2010 Ideas for theme reads

Here's a thread to discussion possible themes for 2010.

The pattern has been general theme one month, country or regional theme the next. January 2010 is scheduled to be a country theme.

Our previous themes are listed on the Group home page (I can't believe we've been at this so long! Since March '08!)

Our group started as an exclusively fiction-oriented group and although I dropped the fiction from the group's name, we are still primarily a fiction group.

When suggesting themes it is important to consider how the theme would fit into international literature. The purpose of this group, indeed, the challenge of this group, is to explore the world away from our own literary shores.

Two themes were considered very interesting earlier this year when we voted/discussed themes. It was thought that we might carry them over to 2010. So, it would be good to comment on these and see if there is still interest in them.
1. Dictators & Dictatorships.
2. Nature/Living close to the land

Below I will list some of the themes that were talked about, but didn't make 2009's final cut (there are only 12 months in a year!)

Countries suggested: Sweden, Brazil
Other general themes suggested (besides Dictators and Nature): Job/Workplace stories, Holidays, and Imprisonment.

We have a few months before we have to decide early 2010, plenty of time for discussion.

I like nature/living close to the land. Not as interested in dictators & dictatorships.

Some other suggestions:
Short stories (one author)
Short stories (anthology)
Games
Sports
A food mystery
Animals
War
Aging
Private schools/prep schools/baording school/ college
Gender benders (GLTB)
Mental illness
Arts/artists Oops! We already did this.
Clergy
Handicaps (deafness, blindness, amputation, etc.)
Bizarre fiction (weird, grotesque, strange, etc.)
Humor

My votes for countries:
Israel
Mexico
Spain

Russia.
From Wikipedia:
***
From around the 1830s Russian literature underwent an astounding golden age, beginning with the poet and novelist Aleksandr Pushkin and culminating in two of the greatest novelists in world literature, Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky, and the short story writer and playwright Anton Chekhov. In the Twentieth Century leading figures of Russian literature included internationally recognised poets such as Vladimir Mayakovsky, Boris Pasternak, Anna Akhmatova and Joseph Brodsky, and prose writers Maxim Gorky, Vladimir Nabokov, Mikhail Sholokhov, Mikhail Bulgakov and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
***
I suspect I will get flak for this but aside from Britain (I'll include Joyce in Britain to avoid bullets) and US, I think folks would be hard-pressed to say any other single country has contributed as much great fiction as Russia.

Theme: Magical realism -- there's lots of great examples around the world, some classics and new authors/countries to explore

I'd be interested in exploring medical themes across different cultures, especially illness, death and dying, and aging.

Since February is set to be a general themed challenge, it might be fun to do love stories from around the globe. :)
As for country themes, the group's only had one month dedicated to Asia so far. Maybe China next year? I was going to say Vietnam, but most of the things listed in the tags seem to be about the war.

Keep them coming. . .

>2 SqueakyChu: I like the short stories twosome. It's an 'easy' one, which would be good after a 'harder' theme. Some of those on your list are rather Western-centered, imo. Private schools, for example. I've see a lot of mental illness themes in Western novels (even more so now it seems), but very few elsewhere. Examples of global lit with games and sports themes? War is interesting, but is the theme to broad?

We also already did the Arts, did you miss it?

>6 moneybeets: we can consider a region, such as Southeast Asia, even Vietnam alone seems to be too much a challenge to find books. We do have India coming up in November though.

>4 GoofyOcean110: true!

>3 shawnd: True, perhaps. But classic Russian novels have been discussed all over LT in the last year or so, no point in duplicating, eh? However, we could tweak that to contemporary Russian literature or perhaps post-Soviet. It would be much, much harder but interesting, don't you think? Actually, the more I think about it, to do Russia would be like doing the US, or the UK, the choices would be so many that it would, imo, dilute any discussion, we'd have to add a focus, me thinks. You are welcome to argue with me, of course (the objective is a bit of discussion, even if we don't achieve it all of the time).

I'll try to keep a running list of what's been suggested and post it here from time to time (squeaky, perhaps you should pick two or three from your list that you really would like to push, or we can wait and see what others pick from it?).

I'm completely void of suggestions at the moment, but I like the short story/anthology suggestion, Squeaky made.

Countries already covered in 2008, 2009:
Haiti, Argentina, Iceland/Greenland, Australia, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, India (November), Japan

Regions done: Polar region, Africa, Countries of the former Yugoslavia.

Countries suggested thus far:
Israel, Mexico, Spain, Russia, Brazil, Sweden, China, Vietnam(?)

Oops!

I didn't miss the Arts. In fact, I read a wonderful book for that theme. I was just making up this list too fast!

