UNIVERSITY PRESS BOOK REVIEW / Oct 2003
HenryBerry
OCTOBER 2002
[Reviews are not copyrighted; complete reviews or excerpts can be reprinted
without permission, but reference to the Review is requested.]
CURRENT INTEREST
POLITICS OF KNOWLEDGE - The Commercialization of the University, the
Professions, and Print Culture by Richard Ohmann, Foreword by Janice Radway.
Wesleyan U. Press, Middletown, CT. 2003. 292+xxv pp. $65.00 hardcover. $22.95
trade paper. notes, index.
(cultural studies; contemporary U. S. culture)
An emeritus professor of English at Wesleyan, Ohmann has first-hand
experience with his topic. It is also related to his 1996 book "Making and
Selling Culture." Over his long and active academic career, Ohmann has
witnessed the broad changes occurring in higher education. From an earlier
generation, he was not affected by these so much. But he was in an ideal
situation to observe them. His book is in many respects like a memoir, rather
than a work of scholarly research, journalism, or formal cultural analysis. He
writes mainly about how universities have come to reflect the perspectives and
practices of business. For example, most now routinely hire part-time
instructors to reduce the cost of faculty salaries, as businesses have adopted
the practice of using "temps" to control their labor costs. Another economic
issue related to this practice is more control over permanent employees, who
understand they can be easily replaced with lower-paid employees if they
present a problem for the administration or push for pay raises. As Ohmann
remarks in an interview included at the end of his memoir-like text, he is
working against specialization and for a common language. Thus he could not
write in the critical vein of poststructuralism or cultural studies if he
wanted to as he resisted becoming drawn into these academic schools when they
came along. The professions in general and the structure of the publishing
field with its focus on specialized audiences are other topics interwoven with
Ohmann's main concern of university education. The author moves back and forth
between academia and the general society to shed light on and to speak out
against what he sees as developments, many of which have already come to pass,
that are obscuring the common humanity of individuals and pushing aside their
civil rights as the economic practices are routinely and unquestioningly
adopted.
POLITICIZING SCIENCE - The Alchemy of Policymaking edited by Michael Gough.
Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, Stanford, CA;
hoove...@hoover.stanford.edu. 2003. 313+xxi pp. $15.00 trade paper. charts,
footnotes, index.
(science and politics; collected articles)
Eleven articles treat different sides of the issue of how science is
distorted for political purposes. As noted in the Foreword, "politics and
science are intrinsically related" in the modern world where much scientific
research in funded by governments, government agencies regulate the use of
scientific discoveries, and many educational institutions count on government
funds to support their science programs. In this environment, there is often
"excessive politicalization" of science by politicians and governments through
either misapplication or outright manipulation. The articles are written by
scientists who have witnessed first-hand such distortion for the sake of
political policy. The most egregious examples of the politicalization of
science are found in totalitarian states, notably the former Soviet Union,
where scientific agendas are determined by the political leaders and scientists
who do not conform to these are punished. But democratic societies, United
States included, are not free from the politicalization of science, as several
of the authors demonstrate in their accounts.
PROMETHEUS REVISITED - The Quest for Global Justice in the Twenty-first Century
by Arthur Mitzman. U. of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, MA;
www.umass.edu/umpress. 2003. 317+xxiii pp. $80.00 hardcover. $24.95 trade
paper. notes, bibliography, index.
(globalization; nationalism)
The Greek mythological figure Prometheus was an ambivalent figure. But the
age of modernism focused almost exclusively on the side of him which challenged
the gods by stealing fire and in so doing, tried to make Humankind autonomous
and all-powerful. This side was reflected in the industrialism, revolutions,
mass movements, and rationality of modernism. Mitzman, emeritus professor of
modern history at the U. of Amsterdam, works to develop a recognition of the
other side of Prometheus--the one in tune with nature which stresses creativity
and harmony over productivity and exploitation. The author's intent is to
examine what has gone wrong in Western society as evidenced by the ecological,
economic, and political problems of contemporary times. "By drawing on the
history of ideas and culture," he aims to "explore the overt resistance to
neoliberal corporatism and the hidden potential for change in contemporary
society." He does this by looking to the past for perspectives on the side of
Prometheus in harmony with nature making for genuine equality and satisfying
community. He finds this perspective in the work of the English Romantic poet
Shelley, for one. Though Mitzman engages in extensive--and in some respects,
familiar--critique of latter-day capitalism and industrial, consumer society,
unlike most other authors working in this vein, he goes beyond this to identify
the seeds in both the past and the resent from which a more just, equitable,
and harmonious society can grow. A timely book which is out in front of events
with its somewhat visionary tendency.
