Achebe, Rushdie, Satrapi and Hosseini
Mar. 5th, 2009 05:47 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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50books_pocI found this community by way of the RaceFail posts, and I'm inordinately happy to be able to contribute something positive other than listening, which I've been doing since January.
These first four books aren't new to me--they are books that I'm currently teaching in the 11th/12th grade English class I teach at a local charter school, the first two of which I have taught many times before as a graduate student TA at UMass Amherst. As such, I'm not sure I'm going to count them towards my 50, but I wanted to post them for others' benefit.
Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart
I teach Heart of Darkness, Things Fall Apart and The Poisonwood Bible together in one unit on discourse in literature. As such, I think it's imperative to read Achebe's thunderous rant against the racism of Heart of Darkness when reading Things Fall Apart. One of the reasons I believe it is important is because the righteous anger with which Achebe calls Conrad a "bloody racist" is not easily discernible in the voice of Things Fall Apart. What is discernible is the way in which Achebe does exactly what he argues Conrad is missing: he gives the colonized Ibo a voice, and tells their story thoughtfully and honestly, making neither demons or angels of them--just human beings struggling to adjust to the stripping of their autonomy and power with dignity.
Salman Rushdie, Haroun and the Sea of Stories
This was the first novel Rushdie wrote after the fatwa was handed down. Within that context, the repeated question in the text of "What's the use of stories that aren't even true?" becomes both the theme and evidence of an author's wrestling with the power of his own words. Ultimately the entire text is an argument for free speech: the Guppees defeat the Chupwalas, not due to superior strength in war, but due to the strength of their discourse and the unity that they forged as a result. Haroun's changing the orbit of the moon to shine a light into Chup is a physical manifestation of sunlight being the best disinfectant. At the same time, Gup learns that a little bit of darkness sometimes helps them appreciate the sunlight.
My students were a bit frustrated with the "happy ending," but then, I reminded them of the intended audience, which included Rushdie's son, who was, I believe, 10 at the time.
However, while I am a total Rushdie fangirl, and love his postcolonial commentary, I am not unaware of his issues with women. Once, during a talk he gave at UMass, where I am a grad student, he made a smart remark concerning Victoria Secret models when asked about the goddesses about whom the Satanic Verses were written. It was both amusing and troubling at the same time.
Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis
I actually saw the movie before I read Satrapi's graphic novel. Shown from inside pre- and post-Islamic Revolution Iran, including the Iran-Iraq war, tells the autobiographical story of a girl descended from the last legitimate Shah of Persia (though, as she says, there's nothing extraordinary about that, considering the number of children he had) with a modern, Marxist family, as she resists the imposition of a more strict form of Sharia and finally flees to Europe for high school, where she continues to struggle with her identity as an Iranian exile. For my students, I am looking forward to contrasting the Iran of the "Axis of Evil" and the holocaust-denying Ahmadinejad with the Iran of Marjane Satrapi.
Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner
While this book started slow for me, once it got moving I literally couldn't put it down. I brought it with me to my sister-in-law's house in Ohio on our summer vacation, and read it late into the night after the rest of the house had been long asleep. Like Persepolis, it gives an inside look at a country beset by Islamic fundamentalism through the eyes of one child who resists, and the implications for him and his family when he wavers. In this case the country is Afghanistan, and the story isn't strictly autobiographical. Another entry here on this book suggests it might be melodramatic, and this may be true, but it is certainly gripping.
ETA: After discussion generated from this post, and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
color_blue's excellent links, I intend to teach The Kite Runner as a foundation in an introduction to New Orientalism, using the material (s)he links to below. Just as I used a problematic text to teach my students about critical theory in general and postcolonialism in particular (Heart of Darkness, in that case), my hope is that their understanding of the complexities of criticism will grow as we compare the general USian response to The Kite Runner to the responses of Iranian critics, and possibly Afghani ones if I can find some.
That's it, from me, for now.
These first four books aren't new to me--they are books that I'm currently teaching in the 11th/12th grade English class I teach at a local charter school, the first two of which I have taught many times before as a graduate student TA at UMass Amherst. As such, I'm not sure I'm going to count them towards my 50, but I wanted to post them for others' benefit.
Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart
I teach Heart of Darkness, Things Fall Apart and The Poisonwood Bible together in one unit on discourse in literature. As such, I think it's imperative to read Achebe's thunderous rant against the racism of Heart of Darkness when reading Things Fall Apart. One of the reasons I believe it is important is because the righteous anger with which Achebe calls Conrad a "bloody racist" is not easily discernible in the voice of Things Fall Apart. What is discernible is the way in which Achebe does exactly what he argues Conrad is missing: he gives the colonized Ibo a voice, and tells their story thoughtfully and honestly, making neither demons or angels of them--just human beings struggling to adjust to the stripping of their autonomy and power with dignity.
Salman Rushdie, Haroun and the Sea of Stories
This was the first novel Rushdie wrote after the fatwa was handed down. Within that context, the repeated question in the text of "What's the use of stories that aren't even true?" becomes both the theme and evidence of an author's wrestling with the power of his own words. Ultimately the entire text is an argument for free speech: the Guppees defeat the Chupwalas, not due to superior strength in war, but due to the strength of their discourse and the unity that they forged as a result. Haroun's changing the orbit of the moon to shine a light into Chup is a physical manifestation of sunlight being the best disinfectant. At the same time, Gup learns that a little bit of darkness sometimes helps them appreciate the sunlight.