Off all my suggestions, I like the short stories (one author or anthology), aging (am reading a wonderful book now on that very theme), and handicaps (can be as broad as you would like) the most.

Examples of global lit with games and sports themes?

The book I actually had in mind when I thought of this topic was The Master of Go by Japanese author Yasunari Kawabata. I read that book earlier this year. I came up with my list of themes by browsing my 75 Books Challenge list of books read so far this year.

I don't think that the theme of war is too braod. It is interesting to see how that topic is presented. Two books I read about war (one by a German author and another by an Israeli author were presented without any politics involved at all. Both were novels.

If you think war is too broad, perhaps you'd like to limit it to just one war?

Is the Holocaust too daunting and depressing a subject to use as a theme? I'd love for some of our members to read Maus, a graphic novel, for that theme.

I'm kinda blank too, but I want to second the nomination of the magic realism theme.

7--I forgot we were still doing an India theme this year *sheepish* but I do like the idea to group the South Asian countries together.

I like the ideas already mentioned of magical realism and war. But perhaps if we did something for war, we could do something like "the other side of war". Basically meaning choosing the "minor" wars (ie. not ww2, ww1, etc...) or reading the viewpoints of lesser known participants in the war.

Since we did polar regions over the summer I like the idea of doing something like living in the jungle for the colder months. Jungle covers many countries so it'd be interesting to get feedback on that. I already know of two books I've already read that work!

Personally I'm tired of Russia based themes. Everyone screams "yes let's do that!" to the high heavens and then no one commits to it. Plus it always becomes a Dostoevsky overload.

Perhaps we could do a theme like love in the air finding books with the word "love" in it and seeing what kind of love they portray. Undying love, romantic love, cynical love, obsessive love, etc... It could be really interesting.

i've not participated in a group read yet so i may be repeating stuff that's already been done, but here's what came to mind.

themes

diasporas: good examples would be Brick Lane or Towelhead, both about Muslim imigrants, UK and US respectively.

youth: maybe young adult books from various countries or just books about youth from different countries?

Colonialism: this would be a good broad theme that would easily incorporate Vietnam- and be before the war- and many other places. i'm finishing up The Painted Veil which i would highly recommend.

countries

New Zealand: i'm biased since i lived there for a while, but there is some really, really great fiction from NZ, especially anything by Witi Ihimaera, like Whale Rider.

> squeakychu

i totally agree about Maus. it's a must read. i wrote an entire 25 page thesis on Jewish identity in Comics and it just doesn't get better than Maus. a Holocaust theme would also encourage me to read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, since i've been avoiding it because of it's depressing nature.

I'd second Squeaky's suggestion of "gender benders" and the suggestion for "magical realism" - two areas that are lacking in my library.

also, as a suggestion but also a question - after having recently read Steig Larsson's books, I've been looking for books based in Scandanavia, any of the countries. All that I have been able to find have been mysteries - probably due to publishing/translation costs, etc. Does any one know of books by Scandanavian authors/set in these countries that have been translated into English that are not purely mysteries?

#14

Off the top of my head for Swedish literature, translated into English, not mystery: :)

Popular Music from Vittula by Mikael Niemi
Hanna's Daughters by Marianne Fredriksson
Horrific Sufferings of the Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot by Carl-johan Vallgren
Benny & Shrimp by Katarina Mazetti

For childrens/YA: Pippi Longstocking, Ronia, the Robber's Daughter, The Brothers Lionheart, etc. by Astrid Lindgren

Or the classics:
The Wonderful Adventures of Nils by Selma Lagerlof, or anything else
August Strindberg (mainy drama)
The Dwarf or Barabbas by Par Lagerkvist

(Touchstones being wonky, as usual)

Thanks, bookoholic, for the Swedish suggestions. Not being a huge mystery fan, I'm particularly grateful for alternatives. Astrid Lindgren, Lagerlof, Strindberge and Lagerkvist I'm familiar with, but haven't encountered the more contemporary writers.

#16

I think that's the "real benefit" of the fame of Swedish mystery-writers - people start looking (and translating) other writers as well. :)

I'm keen for short stories/anthologies, LGBT, magical realism, South-East Asia and Israel.

I think that for Dictators/Dictatorships, I'd be tempted to extend it to systems of government perhaps.

>7 avaland: I've been spared (fortunately?) the dialogue about classic Russian. And my too large helpings of classic entrees in the past have left me too full for contemporary dessert but that's where it has to go, doesn't it? I am not but should be embarrassed to say the closest I get to young Russian fiction is the biographically un-Russian Shteyngart.