REAGANISM AND THE DEATH OF REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY by Walter Williams.
Georgetown U. Press, Washington, DC; www.press.georgetown.edu. 306 pp. $26.95
hardcover. notes, index.
(Reagan presidency; political science)
Williams has a contrarian view of the so-called Reagan Revolution of the
1980s. As he sees it, the economy thrived in this period not from, but despite
Reagan's deregulation and antigovernment policies. George Bush, Reagan's vice
president, continued these policies for the four years he was president.
Williams draws a line directly between the policies and effects of the Reagan
and Bush years and the abuses of Enron, WorldCom, and other large corporations.
The Reagan Revolution, in effect, encouraged and strengthened the always strong
plutocratic vein of American society and business. Encouraged by the Reagan
policies and their intentions and the related weakened of government
institutions which traditionally moderated the plutocratic tendencies,
individuals like the top executives of Enron were able to pursue their designs
in a virtual vacuum of oversight and accountability. Williams' analysis of the
Reagan years is much more involved and extensive than this. He does not focus
on the easy target of the Enron and similar abuses, but on the evisceration of
government institutions which play a central role in the coherence, unity, and
continuation of democratic government and society. Enron, etc., are simply
pointed to as the most glaring of the ill effects of the Reagan policies.
Williams is a professor emeritus at the Daniel Evans School of Public Affairs
at the U. of Washington who has written two previous books on modern-day
government.
TATTOOED: The Sociogenesis of a Body Art by Michael Atkinson. U. of Toronto
Press, Toronto, Ontario, CANADA; phone 800-565-9523; fax orders 800-221-9985.
2003. 292+xiv pp. $70.00 hardcover. $27.95 trade paper. color photographs,
bibliography, index.
(tattooing; cultural studies; body art)
Atkinson is professor of sociology with a tattoo. This is one sign of his
personal and academic interest in "corporeality." He also sees tattooing as
related to "figurational sociology," which studies the "complex web of social
relationships based on individual and group interdependence." The contents of
his study on this popular contemporary practice range from personal experiences
and insights to discussions of sociological theories and studies. In general,
he puts tattooing into the context of postmodern society's intense concern with
the body and its appearance. In this, he also moves to some extent into the
ritualistic, cultic, and sacramental aspects of tattooing relating it to
primitive and ancient cultures. The study ends with the speculation that
"genetic manipulation and dramatic forms of chromosomal alteration may be the
next body plateau to be explored...." These are possibilities because stigmas
and precautions regarding tattoos and along with them other statements and
experiments using one's own body have been largely put aside with "family
members, gym teachers, peers, spouses, television commercials, magazine
articles...all encourag[ing] us to participate in journeys of the body." This
assistant professor at the Department of Sociology at McMaster U. in Canada
takes the reader on an intriguing and enlightening tour of the world of
tattooing and by implication other present and future kinds of body alteration.
While the subject may still be regarded by many as marginal or futuristic,
Atkinson brings it into the blood stream of society, thus implicitly making the
case that tattooing and other types of body alteration are not a fad of the
young or a curiosity of science.
ART
AUDUBON ART PRINTS - A Collector's Guide to Every Edition by Bill Steiner.
University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, SC. 2003. 335+xxx pp. $59.95
hardcover, 7" x 10". $29.95 trade paper, 7" x 10". color/b+w illustrations,
appendices, glossary, bibliography. index.
(nature prints; reference)
Steiner has put together what has to be the top handbook for collectors
and print historians on the popular Audubon prints of birds and other animals.
