wasn’t going to buy any more book because I have so many as it is. A vow I conveniently forgot until this exact moment. I promised myself that I wasn’t going to buy any books that I wasn’t going to read within the next month or two about 6 months ago and I stuck with it until about 2 months ago.

The Secret Scroll sounds good, sounds like one I need to keep an eye out for.

Happy Sunday!

By: bethany

bethany — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:41:13 +0000

Oh, yes…to read the world! That is also one of my biggest desires. To know more about nations based on authors from those nations, and the ancient art of storytelling. Well, that is the main reason I started my challenge Orbis Terarrum (the whole world) because I can never give up an opportunity to get to know the peoples in this world better, they are just far too interesting to me.

By: Litlove

Litlove — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:06:42 +0000

I’m keen on treating myself to a subscription to a literary magazine and cannot decide which. I’ve come across WLT before but hadn’t thought of it in that context – perhaps I should have a look at a couple of recent editions. I like your aim to read the world!

By: Terri - teelgee

Terri - teelgee — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 20:40:06 +0000

I hadn’t heard of WLT either, thanks for the tip, Wendy, it sounds really good. Globalization certainly affects us in a lot of ways; I hadn’t thought about the literature aspect of it, other than there is so much more available from other countries. I’m grateful that the stories are getting out to broad audiences.