One could choose a country/region like Ukraine or Caucasus or Azerbaijan outside Russia proper. I do like the idea of contemporary fiction but I have not looked to see what is out there.

>9 SqueakyChu: civil wars?

catarina1--Scandanavian books that are not mysteries:

Dina's Book by Herbjorg Wassmo
Kristin Lavrensdatter by Sigrid Undset

For possible 2010 categories:

Caribbean
Middle East (or perhaps separately, Arab, and Israel)

Interesting ideas! Hmm. the jungle.
Youth is interesting, though instead of limiting it to YA books, it could be defined as teen protagonists. A similar theme which has been mentioned before, might be coming-of-age novels

>14 catarina1:, 15, 20 Could we move the Scandinavian book discussion to another thread so that we don't clog up the theme discussion with book recommendations? Feel free to create a thread in the group..."Looking for Scandinavian fiction" or something similar. We have some Scandinavians in the group also.

>9 SqueakyChu:, 19, 12 Those are both viable ways to narrow the focus of "War".

>13 leahbird: one of our best discussions was the very early theme of "Muslim women".

>9 SqueakyChu: I personally feel that The Holocaust is too depressing as a theme. I also think it a theme that has generally had huge exposure generally in literature. However, that said, if there seems to be a lot of interest, why not.

I think we need to avoid thinking of themes because we want to encourage readers to read certain books or authors (i.e. Maus, Maus II or Dostoyevsky). It starts to feel like themes with an agenda.

>20 arubabookwoman: I think The Middle East would be better split up as separate country reads. There is a lot of literature from countries like Israel, Lebanon, Iran . . . etc.

Another thing we should think about when thinking of themes is: Are we imaging some discussion around this theme or just a thread where we list the books we have read?

I would like to second a month of Caribbean literature. This is because:
a)I have a lot to get through at the moment
b)I think it is generally under-represented on LT threads, certainly within this group.

If people are keen, I would like to volunteer to oversee the thread, though someone like Arubabookwoman will provide more expert opinions.

I would also like to add that we could be brave and pick a fairly limited theme just once a year. The first place we 'visited' was Haiti and, although there weren't dozens of books and writers to choose from, I think it worked well. Just a thought.

>22 GlebtheDancer: I second the suggestion. Actually, I would narrow it even further to Patrick Chamoiseau's work ;-)

I have a suggestion for a theme read, one which I know will make everyone groan. The thought of it makes me groan, but . . . What about a month devoted to Manga literature. I have never read any and have never felt moved by the spirit to do so, but one of my LT friends remarked to me the other day, that Manga is taken quite seriously in Japan. Even adults regularly read it. Since I know nothing about this literary/art form, perhaps it might be interesting to learn something - to keep my cultural literacy card up to date :-)

Interesting thought, urania -- I'd be game, but I'd like to read some good stuff. My graphic novel experience is pretty much limited to Persepolis which probably doesn't qualify as manga, does it?

I completely agree that classic Russian literature is discussed all over LT, but what about literature from Soviet era/20th century? I can highly recommend Vassily Grossman's Life and Fate and Victor Serge's The Case of Comrade Tulayev and Unforgiving Years, and I would certainly be interested in reading some of the books I own but haven't read, including work by Vladimir Sorokin and Andrei Platonov, as well as Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

--> 23

No groans here. Either manga or just graphic novels. Okay, I won't mention any specific ones. Just to let you know, though, that my favorite graphic novel is by a French comic book artist.

I can ask my son (or daughter) for recommendations!

In terms of manga or comics in general though, once you start a series you have to finish them. Yes, if you get the few short series you're fine. But are you going to start, say, the Japanese manga series "Detective Conan" which has 60+ volumes and read them all in the one month for the theme read!?

I just don't think this as a theme read is a good one. I like when our theme reads are more challenging and I don't find this to be it.

But that's just my opinion.

>27 lilisin: lilisin,

As I said, I expected groans. I groan myself; however, for those of us unacquainted with the manga genre, it might prove more challenging. I'm not sure reading all of the volumes in a manga series would be necessary. For example, when book sequels go on and on and on, I stop. Perhaps some scholarly nonfiction about this topic would be interesting - providing a context for the reading and thereby making the reading more interesting from a cultural studies point of view. But then, as I said, I know absolutely (and I do mean absolutely) nothing about manga.

urania -

I'm just trying to think of ways that the comic idea could work while tying the group's intentions in. I think my issue is the focus on "manga" which implies Japanese comic.

If anything, to make the group work, I think that it'd be best if individuals read a comic (one volume or two) from different countries and they makes the comparisons.

