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The Literary Blog Hop is a weekly event held at The Blue Bookcase prompting book bloggers to answer a question.
What makes a contemporary novel a classic?
This is another tricky question. First of all, I am not sure we can consider a contemporary novel a classic. My definition of a classic would be those works that have survived through the ages, and we can not be sure which works are going to survive. Some works might be popular now, but they might not be relevant to future generations. I would also equate the classics with canonical literature, that is works which feature in the curriculum; however, this is another subjective and slippery concept. I believe that what we might consider as contemporary classics are the works that have received much attention and honourable awards, such as the Booker’s Prize, or that are regularly featured in “top” lists published by newspapers and such. Again, this is extremely subjective.
I believe that the contemporary novels that will survive and become classics are literary novels making a strong commentary on our society and displaying literary characteristics that will be deemed as representative of our age (possibly illustrating some literary movements, although I believe writers do not necessarily use techniques in order to be part of a movement, but rather because they suit their purposes).
Once more, I am going to choose an example by Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid’s Tale. I would have liked to consider an Irish novel but I cannot think of one that would be considered as a classic rather than an Irish classic. This reflection actually foregrounds another dimension to the definition of a classic: classics will most likely come from English or American literature (although this is changing, but I do not find this evolution striking enough yet). However, Atwood, who is from Canada, a country on the margins, is recognised as a major author in a large part of the world. Her works are translated in many languages and are studied in many schools and universities worldwide, but not necessarily as part of a course on Canadian studies, which I find highly significant. I remember that The Handmaid’s Tale used to be part of the curriculum in Nantes University (although I left the course before reaching that year and studied instead Lady Oracle as part of my Irish degree; again, Atwood was one of the rare authors who were not Irish or English/American in our course). I believe The Handmaid’s Tale is/will become a classic. Like George Orwell’s 1984, it is a dystopian novel set in a near future. Its themes are universal and contemporaneous and it makes a harsh critique of society and its ideological discourses. Technically, the novel displays postmodernist characteristics, while not adhering strictly to the movement (if it can ever be called a movement). I can also be read from a feminist perspective, despite its ambiguity towards the Feminist movement. I think its concerns with language and storytelling will also be features why this novel will be remembered. Although this is not my favourite novel by Atwood, I believe it is probably the one that had been deemed as the most important, thus giving it the status of a classic.
I hope I am not boring you by mentioning Atwood once again, but her works are at the moment part of my everyday life and I find it difficult to avoid discussing her works on a regular basis.
Now, time to read what others think!
I went to see a production of Dancing at Lughnasa, Brian Friel’s play, by the Second Age at the Everyman Palace Theatre. This is the second Friel’s play I have seen and I actually preferred Lovers, which I found more poignant. However, the show was a full two and half hours of good entertainment.
This is another of those Irish plays I was discussing in a previous post and one can get sick of those typical Irish themes being overly dealt with. Yet, I thought that those themes were not in your face. The play evokes the Ireland of the mid 1930′s but in a subtle manner.
The story is that of a grown-up man, Michael, who remembers the summer of 1936; that summer when his mother and her four spinster sisters were dancing to the sound of their first wireless radio, when Father Jack, his uncle, had just come back from spending years in Uganda and was finding it difficult to reacclimatise to Western society and the Catholic religion of which he is a representative. This was also the last summer when the family was reunited and his father (who never married his mother) came to visit twice, thus allowing him to witness the happiness of his mother.
Although the play has as its background the poverty of living in the countryside in Donegal, it does not focus on these issues but depicts how the five sisters make everyday life enjoyable. There are some sad revelations during the play, but it never delves on them. It is an enjoyable play, which is well acted. I particularly liked Father Jack, but all five sisters were also admirable, each in their own way. I also liked the way Michael, the little boy, did not appear in the play, except as a grown up man narrating the story and speaking the few lines necessary for his presence as a boy, thus making him stand as an observer rather than as a participant of that summer of 1936.
This play was made into a film, but I think the play is more successful, the personality of each protagonist being more accentuated in the play. Here is the trailer of the film:
The five contenders for Canada Reads have been announced today. You can seen the five novels and their defenders here.