As any collector knows, there are many different impressions of most of the
original Audubon illustrations; which can vary a great deal in value. The
different impressions are often hard to identify even for experienced
collectors and curators. The most important work Steiner has done for the
serious collector of Audubon prints is discuss in depth the varied impressions
from the original prints to the many reproductions available today which have
only minimal value as wall decorations. Although in most cases, the Audubon
bird prints are the ones most sought after, Steiner also discusses prints of
other animals, usually generally termed quadrupeds. Secondarily to this most
important topic of the diversity of impressions and how to identify them, the
author describes the markets and sources for worthwhile impressions of the more
sought-after prints. Eight appendices go into more specifics about topics
covered in the main text, or provide data relating to them. Many illustrations,
including a gallery of full-page color illustrations with instructive captions
in the middle of the text, aid the reader in absorbing Steiner's information
and guidance. For its breadth, depth, and logical, reader-friendly,
organization, along with the author's expertise as well as obvious interest in
Audubon prints, the work is the best available introduction for the newer
collector while at the same time a required text and reference for the advanced
collector prepared to spend considerable money for authentic and valuable
Audubon prints.
A SAINT IN THE CITY: Sufi Arts of Urban Senegal by Allen F. Roberts and Mary
Nooter Roberts, with Gassia Armenian and Ousmane Gueye. UCLA Fowler Museum of
Cultural History, Los Angeles, dist. by U. of Washington Press, Seattle, WA.
2003. 284 pp. $45.00 trade paper, 9" x 12". color photographs, maps, notes,
bibliography, index.
(West African culture; urban studies; global culture)
This extensive study of the different kinds of art work and local culture
related to it found in the Senegal city of Dakar is a continuation of
publications related to exhibitions "focused upon the dynamic evolution of
artistic practices that have their roots in Africa but reverberate across the
African diaspora." Previous works dealt with Haitian, Yoruba, and Ghanaian art.
The art of Dakar is bound with the visual culture of the Mouride Way, a Sufi
movement embracing the teaching of the mystic Sheikh Amadou Bamba (1853-1927).
The teachings are represented in a vibrant art of varied mediums, including
glass, written works, murals, iconic- and symbolic-like paintings, and
architecture. Such art also appears on buses and other vehicles. The varied
forms of the art make up the preponderance of the visual culture of Dakar. The
mystical teachings of Bamba are so thoroughly a part of the culture of the city
that the teachings are not expressed or confirmed much in rituals or
ceremonies, but by the prevalent public art. This ubiquitous art ranges from
exuberant art reminiscent of some graffiti art in U. S. cities to refined and
subtle touches in calligraphy and the formal design of wooden mosques and
homes. While from the title, the work may seem specialized, it is not academic
or removed at all. With its innumerable color pictures of all kinds of Dakar
art, its profiles of artists, and its aim of awakening an appreciation of this
distinctive, yet widely influential art among the public, "A Saint in the City"
is a work which can be enjoyed for the art work in it alone, or can be turned
to to learn all about this local art and culture whose influence can be seen
many places around the world.
BIOGRAPHY
PAUL GREEN - Playwright of the Real South by John Herbert Roper. U. of Georgia
Press, Athens, GA; jmc...@ugapress.uga.edu. 2003. 320+xiii pp. $34.95
hardcover. photographs, notes, bibliography, index.
(regional literature; literary biography; playwright)
The dates of the North Carolinian Paul Green are 1894-1981. He won a
Pulitzer Prize for his play "In Abraham's Bosom," and gained further notice for
his innovative symphonic work "The Lost Colony." Green was a man ahead of his
time when he was active and prominent in the middle decades of the 1900s. This
was mainly because of his public belief in integration, not so much because it
was politically desirable, but because it was natural. Green also held other
beliefs about human nature, the purpose of government, etc., which were known
as socialist in the mid 1900s. These progressive ideas, public positions, and
activities relating to them were out of tune with the sentiments of the South
at the time, but Green, with his characteristic blend of assumption in the
correctness of his beliefs and blindness as to his effects on others, believed
they represented the True South. Of course, much of what Green believed has
come to be the law of the land and more or less accepted by Southern society.