Otherwise, it'd be like having the YA section and having one person trying to read all of the Nancy Drew books out there. Doesn't give much to compare with unless you were say, to read a Nancy Drew and a Club des Cinq, etc...

> avaland

with diasporas, Muslim diaspora was just what came to mind at the moment. there is tons of literature out there about other groups. you could focus on African diasporas (like slavery or the more modern diasporas of refuges or workers), Tibetan diasporas, Chinese diaspora following the Cultural Revolution, Latin American diasporas, etc etc.

>urania1, lilisin

the only manga i've read is the first book in the Buddha series by Osamu Tezuka (the recognized Master of Asian comics, kind of the father of manga), but i think you could do a lot with a manga/comics theme. there are loads of Asian and European comics, even a few nonfiction comics about life in North Korea, etc. some of these are stand alone or easy to read one. Kapilavastu, the Buddha book i read, was a nice fat book, and while i would like to read more of the series, it didn't feel like i had to.

re: Manga or Manga&Comics. I'm with lilisin on this one. But, if there's enough interest, I don't see why not. Not sure whether it should be broad, "graphic novels & comics" or specific, "Japanese Manga".

>13 leahbird: We have to have reasonably narrow themes here. "diasporas" and "colonialism" are both incredibly broad, perhaps you have some very specific topics in mind? (i.e. colonialism in the 20th century, the movement of the Irish during the potato famine...)

22, 25 I was waiting for you two 'veterans' to weigh in.

>22 GlebtheDancer: depressaholic are you suggesting "The Caribbean" be the limited theme you were referring to, or something else? I agree Haiti worked well. Plus, I like scrounging for books:-) Do you have suggestions for that?

>25 rebeccanyc: rebeccanyc, were you thinking 20th century or Soviet era? (Nov 1917 - Dec 1991 according to wikipedia).

I'll compile a list at the end of the month with all the suggested themes (geesh, did I say this before?) and we can discuss further.

re: Manga or Manga&Comics. I'm with lilisin on this one. But, if there's enough interest, I don't see why not. Not sure whether it should be broad, "graphic novels & comics" or specific, "Japanese Manga".

>13 leahbird: We have to have reasonably narrow themes here. "diasporas" and "colonialism" are both incredibly broad, perhaps you have some very specific topics in mind?

22, 25 I was waiting for you two 'veterans' to weigh in.

>22 GlebtheDancer: depressaholic are you suggesting "The Caribbean" be the limited theme you were referring to, or something else? I agree Haiti worked well. Plus, I like scrounging for books:-) Do you have suggestions for that?

>25 rebeccanyc: rebeccanyc, were you thinking 20th century or Soviet era? (Nov 1917 - Dec 1991 according to wikipedia).

I'll compile a list at the end of the month with all the suggested themes (geesh, did I say this before?) and we can discuss further.

#32, I was originally thinking Soviet era, but then thought it might also be interesting to read post-Soviet novels (wasn't really thinking of pre-revolutionary, i.e., 1900-1917).

Okay, "no" to manga. What about poetry? Or male friendships? I suggest the latter since we have discussed women and women's issues a lot. This might add a little balance. We might also consider a glbt themed read.

It's been a while, but however busy life is, I'm getting enticed back by the upcoming India read.

I like the idea of a Carribean read, and think throwing in some country or area from the Arabic speaking world would be great (how about the Maghreb as a region?), but how about a selection that sends us all back in time sometime - maybe something like literature of the Spanish conquest in America, literature of the Ottoman empire, or Medieval Japanese Women?

Also, since I'm fresh back from a sojourn there, how about Greece?

Diasporas may be too broad; it might be better to focus on one or two of them (Greek, Chinese, Jewish, etc.).

-->32 avaland:
My comments about a 'narrow' theme and the Caribbean were unrelated. The 'narrow' thing was more in response to someone mentioning Vietnam as a possible theme, although I agree that Vietnam may be too narrow. It was more a general comment than one actually designed to be helpful. As usual.

Suggestions for a 'narrow' theme: Central Asia (includes a lot of Russian stuff, so wouldn't be impossible), Sam's Ottoman idea or Medieval japanese idea would both be good (though Japan was done in an earlier read), Zimbabwe (just because I have a couple). Basically anything that someone out there has an interest in that a few others could follow along with.

Ok, here is a preliminary list of suggested themes, with my comments in { } brackets (these are to encourage more discussion to narrow or define the theme a bit better.) We are still up for more ideas - at least through the end of the month.
*User names behind a theme suggestion indicates the person has volunteered to facilitate the group discussion if we choose that theme.