I am a bit disappointed because the ones I wanted to read the not been selected. I am glad to see Unless in the selection though. Finances are a bit tight at the moment, but I will try to get the other four novels as soon as possible and read my way through them before the debate, so I can form a proper opinion on them. I look forward to reading the graphic novel, Essex County by Jeff Lemire. I am curious about The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis. However, I am not really drawn to The Birth House by Ami McKay and The Bone Cage by Angie Abdou, but then I have not read them yet so how could I judge? What do you think of this selection?
This month also saw the announcement of other Canadian literary awards: the Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Awards. The Sentimentalists by Johanna Skibsrud won the Giller Prize and I must say I want to read most of the books that were selected for the shortlist. The lists of the fourteen winners for the Governor General’s is here. The winner for the English-language novel is Cool Water by Dianne Warren, which I would like to read.
I have never really been into literary awards because they are so subjective. However, I guess it is a nice way to discover works that you would not necessarily have read otherwise, and for me works that take me out of my comfort zone. I hope I will enjoy reading them…
I bought The Cousin, a novella written by John Calabro and published by Quattro Books, when I was in Canada, but kept it preciously for my trip to Italy. I thought it would be nice to read something set in Italy when I was there, and I was right! The Cousin is really anchored in its Sicilian setting and the narrative is interspersed with dialect. Although I wasn’t in Sicily, being in Italy gave another dimension to this novella written by John Calabro who was born in Italy and lived in France before moving to Toronto. I saw John reading from this novella at the Conference on the Short Story in English in Toronto and it really made me want to read it.
The Cousin can be divided into two parts, which are really different from each other. It is at the same time a simple book with recognisable emotions, and a more complex one.
The story is that of Sal, an Sicilian who emigrated to Canada at a young age and comes back with his wife to the country of his youth. He is reluctant to meet his family, his uncle, aunt and cousin, and we slowly discover why.
The first part of the book is mostly concerned with Sal’s emotions regarding his country and family and we slowly learn why his parents emigrated to Canada and why this return to the sources is somehow traumatic for him. He has many buried secrets and repressed issues, including marital problems, that he refuses to deal with. The narrative keeps shifting between the present, Sal’s thoughts, sometimes interrupted by the ghost of his mother asking him to forgive his uncle, and flashbacks. I thought it worked well and the descriptions of Sal’s Sicily are colourful and emotional. I loved this part, I could hear the dialogue and picture the scenery. I like shifts in narratives and it did not bother me to have a bit of work to do to put the pieces of the jigsaw together. I thought it helped to understand Sal’s state of mind as he is forced to face a repressed past.
The second part is a bit more confusing. Sal discovers his cousin, Charlie, dressed as a transvestite. The two of them go to a nightclub where Sal flirts with that beautiful (transvestite) woman, Simone. At this point, the story gets a bit out of control and the narrative verges on surrealism. Sal takes psychedelic drugs and is seen as oscillating between his attraction for Simone and the repression of these feelings for a transvestite. The end of the story brings us into a psychedelic trip in which Sal and Charlie are fighting their way inside Simone’s body. I must admit that I had to read some passages a few times as I was lost in the narrative, probably in the same way as Sal is lost in his own mind. I think this part reveals further Sal’s confusion and ambiguity towards his life and the psychedelic trip becomes a way to explores his feelings and deal with them. It becomes like an initiation and sees the rebirth of Sal, a man who still has to deal with the contradictions within his self, but who at least seems ready to do so.
Overall, I enjoyed this novella. I was touched by the way it is written. I loved the way it represents Sicily with so much colour. I also liked the way Sal’s personal issues are dealt with in an indirect manner, thus reflecting Sal’s refusal to deal with them. I was confused by the psychedelic trip but I suppose it is a graphic way to represent Sal’s confusion. Other themes are also foregrounded in this novella: Charlie is another character trapped within a conflict of the self. He feels as a prisoner of his own country who dreams to join his lover in North Africa; he is torn between his duties to his parents and his own happiness and does not seem able to conciliate the two. It is a moving story of our times about two modern men prisoners of their lives.
