Mar. 29th, 2009

[identity profile] tanyahp.livejournal.com
Hi. I'm a first time poster, but I've been following the comm for a while. Please let me know if I missed following a rule for posting, and I'll go back and correct it.

Maybe many of you have already seen the movie or a live performance of M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang. I've only seen a few parts of the movie, so I don't know how well it interpreted the play.

Well, I just read the play and it is fantastic.

The story centers around a French diplomat and a Chinese Spy, whom, thanks to his blind privileging of the West (and white masculinity), the diplomat believes to be a woman. They carry on an affair for twenty years, without the diplomat discovering that his lover is a man.

I think this would be a good introduction to issues surrounding racism, sexism and imperialism for someone who has not thought deeply about such issues before, because it is a play. I think theatre, in ways that perhaps some other forms of art cannot express, is able to allow people who normally do not step out of their own mind-state to place themselves in the shoes of another and walk around for a while. Other books do this as well, of course, but there is something different about a play. I think that it is because they are dialogue-heavy, and that, when you boil it down, they are composed of voices; if you are going to enjoy the play you really have to listen and to visualize the action, even when it becomes painful and part of you would rather turn away.

In this case, the voices Hwang creates are sharp, clear, and cut deeply to the heart of prejudice and pride. Gallimard, the French diplomat, and Song Liling (Butterfly), the Chinese Opera Singer/Spy are the two characters around whom the plot turns. The lovers act out the story of Madame Butterfly, the (heavily sexist and racist) Opera by Puccini in the context of the Revolution in China during the 1960's and 70's. Gallimard, influenced by this opera and his own prideful ignorance, fails to see the East and his lover for what they really are. He instead lives in a fantasy world chiefly of his own creation, a situation which Song exploits but that also costs him/her a great deal. When Gallimard is caught, the tables are turned, and he becomes trapped by his own fantasy.

I love reading plays, as well as seeing them performed. This is now at the top of my play list, and I am going to read it again soon.
sanguinity: woodcut by M.C. Escher, "Snakes" (Default)
[personal profile] sanguinity
I have been adding a SLEW of links to the del.icio.us account -- it's doubled in size in the past few weeks. Some of these links have already shown up on the comm in various places, but a lot of them haven't.

So here, have a sampling of stuff that's been added to the link-list lately:

Children and Young Adult

SF/F

LGBT

Multiracial
  • Loving Prize -- annual award for "outstanding artists, storytellers and community leaders for inspirational dedication to celebrating and illuminating the Mixed racial and cultural experience." Many past recipients are authors of mixed-race.
  • Halvsie - Half Japanese Wiki: Literature

Africa & Caribbean

Everything Else

If you have things you'd like to add to the del.icio.us collection, either drop a link here, or add "50books_poc" to your del.icio.us network, save the link to your del.icio.us account, and tag it "for:50books_poc".

One more thing. On the last links/recs post there is one request which hasn't yet been responded to: good/great historical fiction with a youngish protagonist; books about reservation life. Anyone got any suggestions?
[identity profile] anatomiste.livejournal.com
I've been a member of this community for a while, but my posting has fallen off lately, though I've been keeping up with the reading.

I thought it might inspire me to update a list in a LibraryThing group the way I do with the 999 Challenge there. (Here's my thread if you want an idea of what I'm talking about.)

I searched, but I couldn't find a 50books_poc group on LibraryThing. Is there one? If not, I'd be happy to start one (for people to post lists, or discuss--not that I want to take discussion away from this community--or whatever seems appropriate). I just want to make sure I wouldn't be reinventing the wheel.
deepad: black silhouette of woman wearing blue turban against blue background (Default)
[personal profile] deepad
I've seen a couple of people mention tagging books on LibraryThing with 'Author of Colour' etc, as a way to get recs and make lists.

I don't use LibraryThing because I refuse to pay for a service, but I am on GoodReads and Shelfari, so I was wondering if any of you have a system for organising for either of those. I haven't got into the social networking and groups aspect of those sites, but if there are Author of Colour groups and recs out there, or if any of you are cross-posting your reviews from this comm to any of those sites, it might be nice to have a resource round-up.

(mods: feel free to tag this as necessary)

ETA: A poll, to try to help gather data! Never mind, I fail at making polls. I will try to edit this later as a consensus about what tags to use emerges.

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Writers of Color 50 Books Challenge

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