My students were a bit frustrated with the "happy ending," but then, I reminded them of the intended audience, which included Rushdie's son, who was, I believe, 10 at the time.
However, while I am a total Rushdie fangirl, and love his postcolonial commentary, I am not unaware of his issues with women. Once, during a talk he gave at UMass, where I am a grad student, he made a smart remark concerning Victoria Secret models when asked about the goddesses about whom the Satanic Verses were written. It was both amusing and troubling at the same time.
Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis
I actually saw the movie before I read Satrapi's graphic novel. Shown from inside pre- and post-Islamic Revolution Iran, including the Iran-Iraq war, tells the autobiographical story of a girl descended from the last legitimate Shah of Persia (though, as she says, there's nothing extraordinary about that, considering the number of children he had) with a modern, Marxist family, as she resists the imposition of a more strict form of Sharia and finally flees to Europe for high school, where she continues to struggle with her identity as an Iranian exile. For my students, I am looking forward to contrasting the Iran of the "Axis of Evil" and the holocaust-denying Ahmadinejad with the Iran of Marjane Satrapi.
Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner
While this book started slow for me, once it got moving I literally couldn't put it down. I brought it with me to my sister-in-law's house in Ohio on our summer vacation, and read it late into the night after the rest of the house had been long asleep. Like Persepolis, it gives an inside look at a country beset by Islamic fundamentalism through the eyes of one child who resists, and the implications for him and his family when he wavers. In this case the country is Afghanistan, and the story isn't strictly autobiographical. Another entry here on this book suggests it might be melodramatic, and this may be true, but it is certainly gripping.
ETA: After discussion generated from this post, and
color_blue's excellent links, I intend to teach The Kite Runner as a foundation in an introduction to New Orientalism, using the material (s)he links to below. Just as I used a problematic text to teach my students about critical theory in general and postcolonialism in particular (Heart of Darkness, in that case), my hope is that their understanding of the complexities of criticism will grow as we compare the general USian response to The Kite Runner to the responses of Iranian critics, and possibly Afghani ones if I can find some. That's it, from me, for now.
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no subject
Date: 2009-03-06 02:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-06 02:28 am (UTC)That's... uh...
...No, really, what?
(and for the OP: have you seen any of Abbas Kiarostami's films? They're terrific explorations of contemporary Iranian society. I especially recommend Crimson Gold (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371280/), which is brilliant, and also quite short, so you could probably show it to your class for an alternative perspective. Even if you don't, I feel the need to plug it for its own sake. It's a truly excellent film.)
no subject
Date: 2009-03-06 02:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-06 04:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-06 02:20 am (UTC)May I ask for a stylistic edit, please? Could you please repeat the information in the cut-tag titles first thing inside the cut-tag, especially when you're using multiple cut-tags? Once I click through on any of the cut-tags, I no longer can tell where a review starts or finishes, nor what book came next. Thanks. :-)
no subject
Date: 2009-03-06 02:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-06 03:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-06 04:52 pm (UTC)For my particular cadre of students and their demographic, just reading from another perspective is illuminating, but I've also been teaching them about different schools of literary criticism, and how deeper readings work, so...yeah. I'll check that out. Thanks!
no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 06:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 11:33 pm (UTC)It was the way that Hosseini alternately demonized and idealized everyone but the narrator, how all uncomfortable complexities (like the fact that the Americans had funded Taliban leaders and they really couldn't be explained away as being sadistic half-Germans) had been ironed out, how the ending was a haven in the west, etcetc. I don't have this up unlocked anywhere right now, for various reasons, but I will PM it to you.
Also, I should've said this when you first posted - I really liked the review of The Corpse Walker you made, and the book's now on my reading list.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 01:23 am (UTC)Thank you!
no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 01:58 am (UTC)This makes me ridiculously happy! Have you read Jasmine and Stars: Reading More Than Lolita In Tehran (http://www.amazon.com/Jasmine-Stars-Reading-Civilization-Networks/dp/0807859575/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236563806&sr=8-1)? What did you think?
You're welcome. :)
no subject
Date: 2009-03-07 11:41 pm (UTC)one thing i always found strange about that one was that reading The Secong Coming didn't help illuminate much about the book. perhaps i should go back and reread it and the poem and see if anything makes more sense the third time.
i think Haroun may be one of the best and most underrated books ever written. that's just me, though.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 06:13 pm (UTC)Once, during a talk he gave at UMass, where I am a grad student, he made a smart remark concerning Victoria Secret models when asked about the goddesses about whom the Satanic Verses were written.
Was this before or after he divorced Padma Lakshmi, I wonder?
no subject
Date: 2009-03-10 01:38 am (UTC)Was this before or after he divorced Padma Lakshmi, I wonder?
Before, though if I remember correctly I believe she divorced him. :D
no subject
Date: 2009-03-10 11:36 am (UTC)