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| Hearsay: |
The Atlantic posts a series of essays by “foreigners” such as Margaret Atwood, Monica Ali, and Anne Michaels examining national vs. international literatures. Interesting reading.
In our age of globalization, when immigration and the Internet and multinational conglomerates have made cultural transmission across borders easier than ever, does the idea of a national literature still have meaning? Where, in a civilization divided between cultural nativism and cosmopolitan mélange, does such a literature belong? The Atlantic, in conjunction with the Luminato Festival of Arts and Creativity, asked four novelists with international followings to consider these questions.
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July 22nd, 2009 at 9:01 am
More interestinger?
Nathan Whitlock’s examination of Anne Michaels’ examination. [see link above]
FTW!
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:47 am
The Whitlock blog is freakin’ hilarious — thanks grady for linking.
I tried on three separate occasions to get through Fugitive Pieces simply to see what the fuss was about and never got past page 33 (deal breaker was a description of slugs hanging “like black icicles” (I live on the wet coast and I know slugs. In a different novel this might’ve been amusing but she was serious.)
Is the dense gravity and lack of wit in her Atlantic musings what we look for in our “national literature”?
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:01 pm
George, any chance you can set up Bookninja so that replies are saved when you hit “back” for whatever reason? (My reason is that I typed in the wrong anti-spam code. Twice.) Sigh.
Zsuzsi, I only got through it because it was required reading in an Intro to Canlit class when I was doing my English degree. I diddn’t and still don’t get the fuss either — probably because I just didn’t get the book period. It’s books like that that give Canlit a bad name when there’s so much quality out there that doesn’t get the press it deserves. (bad: read nothing-going-on, abstract nature talk)
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:07 pm
I thought Fugitive Pieces was a major seller in countries other than Canada, and figured in turn that this was why the book got respect back home. Don’t countries other than Canada deserve some of the blame for the success of Michaels, Ondaatje etc.?
July 23rd, 2009 at 8:29 am
By coincidence I tried to read Fugitive Pieces just after re-reading Ann Charney’s Dobryd. No contest: Charney is the winner, and not only because the story she tells is as authentic as fiction can be.
Never did finish Fugitive Pieces.
Mary