But by that time, Green's literary style and subjects and his social activism
had become passe. In concentrating on Green as an accomplished and noted
author, Roper--Richardson Professor of American History at Emory and Henry
College in Virginia and author of "C. Vann Woodward, Southerner"--involves also
his social ideas and activism and his always being out of sync with the winds
prevailing in society. Green's own largely uncontrollable urge to be excessive
in all things from attire to social vision played much into his ideas and
behavior. Roper knows this Southern playwright Green like no one else. His
biography is detailed without becoming bogged down, and often has the tone of
deep familiarity, almost to the point of intimacy, with Green's somewhat
complex, hybrid-like personality.
HISTORY
WITH A DAUNTLESS SPIRIT - Alaska Nursing in Dog-Team Days, Six Personal
Accounts edited with an Introduction and Commentary by Effie Graham, Jackie
Pflaum, and Elfrida Nord. U. of Alaska Press, Fairbanks, AK; fyp...@uaf.edu.
2003. 345+xiv pp. $45.00 hardcover. $21.95 trade paper.
(regional history; Alaska; oral history)
Traversing Alaska in the early 1900s mostly by dog-sled and primitive
boats, the six nurses included in "With a Dauntless Spirit" came into contact
with remote villages of Eskimos and also witnessed Alaska's growth during this
period. While in the isolated communities and traveling between them, the
nurses nonetheless kept in touch with others in their health-care network,
relatives, and friends by letters; and in a different way, by keeping journals
and writing memoirs. These documents are collected and linked to give a picture
of what the nurses experienced, and thus a picture of the lives of Alaska's
early settlers and native inhabitants. Although the nurses were itinerant in
that they traveled from remote, rough village to village providing what medical
care they could, they became involved in the activities of many of the villages
and with some of their inhabitants. As Augusta Mueller writes in a 1923 letter,
she was on the "church decoration committee." Gertrude Fergus writes about
organizing a Halloween party for the children of one village in 1926. In
writing uninhibitedly and in some detail about their own activities and their
observations, the six tirelessly humanitarian nurses give a unique and lively
picture of early Alaska.
WHEN SHERMAN MARCHED TO THE SEA - Resistance on the Confederate Home Front by
Jacqueline Glass Campbell. U. of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC;
Gina_M...@unc.edu. 2003. 177+xii pp. $27.50 hardcover. notes, bibliography,
index.
(Civil War; Confederacy; American history)
U. of Connecticut assistant professor of history Campbell fills in details
about Sherman's notorious march north from Savannah toward the end of the Civil
War. Sherman's soldiers, with little objection from the commanding officers,
not only destroyed all the war material they could, but plundered homes, raped
white and black women, and set fire to parts of towns. In many places, the
Northern troops were so indiscriminately destructive and inhumane that the
local blacks came to resent them and tried to resist them. For the most part,
though, Campbell places Confederate women at the center of the resistance, as
well as bearing the brunt of the destruction and mayhem; making the book
somewhat of a work of women's studies. But it also singularly portrays many
details of the infamous Sherman's march not found in other books in its more
general field of the Civil War.
NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS IN CENTRAL CHINA IN LATE IMPERIAL TIMES by Goran Aijmer.
Chinese U. Press, Hong Kong; www.chineseupress.com; c...@cuhk.edu.hk. 2003.
180+viii pp. $32.00 hardcover. chapter notes, bibliography, index.
(Chinese culture; Chinese history)
This work grows out of the interest of Aijmer in the formation of
traditions in China and Europe. He's a Professor of Social Anthropology at the
U. of Gothenburg, Sweden. The area of central China whose New Year traditions
he studies in an anthropological perspective is one of the "true heartlands of
rice cultivation in China." This area has celebrations for two New Years--the
Lunar New Year which as it name denotes is related to the changing of seasons
as indicated by the position of the moon, and a Little New Year whose origins
and purposes have been mostly lost over time. The celebrations for the two New
Years only six days apart "constructed two alternative worlds with different
presuppositions." The presuppositions "could not be accommodated within one
ritual episode, so the two cultural modalities were separated in time." But
Aijmer isn't mainly interested in trying to reconcile the two celebrations. His
main interest is the "symbolic anthropology" of the different celebrations
"with a particular emphasis on the exploration of the semantics of cultural
symbolism." In accordance with this, he relates and explores the meaning, or
the symbolism, of bamboo, a home's stove, doll-like figurines, lanterns, and
other aspects of each of the New Years. Aijmer's specialized study relates in
many respects to all Asian New Years' celebrations, and to the more general
topical subject of semantics and public events that is a part of the area of
cultural studies.