THEMES for discussion
Aging
Dictators/Dictatorships/Despots {I think this is probably meant, stories set under such a government...}
Games & Sport Theme
Gender Benders (GLBT)
The Holocaust
Illness/Disabilities{together? separate? is the latter global enough in literature}
The Jungle{books set in the jungle/rainforest}Lilisin
Love (either love as a theme, or find a book with love in the title...){I'm not sure the later is terribly global, but you could convince me otherwise}
Magical Realism
Male Friendships
Manga (Japanese) only {a more narrow theme}
Manga, Comics, and Graphic Novels {somewhat broader}
Medicine, Medical professions
Nature/Living Close to the Land
Ottoman Empire
Poetry, Narrative (A poem that tells a story) Janeajones
Poetry, Translated Polutropos?
Roma/"Gypsies"
Short fiction/short stories{from a country not our own?}
War "When the war comes home" see #41 below.
Youth {global YA novels? protagonist is a youth? Coming-of-age novels}(the latter being somewhat different than the former two, with some overlap)

COUNTRY & REGIONAL THEMES
Brazil
Caribbean depressaholic
Central Asia
China
Czech/Slovak polutropos
Greece
Israel
Mexico
New Zealand
Russia, 20th Century
Sweden
Turkey
Vietnam
Zimbabwe

Vis a vis poetry, I assumed that it would come from a country other than one's own or perhaps poetry in translation might work.

lyric poetry?
narrative poetry?
poetry with a particular theme -- love, death, nature, community, family, protest, war, political?
poetic forms -- sonnets, villanelles, sestinas, haiku?
Nobel prize winning poets?

More themes:

How about water (i.e. oceans, rivers, lakes - that play an important part of a novel)? I do have a favorite novel to recommend on this these but will not do that on this thread! :)

Or maybe weather? Authors such as Peter Hoeg, Yasunari Kawabata, and Orhan Pamuk come to mind for snow.

I like all the suggestions so far (except poetry, but I think I can challenge myself to read something not in my comfort zone for one month). But can I just put my hand up with an extra "ooh, please!" for (Japanese) manga? It seems to be a contentious theme here, and it's one I'd be really keen to read.

Regarding war as a topic, I do like the idea of us concentrating more on those left behind - and that got me thinking about The Blitz in England during WW2. There's also the bombing of Dresden, and Sarajevo where the war came up far too close & personal to those who shouldn't be involved in war. (And I'm sure there are plenty more instances, not just 20th century!) I'm not sure what this "theme" would be called though - I'm hopeless at snappy titles. "When War Comes Home?"

I hope I'm making sense, I haven't had my coffee yet today...

Don't forget the jungle theme I proposed earlier. I know that personally I'd be interested that one. I'm trying to think of other themes as well.

>40 SqueakyChu: I think it's interesting that you work off books you've already read, and depressaholic works off his TBR pile! :-)

>39 janeajones: well, yes. But we are the Reading Globally group so we like to point people in a direction that will encourage that (thus my comment next to the theme). There are other groups on LT where readers can post poetry to their hearts' content.

>42 lilisin: Apologies, lilisin, it's on my handwritten list, I just overlooked it. Will edit. I happen to like that one having been in the Australia rainforest last summer...

>41 wookiebender: I assume you are taking of civilian targets instead of the customary front lines of battle? I think I know what you are getting at. So, perhaps books like Slaughterhouse-Five(Dresden) or The Night Watch(London) or Hiroshima Notes by Kenzaburo Oe? or perhaps the Siege of Leningrad? Do others think that a workable sub-theme?

How about crime? I usually avoid these like the plague but will do one for a global themed read. Novels like Out by Natsuo Kirino or something by Swedish author Henning Mankell (I see his books everywhere) are some examples.

>44 avaland: That's it, entirely. I didn't want to mention any names - for one, I've already read Slaughterhouse-Five and The Night Watch (and The Night Watch by Connie Willis!); but Hiroshima would also fit the bill, and The Cellist of Sarajevo, I think (it's on my wishlist).

I was also just thinking of gypsies as a theme/culture. (Just came up in a thread on another website.) I'm sure there's lots of books about gypsies/Roma, apart from the Enid Blyton books I read as a child where, when they appeared, they were always the crims.

43> I wasn't advocating posting poetry, but reading and discussing and poetry. For instance, there is a really interesting revival in the last ten years or so of narrative poetry -- book length poems telling stories -- everything from Golden Gate by Vikram Seth to Bloodlines by Fred D'Aguiar.

I'm a big narrative poetry fan, and have Golden Gate on my tbr list (and for those who haven't had the pleasure, Derek Walcott's Omeros is my nominee for the greatest written work of the last half-century).

If we did narrative poetry, would dramatic poetry also count?

