Mod post: theme suggestions

[damned_colonial]

Please suggest themes you'd like to see covered here! Cut and paste the following into a comment:

ETA: please put your theme in the subject of your comment!

Theme:
Are you prepared to run it? Yes/No
Suggested books, if you have them already:


What does it mean to run the theme?

1. At least one month in advance, you'll let everyone know about the theme and your suggested reading for it. You need to suggest at least 3 works of fiction.
2. On the first of the month, you will post a welcome/introduction/kickoff for the theme.
3. Throughout the month, you'll take an active part in discussion of the theme.

You do not have to be an expert on the theme to run it. You just need to have an interest in it.

Comments

Re: Colonial-era Africa

[cofax7]

Okay, for this I think we really need some African writers. I've been getting a little antsy looking at what we're talking about here, and thinking we need some stuff from a subaltern position (that's what it's called, yes?). Also, I think veejane should be prodded to suggest some things.

Re: Colonial-era Africa

[damned_colonial]

Absolutely. I went digging around a bit but it's not my area so much. These look promising, though:

http://www.amazon.com/Chaka-African-Writers-Thomas-Mofolo/dp/0435902296
A fictionalised account of Chaka Zulu, pub. 1925.

http://www.amazon.com/Things-Fall-Apart-Chinua-Achebe/dp/0385474547
"One of Chinua Achebe's many achievements in his acclaimed first novel, Things Fall Apart, is his relentlessly unsentimental rendering of Nigerian tribal life before and after the coming of colonialism. First published in 1958, just two years before Nigeria declared independence from Great Britain, the book eschews the obvious temptation of depicting pre-colonial life as a kind of Eden. Instead, Achebe sketches a world in which violence, war, and suffering exist, but are balanced by a strong sense of tradition, ritual, and social coherence."

Some lists of African books:

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/africa/cuvl/Afbks.html
http://library.jccc.net/guides/literature/africannovel.html

I don't know veejane, but it doesn't look like she's on DW, or at least not under that name.

Re: Colonial-era Africa

[cofax7]

Vee was on that panel you attended. *g*

And yes, Achebe is worth reading--Things Fall Apart was, IIRC, written as an explicit response to Conrad.

Re: Colonial-era Africa

[damned_colonial]

Ah, excellent! Putting the pieces together, yay. Would you like to invite her over?

Re: Colonial-era Africa

[vehemently]

*waves*