John Calabro at the Conference on the Short Story in English, June 2010
The last theatre review I posted was two years ago. Since, I have been to see a good few plays. I am one of those lucky students who get fantastic reductions at the Everyman Palace theatre in Cork, so I do not hesitate to book a ticket and go to see what’s going on behind the curtain. As a result, I have seen some plays I have liked and some I have liked a bit less… Each time, I am full of good intentions about writing a post about it, but then I’m thinking: “I can’t write about this play without first writing about the one I’ve previously seen”. Thus, I don’t write at all. I know it’s ridiculous, and let’s face it, I will never catch up, so I have decided to break the cycle.
The next play I went to see after Waiting for Godot was One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I had never seen the film, nor read the book, so I did not have that feeling that the play had let me down. I thought it was a good and entertaining show. This play was produced by an American company, the Keegan Theatre, which, I have since learnt, comes back every year on an Irish tour. They seem to be specialised in American classics (as you would expect) and the following year they came back with Of Mice and Men. Now, I have read the book but I found the adaptation quite powerful and I must admit to shedding a tear. This year they brought to stage a play written by Sam Sheppard, Fool for Love, and it was also very good. There is something about seeing the same company playing a few times, as if you get to meet old friends…
Most of the plays produced in the Everyman are Irish; they can be classics, by Samuel Beckett, Brian Friel and John B. Keane for instance, as well as contemporary plays. I think that apart from the three American plays discussed above, the only non-Irish play I saw was The Caretaker by Harold Pinter. I was so much looking forward to it, but I was a bit disappointed. It was kind of slow and, although I enjoyed it while watching it, it has not left an impression on me. I remember it, but only vaguely.
The biggest surprise was At Swim-Two-Birds, an adaptation of Flann O’Brien’s metafictional novel. I was really intrigued about how they would put that on stage and was impressed at how well it work. It was a great show and the actors were fantastic.
The Colleen Bawn, a play by Dion Boucicault and classic of Irish literature, comes as close second. The acting was great and it was enjoyable to see a play I had read take life. It was funny and sad at the same time and the protagonists were true to how they had been written. The play is based on a true story; unfortunately the denouement was not as happy in reality.
The biggest disappointment was Penelope by Enda Walsh. I am sorry to say I did not get his interpretation of The Odyssey. I was quite excited to see a revision of this myth as I very much enjoyed reading The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood and I thought it would be interesting to see another perspective. His focus is on the suitors, just before the return of Odysseus. It has been somewhat modernised and they are in an empty swimming pool eating the last of the food and drinking the last of the alcohol, knowing that these are their last days since they have all had the same dream of Odysseus’s return. It could work, but it did not, not for me anyway. I could not see what Walsh was getting at and there were too many lengths. I have the script a maybe if one day I decide to read it I will get something out of it.
I will not go into the rest of the plays; they were all very Irish-focused and some worked better than other; some were actually really enjoyable, while others where a bit tedious (that Irish theme tends to be overly done sometimes).
Tomorrow, I am going to see another of these Irish classics: Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel. I will report back…
I have been a bit lazy this week, or too busy, and have not read any short story, so I can’t offer you a review. However, I have three links related to the short story to share with you.
The first is to the Library of America (you might already be aware of this, but I wasn’t) and every week they offer a new short story online: Story of the Week.
The second is to a blog that documents the future publications of The Best British Short Stories. The Best British Short Stories will be published annually by Salt Publishing (who, by the way, need your support) and the first volume, which should be out in April 2011, is edited by Nicholas Royle who runs Nightjar Press, a small press dedicated to short story chapbooks. I think this is an exciting news!
The last link is to a new journal on the short story: Short Fiction in Theory and Practice, which is edited by Ailsa Cox of Edge Hill University in Liverpool. The first call for papers is out at the moment and they are not looking exclusively for academic papers.
A few days ago, I was telling you in my post on the conference in Milan about a documentary by Aaraon Diaz on Mexican workers in Canada. The film raises awareness about the conditions in which these immigrants work and the consequences ensued, resulting sometimes in death. It is a moving documentary and I would recommend to see it.
There will be a preview of this documentary this Friday at 17:00 pm at the Montreal University, room 6453, Pavillon 3744, Jean Brillant Street in Montreal, Canada. If you are in the area, why not go?