>44 avaland: I'll edit the war entry to reflect this theme.
>44 avaland: First book that comes to mind is Column McCann's Zoli which is superb. I'm not sure how much literature is out there. There certainly isn't much from the Roma themselves as they have an oral tradtion, which was the point to McCann's story, which was based on a real Roma poet.

>47 janeajones:, 48 Sorry, Jane, that probably is a knee jerk reaction to the many LT groups and threads that just post poetry but don't really talk about it. Shall I dust off Evangeline then? "This is the forest primeval, the murmering pines and the hemlocks. . . ":-) Just kiddin' Would you like me to edit the 'poetry' theme to "narrative poetry" with your definition beside it. I have not been a big fan of narrative poetry, so I have to ask how much international narrative poetry is available? Although it seems the Mali epic of Sunjata might qualify. . .

Avaland, I think it depends on how far back you want to go, and whether we think of dramatic verse as part of narrative verse or as a separate category. But some modern biggies I can think of, besides what's already listed, would include Nikos Kazantzakis (my wife and I were just reading him in Greece last month), Louis Zukovsky, Fernando Passoa, and Wole Soyinka. If you want to look at translations of older works, there seems to be a never-ending stream. Jane can talk about what's happened in the last ten years; I'll confess to have read relatively little written in the last ten years.

Oh, oh, oh,

I must be like TomcatMurr very briefly and jump up and down in excitement, and perhaps even faint with excitement :-)

If we followed the poetry suggestion above, and narrowed, as Jane said in #39, to Nobel-Prize winning poets, then we could all start a barrage of letters, emails and phone calls to publishers to publish more poetry by Nobel-Prize winning poets, and some guy's translations of Jaroslav Seifert, a Nobel_prize winning Czech poet, would quickly find a publisher.

Let's, let's let's.

>51 polutropos: I don't suppose "some guy" would be you? :-)

52

My, my, you are suspicious. :-)

Of course it's me. He is a MAGNIFICENT poet and about 75% of his output is untranslated into English, and of the 25% that is, about 24% is godawful translation.

I really really want to properly introduce him to the world. But I DO need a publisher. Anyone have an in at Norton or Oxford U Press or another major house?

Narrative poetry -- novels in verse -- since 1990 -- these are all written in English -- someone else may be able to provide translated works:

Guyanese:
Bill of Rights and Bloodlines by Fred D'Aguiar

Canadian:
The Autobiography of Red and The Beauty of the Husband by Anne Carson

Caribbean (St. Lucia):
Omeros by Derek Walcott -- definitely deserving of the Nobel Prize!

British:
Byrne by Anthony Burgess
The Sugar Mile by Glyn Maxwell

Australian:
The Monkey's Mask by Dorothy Porter
Fredy Neptune by Les Murray

American:
Sonata Mulaticca by Rita Dove -- African-American/European
Iris by Mark Jarman
The Diviners by Robert McDowell
The Country I Remember by David Mason
History: the Home Movie by Craig Raine
Just Let Me Say This About That and As Long as Its Big by John Bricuth
Hotel Malabar by Brendan Galvin

not all the touchstones are working.

For those who don't mind my assignment mentality, here's a list of narrative poems written in English that I compiled for my Poetry class: http://faculty.mccfl.edu/jonesj/LIT2030/longnarrativepoemsinenglish.htm

If anyone else has suggestions that I should add to this list, I would be most grateful. ;-

Tim Sinclair is writing some good verse poetry in Australia: http://tinyurl.com/kqelw6, including Brothers of the Head, and Nine Hours North

Unfortunately, Sinclair's books don't seem to be available outside of Australia -- at least not from Amazon or Amazon.uk -- one would think that Penguin might have a slightly more international attitude about its market -- or that Amazon would. The politics of book publishing seem very arcane to me.

Jane - how about Ogun Abibiman by Wole Soyinka? Or, if you really want to drive your students crazy, Melville's Clarel will do the trick. You could also give them Robert Southey's Chronicle of the Cid - while it has multiple foreign language sources, it really is a work of its own (or if you're more of a purist, he had several other long narratives).

Well, A_musing, you've certainly stunned me here -- I've never heard of any of these. I'm tempted to hunt down Soyinka's -- is it any good?? Somehow I've missed Southey except as a referenced name in all my literary reading. Over 500 pages of Melville's poetry seems rather daunting for sophomores (and me too). How come I've never heard of this one before?