SEEING THE ELEPHANT - Voices from the Oregon Trail by Joyce Badgley Hunsaker.
Texas Tech Press, Lubbock, TX; 800-832-4042; www.ttup.ttu.edu; tt...@ttu.edu.
2003. 260+xvi pp. $24.95 hardcover. map, photographs, chapter notes,
bibliography, index.
(U.S. westward expansion; American history)
"Seeing the elephant" is a meaningless phrase taken up by those who
traversed the Oregon Trail from the 1830s to the 1870s to connote the change
that had come over them from doing this. They set out from the Missouri cities
of Independence or St. Joseph with hope, determination, anticipation, and a
sense of adventure and community. Hunsaker quotes another author that the
Oregon Trail "represents a passage of attitudes as well as of people." Hunsaker
makes her work on the Trail as inclusive as possible. She gives due attention
to Native Americans, blacks, Asians, and other minorities as these were related
to what was mainly a large migration of white people. She presents much
colorful and instructive original sources (e. g., letters, journals, newspaper
articles) with complementary material geared to middle readers. This new work
on this well-covered topic is designed to arouse interest of young persons in
this historical subject and the related topics of westward expansion and the
settlement of the West. It's a reader-friendly teaching tool with sections
"Let's Interpret" prompting youngsters to imagine what things were like for the
pioneers and topics for discussion. But with the original source material and
knowledgeable, detailed notes, the work is suitable for all levels concerning
the Oregon Trail. Hunsaker is the author of the much-recognized book "Sacagawea
Speaks" who has done work with the Smithsonian Institute, NBC, TIME magazine,
and other major educational and media organizations.
BEYOND LEWIS AND CLARK - The Army Explores the West by James P. Ronda.
Washington State Historical Society, Tacoma, WA, dist. by U. of Washington
Press, Seattle, WA. 2003. 106+xi pp. $14.95 trade paper. maps, illustrations,
notes.
(American history; exploration of the American West)
In this companion volume to an exhibition by the same name which will
travel to historical societies in Virginia, Washington, Kansas, and Missouri,
Ronda writes about the important western explorations of John C. Fremont,
Stephen Long, Zebulon Pike, William Emory, and George A. Custer too which
together had an even greater impact on the eventual settlement of the West than
the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the first, but limited exploration. In drawing
portraits of the Army explorers as individuals, Ronda points out the unique
contributions of each, maps they drew (several of which are pictured), areas of
the west they concentrated in, and landmarks and other geological features they
recorded. The explorations and related reports of the several major Army
officer-explorers are tied in to the Manifest Destiny, California Gold Rush,
and Mexican-American War to bring out their significance not just as providing
news about great stretches of territory of the West, but as part of American
history of the era. Ronda is a professor of Western history at the U. of Tulsa
and former president of the Western History Association.
HISTORICAL ATLAS OF CANADA - Canada's History Illustrated with Original Maps by
Derek Hayes. Douglas & McIntyre, British Columbia/U. of Washington, Seattle,
WA. 2003. 272 pp. $60.00 hardcover, 9-1/2" x 12-3/4". color maps, notes,
bibliography, index.
(history of Canada; antiquarian Canadian maps)
The text of the history of Canada is a sound overview. But it is
inevitably secondary to the color pictures of the numerous historical maps and
details of them. The high-quality, expert pictures have a sharpness which
allows the reader to fully appreciate the maps; and the pictures of the oldest
maps have a tone (almost a texture) which as much as possible captures the
shading and roughness of the old paper they were drawn and in many cases
colored on. The maps included are from museums around the world in addition to
many from the National Archives of Canada. Maps by Russians, French, English,
Americans, Spaniards, Dutch, and Native Americans, among others, correspond to
these groups' varying roles in Canadian history. Cook and Champlain are among
famous explorers whose maps are found. Some of the maps show a Northwest
Passage whose supposed existence as a short cut to the Orient had such an
important part in the exploration of Canada. In the interplay between the text
and the maps, Hayes comments on particular maps or features of them in relation
to the period and developments of Canadian history at hand; and at times,
certain maps signal a particular subject or theme or determine a turn in the
author's chronology. Fairly lengthy captions of most of the maps are
informative about specifics of them. Readers will not want to give short shrift
to the captions. The oversize "Historical Atlas of Canada" is a prize of book
production. Readers are advised to get their copy earlier as it is surely to be
recognized as a collector's item. Previous books of Hayes' are "Historical
Atlas of British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest" and "Historical Atlas of
the North Pacific Ocean."