A facebook page has also been created and here is the trailer:
This year, I have joined the Book Bloggers Holiday Swap and today I received the details of my secret santee. No, I won’t tell you who it is! I’ll just tell you that I am really excited about choosing some goodies for this person who has somehow different tastes from mine, yet some concerns similar to mine, as well as other affinities.
It is funny the way it would seem more difficult to make a present for someone you don’t know, yet, because of the medium of the blog, it is actually possible to know the person to a certain extent. I think it will indeed be easier to find something to please (and share with) this secret santee than it would to some people I meet on a regular basis.
I love finding the right present. It usually has to be something I want to share but I also want to make sure the person will enjoy the surprise.
Time to have fun!
From this week on, I have decided to hop on the Literary Blog Hop (and hopefully my participation will be regular).
The Literary Blog Hop is a weekly event held at The Blue Bookcase prompting book bloggers to answer a question.
Is there such a thing as literary non-fiction?
I believe there is. Of course, it all depends on what you mean by literary since, in my opinion, literary is related to literature and what we consider as literature is subjective. However, I will not enter in these considerations since this is another debate.
I would say that literary non-fiction is a factual narrative written in a researched style. Many non-fictions are narratives; they are not just reflections of events but undergo a process of narrativisation in which the writer organises events or ideas in a certain way in order to create meaning. In order for these narratives to be literary, they must also display aesthetic characteristics and be more that just a report. The style should be refined, display techniques pertaining to literature and the language should be elegant.
The first examples coming to mind are Virginia Woolf’s non-fiction (A Room of One’s Own, in particular) and most non-fiction written by Margaret Atwood. Criticism is often literary as critics move beyond the simple analysis and create works that are art in themselves. Biographies and autobiographies, as well as historical narratives, would also often aimed at being literary, whether they manage in another question.
I could probably find more examples and keep discussing this topic, but it is getting late and my bed is calling me. I have spent more time answering this question than I thought I would; this is a good sign showing that it has made me think. It has been an enjoyable experience altogether; I will come back!
After enjoying my time in Bergamo (see my posts here, here and here), I headed to Milan to participate to the 19th European Seminar for Graduate Students on Canadian Studies.
Milan Stazione Centrale
I arrived a bit late to be able to visit anything since the seminar was starting in the afternoon. However, I took the time to get out of stazione centrale and stopped by for a panini on a terrace. I was joined by two greedy pigeons who nearly went picking in my plate. Ok, stazione centrale is not the Duomo, but I thought it was a nice building. I was also able to see the local tramways (you might already be aware of my liking for foreign vehicles).
As I stepped out of the station, I was submerged by an atmosphere. It was busy, athough it does not seem so on the picture, and there was a stage with a DJ playing away. It was really cool. I love being a stranger in a city. However, I did not regret to have decided to spend my free time in Bergamo rather than Milan; I have always preferred smaller towns.
The programme of the seminar was really interesting and I enjoyed many papers. Many topics were covered from literature to law. Of course, I found it difficult to follow the law papers despite the panelists’ efforts to make them accessible; however, they initiated interesting discussion. Some of the literature papers were truly fascinating for me. I was particularly impressed by Jacky Moore’s paper on Nuu’Chah’Nulth women. She told us about how she spent some time with them and collected their stories. I listened to the papers and discovered many things about Canada and its culture. I love that about conferences: just sit back and discover the work of your peers. It is most enlightening and an enjoyable way to learn.
One of the highlights of the seminar was a film presented by Aaraon Diaz from the Autonomous University of Mexico about Mexican temporary migrant workers in Canada. The purpose of the film is to raise awareness on the too often deplorable working conditions of these temporary workers and the consequences ensued from employers’ carelessness (sometimes even causing death).
The seminar was intense but it was great fun. Everything was organised for us, including lunches and dinners, so we would get food for the stomach as well as food for the brain (in the words of one of the organisers). The Italians love their food! Even the lunch at the university cafeteria was lovely. We went to different places for dinners, one of them being a traditional trattoria, in which food and environment were gorgeous! And yes, they know how to make proper ice-cream!