Themes already mentioned that I would be particularly interested in:
Poetry in translation
Short story anthology
Jungle settings

Countries:
Greece
Mexico

Actually, I've been looking to hunt down the Soyinka; it's on my to be read list, so I'll tell you when I get it. I have heard good things about it, but apparently it's helpful to have some knowledge of traditional Yoruba gods. Maybe I should hit abebooks this afternoon. Historians tend to like Southey more than literary critics; he has a somewhat leaden and self-consciously archaic verse style, but keeps it up and tells an interesting story. Heavily read a century ago, he's really not in favor these days, and it will be clear why if you read it. For Melville, well, the esorteric side of Melville tends not to get plumbed that heavily. If someone doesn't just survive Moby Dick but actually enjoys it, they may tackle Pierre: or the Ambiguities, but that's really much, much more than enough for most. There's also a LOT of Melville - he lived long and wrote much - so it's pretty easy for his less read work to be overshadowed. I'll bet if you find a Melville specialist sometime and bring Clarel up you'll see a sudden, excited fire in their eyes, like you've just told them that you, too, know of the Holy Grail and are ready to seek it. It's sort of Melville's Finnegan's Wake, but without any readers.

Of the Theme reads listed thus far, I am most interested in
1) Magical Realism
2) Ottoman Empire
3) Dictators/Despots

and of the Country/Region themes,
1) Zimbabwe
2) Vietnam
3) Mexico

just to put that out there...

61> I did enjoy Moby Dick -- much more the second time I read it than the first -- but even that was long ago. I did read The Confidence Man a few years ago and found it a fascinating ship of fools for the mid-19th century. There's a great website on it: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA96/atkins/cmmain.html that I found illuminating.

Yea, yea, yea, CD1am, #60,

POETRY IN TRANSLATION,

yea, yea.

I'm good with poetry in translation as well as narrative poetry - I'd probably only do one poetry a year for this crowd, though.

And Seifert sounds absolutely fascinating. If it were out, I'd buy it.

A_musing,

have I told you recently I love you????

>66 polutropos: - what would your reaction have been if I knew someone at Norton (I don't)?

I think of one of the best poetry-in-translation shops as New Directions. Might be worth seeing if they had an interest.

I love the April poetry in translation edition of Poetry magazine. If we do a poetry in translation thing as one of our themes, I'd advocate April so I could write about that edition. It's always tremendous.

I suggest Gay and Lesbian literature as a theme. (And, if I could be so bold, to suggest that June might be a good month for it, should it be selected as a theme)

I noticed above that Gender Bender (GLBT) is mentioned....not sure if this is the same as what I'm talking about, or if that suggestion is eluding to transsexual/transgendered literature? I must admit, I'm confused by the phrasing used there.

I like:

Nature/Living Close to the Land
Ottoman Empire
The jungle
War

Greece
Mexico
Sweden

--> 68

By Gender Bender (GLBT), I meant gay, lesbian, transsexual (transgender), or bisexual.

>68 ty1997:, 70 have added to the list as a clarification

- have split the poetry entry on the list into two choices: narrative or translated.

- have added the focus to the 'war' theme

The themes I like:

nature/land
Ottoman empire
diaspora
Manga (haven't read any, don't know anything about it)

Countries:
Turkey
Iran
Zimbabwe

I'm new to this thread, so you may have done these previously

ooh, and GLBT (72)

Rosedrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, these are a few of the favorite themes :-)

magical realism
poetry
manga
roma (gypsies)
glbt

Favorite Countries:

Sweden
Turkey
Caribbean
Brazil

>72 markon:, do you have a favorite of your three listed countries you'd like to pursue. If so, I'll add that one to the master list. (Otherwise, our list would start becoming just too long...)

Well,

as far as themes are concerned, my wishes are well-known: poetry in translation.

I have never voted, I don't think, for a country, and only participated in the Poland discussion which was pretty brief, since not too many people were that keen on it.

I have had Orhan Pamuk books on my teetering TBR pile for a long time, and perhaps if we chose Turkey, I might be prompted to read them. So my half-hearted, timid vote goes to Turkey. Do you not usually also try to ensure beforehand that we have the expertise/willingness to lead the month's discussion? Or do you only worry about that once the list is finalized?

Well well,

Polutropos says: "Do you not usually also try to ensure beforehand that we have the expertise/willingness to lead the month's discussion?"

It very quiet on Portugal right now...

But about next year: I don't want suggest any single country because I may be (reading) elsewhere on my trip.

But I'd like to refine or actually broaden the already suggested Jungle settings to something like "Between the Tropics" or "Around the Equator". One of these would include a wide range of reading material literally around the world but still limit it geographically, like the Polar regions before.