LITERATURE
MARKETING MODERNISM BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS by Catherine Turner. U. of
Massachusetts Press, Amherst, MA; www.umass.edu/umpress. 2003. 256+xiii pp.
$39.95 hardcover. illustrations, notes, bibliography, index.
(publishing history; cultural studies; modernism)
Turner focuses on the marketing strategies and practices of five
publishing companies between World Wars One and Two to answer how the public
was drawn to the modern literature of Joyce, Hemingway, Lawrence and others.
This was a challenge since these authors were in some cases difficult and in
all cases novel, as they still largely are today. The five publishers are
Knopf, Harcourt Brace, Scribner's, Random House, and the small publisher B. W.
Huebsch. While they all had the same aim of selling works by the modernist
authors to American readers, the marketing strategy and related advertising and
promotion differed with each house. Accordingly, each of the publishers is
covered in its own chapter. The many illustrations of ads complement Turner's
analyses and points. Turner is an assistant professor of English at College
Misericordia. This is a book in the U. of MA Press's ongoing series Studies in
Print Culture and the History of the Book which deals with the mingling of
publishing and popular culture; it could be seen as well as a work in the
contemporary field of cultural studies.
AT HOME, AT WAR - Domesticity and World War I in American Literature by
Jennifer Haytock. Ohio State U. Press, Columbus, OH; www.ohiostatepress.org;
ohiosta...@osu.edu. 2003. 147+xxviii pp. $51.95 hardcover. $22.95 trade
paper. $9.95 CD. notes, bibliography, index.
(literary critique; war literature)
Applying the contemporary literary tools of deconstruction and feminist
criticism to the literature of the early part of the 1900s relating to or
affected by World War I, Haytock uncovers the anomalies beneath the surfaces
and apart from the conventional views of such literature. She extends the usual
group of authors of Hemingway, Dos Passos, and other males to include also the
women writers Wharton, Welty, Cather, and others. Haytock is an assistant
professor of English at the U. of Illinois. One of the anomalies she uncovers
is that warfare in World War I contradicted the values of freedom and
individuality it was professed to be defending in that soldiers gave up their
freedom and individuality. Thus military personnel who were overwhelmingly male
adopted the ascribed female traits of passivity and anonymity. Haytock explores
how the war-related literature subverted concepts of gender. The false security
of normal domesticity with its widespread violence, notions of male heroism and
sacrifice in protection of females, and along with this the female support of
men going to war to protect this distorted view of domesticity are also
explored to considerable extent. Though Haytock occasionally falls into the
jargon and verbiage of the contemporary literary theories, the topic of her
book and its material involving popular culture and literature make it of
interest to students of cultural studies and modern literature as well as the
academic fields of deconstruction and feminist criticism.
THE ANGUISH OF SNAILS - Native American Folklore in the West by Barre Toelken.
Utah State U. Press, Logan, UT. 2003. 204+xii pp. $22.95 trade paper. color
photographs, chapter notes, index.
(Native American studies; ethnic studies; folk literature)
Toelken says somewhat apologetically in his "Prologue" that his book
"contains more than a little emotion and personal bias and demonstrates less
than the standard reverence for academic circumspection." But the most lasting
anthropological work has been based to a considerable degree on these
qualities, as evidenced in the work of Franz Boas and Margaret Mead. Such
personal qualities of Toelken's do not cloud or distort his study of the
visual, kinetic, and oral patterns of Native American dance and ritual. He
focuses on western Native American dance as embracing folk literature and
reflecting visual art and behavioral and spiritual traditions. His study of
this vein of the traditions is told largely through his relationships with
living Native Americans. In the last chapter, "Cultural Patterns of Discovery,"
his personal involvement in his subject becomes something of a journey in which
the reader finds enriching lessons in the folklore, ceremonies, and related
traditions along with the author.
THE HUMANE PARTICULARS - The Collected Letters of William Carlos Williams and
Kenneth Burke edited by James H. East. U. of South Carolina Press, Columbia,
SC. 2003. 288+xxxvii pp. $34.95 hardcover. notes, bibliography, index.
(modern literature)
Along with the joshing and swapping of trivia between friends, these
letters between two of the twentieth century's most influential writers take up
different subjects about language and literature, particularly poetry given
that William's was a prominent poet. The rhetorician Burke in one letter
comments on an essay Williams' is working on, "Your method is more like one of
your own poems. You talk about one thing, leaving the other unmentioned things
flitting about the edges, to provide resonance." Just after this in the same
letter, Burke asks William's to write a poem "as fast as you can" and send it
to him so he can see what it would be like. Burke is interested in the words
that would come out. Mostly in the 250 or so letters, it is Burke's strong
interest in language that is evident. Williams' letters to Burke are more
casual and conversational, and more overtly ego-centric with his frequent
mention of his dilemmas and efforts as a poet. Williams often seeks counsel or
answers on literary questions from Burke, and Burke complies as concertedly,
analytically, and sometimes lengthily as if he is working on a book.
COSMOS LATINOS - An Anthology of Science Fiction from Latin American and Spain
edited by Andrea L. Bell and Yolanda Molina-Gavilan. Wesleyan U. Press,
Middletown, CT; Lst...@wesleyan.edu. 2003. 352+xi pp. $70.00 hardcover. $24.95
trade paper. notes, bibliography.
(science fiction; Hispanic literature)
Twenty-seven science fiction short stories are translated by academics in
American universities who teach or are in some way involved with the Spanish
language science fiction genre. Although this genre has been all but ignored by
English readers of science fiction, the stories evidence that the
science-fiction imagination and the entertainment aspect of science fiction are
not limited to the United States and other technologically-oriented cultures.
The editors' prefatory essays give a historical overview of Spanish-language
science fiction writing which involves its relation to the course of
English-language science fiction, the relationship between it and governments
of different Latin American countries, the science fiction in particular
countries, and themes of the literature.
THE TRASH PHENOMENON - Contemporary Literature, Popular Culture, and the Making
of the American Century by Stacey Olster. U. of Georgia Press, Athens, GA;
www.ugapress.org;jmc...@ugapress.uga.edu. 2003. 299+x pp. $49.95 hardcover.
$19.95 trade paper. notes, bibliography, index.
(popular culture; cultural studies)
The image of the landfill--particularly the huge Fresh Kills Landfill of
New York City--is seen as representing the promiscuous growth of popular
culture in the course of 20th-century America. The landfill is seen to
represent both the abundance of modern American culture and the flaws running
through it. Olster, a professor of English at SUNY-Stonybrook, studies how
three late 20th century American writers--Vidal, Updike, and Larry
Beinhart--deal with this two-sided aspect of American culture. Then she studies
how three foreign authors view this same American culture when they are
immersed in it. These authors are the Englishman Dennis Potter, the South
American Manual Puig, and the Japanese Marukami Haruki. As Haruki says,
"Listening to Jim Morrison in the United States is not the same as listening to
him in Japan." In the last of the three main sections, Olster examines the JFK
assassination, the Scarsdale Doctor murder, and the O. J. Simpson trial for how
they reveal the overriding of class, gender, and race in the popular culture,
another phenomenon of the profligacy of the "landfill." The author does not
analyze American popular culture, but illuminates how it infiltrated all areas
of U. S. psyche and society psyche, and becoming a global phenomenon, was
assimilated by persons of other cultures.
FOREVER FAT - Essays by the Godfather. U. of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE;
www.nebraskapress.unl.edu; pres...@unl.edu; eripp...@unl.edu. 2003.