I recently had a look at the equator itself. Not all that many countries touch it. :(

For multi-country themes, rather than a random thing like the equator, we could do countries that share a common history- e.g., former French colonies; countries of the silk road; Mediteranean countries; Islamic countries; Slavic countries

But those themes can end up being pretty broad and difficult to have a useful discussion about

>79 A_musing:,

I agree.

>76 polutropos:
I think expertise is much less important than willingness. I think whoever volunteers to lead a thread should plan to read a couple of books if they can, and to pop in and keep the discussion going as often as possible. Expertise can actually be a bit intimidating sometimes. Unless you are volunteering to lead a Czech/Slovak month for us...?

I would be most happy to lead a Czech and Slovak month whenever, but I don't see much clamouring out there for those literatures. Maybe in about 2013, when we have exhausted other, flashier countries? LOL Or perhaps if either Kundera, or Lustig, or even Josef Skvorecky win the Nobel, for which all have been rumoured in the past, that will awaken an interest.

And of course someone I know IS doing translations of Jaroslav Seifert, the Czech Nobel-winning poet. (Yes, it's me.)

I love to have a Czech/Slovak month. I didn't mention it because it wasn't on the original master list. Indeed, I would be thrilled.

I'm a huge Kundera fan so I if I were to be introduced to other Czech authors I'd be thrilled.

And I'm sticking with my jungle theme. :)

Add me to Czech/Slovak month fans.

-->84 lilisin:
Perhaps a Slovak jungle theme? Could be a short but interesting discussion.

86

LOVE IT.

Oh, let's do that! ROFL.

Many jungles in Slovakia. They are called Slovak politics and you have to have a machete with you at all times and watch for wild animals jumping out.

OK, enough out of me already.

>78 SqueakyChu:, 79:
Countries that Lie on the Equator:
1. Sao Tome and Principe
2. Gabon
3. Republic of The Congo
4. Democratic Republic of The Congo
5. Uganda
6. Kenya
7. Somalia
8. Indonesia
9. Kiribati (the equator may or may not touch dry land)
10. Ecuador
11. Colombia
12. Brazil

I guess a few of them aren't exactly giants in literature, but they are more than countries on the polar regions --- at least more than books were read from a couple of months ago.

What is random?

>76 polutropos: There really is no such thing as "ensurance" because even when a lot of interest is shown initially, it sometimes doesn't materialize. People go on vacation, kids go back to school, people start web magazines :-) — life gets in the way of even the best intentions. So, we go with some real workable themes that sparks interest now. It is important that some of the more 'difficult' themes have an enthusiastic facilitator (i.e. depressaholic did the haiti discussion). If anyone wants to put their names as facilitator on a particular theme, I will add it to the master list. Knowing who the facilitator is can, in some circumstances, affect a person's vote.

>77 eairo:, 78, 84 The jungle theme is growing on me. Here's a quick definition of jungle from the web: A dense growth of brushwood, grasses, reeds, vines, etc.; an almost impenetrable thicket of trees, canes, and reedy vegetation, as in India, Africa, Australia, and Brazil. I suppose one could certainly add the Congo, Vietnam . . .etc. It occurred to me also that the book I just read, The Hunter by Julia Leigh is set mostly in a jungle.

>79 A_musing: Agree. However, in the case above, I'm assuming, the discussion is around the theme rather than the country. Although I'm ok with the Czech/Slovak pairing.

Will add Czech/Slovak to the list (with your name, polutropos?)

Have speculated as much as I dare as to who has offered to facilitate the discussions for certain themes. If anyone would like to have me add their name to their suggested theme or another, let me know and I'll edit the list again.

I am happy to lead translated poetry and Czech and Slovak literatures. If they both make the final list, they should probably be separated by many months as people will probably want a variety in leaders.

With the countries I thought a number of people were pushing for Turkey?

I don't want to actually end up doing more than one, but I'd be happy to facilitate any of Greece, Central Asia or Ottoman Empire. I will warn that while I know something about each of Greece and the Ottoman Empire, I'll be exploring virgin territory (for me) for Central Asia.

I'd be happy to lead a discussion on magical realism - its something Ive had fun reading the few times I have, and I'm looking to get at some more to intersperse with some of the history and other nonfiction that I read.

Added Turkey.

Watching the National Parks by Ken Burns - how about a wilderness theme?

So, here's how I see it going:

Will post voting on a separate thread at the end of the week. It will be the master list and a request to post choosing X number of general themes, and x number of country themes that you are interested in. We will decide the first six months of themes (3 countries, 3 general themes). I'll add any facilitator volunteer names to the theme before I post the master list. No facilitator should facilitate more than one theme within a year (unless we are desperate). There are what? 800 members of this group now?

I'm down for Czech/Slovak