177+xii pp. $26.95 hardcover.
(collected essays; contemporary nonfiction)
Gutkind did not get the nickname "godfather" for a relationship to
organized crime or anything like that, but from his prominent--and in some ways
preeminent position--as a writer and teacher of the popular contemporary genre
called creative nonfiction. This founder and editor of the literary periodical
"Creative Nonfiction", Professor of English at the U. of Pittsburgh, and
director of the mid-Atlantic Creative Nonfiction Writers' Conference was named
the "godfather behind creative nonfiction" by Vanity Fair magazine. The 14
collected essays, most of which have been previously published, demonstrate the
protean talents and sheer liveliness of Gutkind which have give him his
well-deserved reputation as a leading writer of creative nonfiction. Gutkind
strides openly into any subject. His essays combine humor, pathos, confession,
insight. They attract for their openness and style even if one is not
particularly interested in the subject of a particular essay. Entertaining
reading, any one of the essays could also serve as a model for exemplary
nonfiction, lending the volume to use as a text for classes or individual study
in contemporary writing.
WILD GRASS by Lu Xun, translated by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang. Chinese U.
Press, Hong Kong; www.chineseupress.com; c...@cuhk.edu.hk. 2003. 127+xliii pp.
$13.95 trade paper.
(modern Chinese literature; prose poems; bi-lingual, Chinese/English)
Mao Zedung praised Lu Xun (the pen name of Zhou Shure) in 1940. But Lu Xun
was not always so favored by the Chinese authorities. He got caught in the
middle when warfare broke out between the Nationalists and the Communists in
the 1920s. Coming to support the Communists when he gave up hope that the
Nationalists would bring improvements to Chinese society, even then Lu Xun was
often at odds with the Communist authorities because of his independent ways.
Apart from political allegiances and positions he held at different times, Lu
Xun represents the different pulls and turmoils of the average Chinese in the
years of foreign and civil war and the revolutionary changes in Chinese society
brought by Mao and the Communists. This precariousness of the historical and
the ordinary and inextinguishable hopes for some rootedness and simple acts of
pure freedom such a flying a kite are reflected in delicate, wistful prose
poems. Not only this writer's subjects and moods, but also his style retaining
the tensions of Asian poise while quietly yet surely working with the
convulsions, concerns, and worries of the 20th century place him in the
forefront of modern Chinese authors, with or without Mao's graces.
POETRY
SHOW AND TELL - New and Selected Poems by Jim Daniels. U. of Wisconsin Press,
Madison, WI; www.wisc.edu/wisconsinpress. 192+x pp. 2003 pp. $22.95 hardcover
$14.95 trade paper.
(collected poems)
The poems are selected from eight books (out of 16 total) beginning with
"Places/Everyone" published in 1985 to "Night With Drive-by Shooting Stars"
published just in 2002. Then there's the last section of 11 new and unpublished
poems. Over this time, there is not much evolution stylistically. Rather,
Daniels focuses on social, political, and historical topics and also on stages
of his growth as an individual from a more or less consistent perspective of a
working-class person from the Midwest. The style is thus consistently
down-to-earth, yet inventive. In "The Facts of My Grief," Daniels intertwines
the subjects of a fight he had with a boyhood friend of his--"Our first end/of
the world."--with the untimely death of this friend's daughter from a heart
disease when they were still friends when adults. By remaining true to himself
and his origins, Daniels works an art of clarity and balance among public
happenings and the personal life. Readers will appreciate the perfect balance
struck by this poet between these elements. Daniels now directs the Creative
Writing Program at Carnegie Mellon Institute.
UNIVERSITY PRESS BOOK REVIEW is posted ten times a year on the newsgroup
alt.books.reviews. Books for general readers in all categories are reviewed. A
companion review periodical named THE SMALL PRESS PRESS BOOK REVIEW is also
published ten times a year and posted on the newsgroup alt.books.reviews.
Review copies can be sent to P. O. Box 176, Southport, CT 06890. Henry Berry is
the Review's editor/publisher; henry...@aol.com. He is also the author of the
book FROM REVOLUTION TO FADS - THE PROGRESS OF MODERNITY and a publishing
consultant and freelance editor.