The Joseph Conrad book that is set for Feb./Mar. is a ggod example of an author who deals with colonialism.
Authors I have read and enjoyed:
Nadine Gordimer
Chinua Achebe
J.M. Coetzee
Okot P'Bitek
Any of these authors books are mezmerizing in their ability to take the reader inside and let them join in the story.
-
In total there are 3 users online :: 1 registered, 0 hidden and 2 guests (based on users active over the past 60 minutes)
Most users ever online was 871 on Fri Apr 19, 2024 12:00 am
African authors
-
-
Getting Comfortable
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Thu Jan 17, 2008 4:58 pm
- 16
-
-
- Kindle Fanatic
- Posts: 528
- Joined: Thu Oct 19, 2006 11:38 am
- 17
Djsgaelic, I've only read Achebe and a bit of Coetzee. Actually, perhaps we should consider choosing an African author for our next official booktalk selection. It could make for a nice progression from Heart of Darkness. And it doesn't seem as though any one book suggestion in that thread has garnered a lot of attention. Do you have any good suggestions of books by African authors that can lead to some nice literary discussion, Dj?
-
-
Getting Comfortable
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Thu Jan 17, 2008 4:58 pm
- 16
African authors
I took a decolonizing education class in college and it featured a wide variety of international authors. My favorites tended to be the african authors.
Deb
Hi,
I have read and enjoyed:
Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography--The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa This book was banned for many years. In Africa, kaffir is an offensive word for a black person, similar to our n-word.
Tandia by Bryce Courtenay (currently out-of-print but surely available in libraries)
The Power of One, also by Bryce Courtenay.
I have read and enjoyed:
Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography--The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa This book was banned for many years. In Africa, kaffir is an offensive word for a black person, similar to our n-word.
AndIn this powerful account of growing up black in South Africa, a young writer makes us feel intensely the horrors of apartheid. Living illegally in a shanty outside Johannesburg, Johannes (renamed Mark) Mathabane and his illiterate family endured the heartbreak and hopelessness of poverty and the violence of sadistic police and marauding gangs. He describes his drunken father's attempts to inculcate his tribal beliefs and to prevent his son from getting an educationthe one means by which he might escape from the ghetto. Encouraged by his determined mother and grandmother, Mathabane taught himself to read English and play tennis, and, through the assistance of U.S. tennis star Stan Smith and his own efforts and intelligence, obtained a tennis scholarship from a South Carolina college in 1978.
Tandia by Bryce Courtenay (currently out-of-print but surely available in libraries)
AndTandia is a child of all Africa: half Indian, half African, beautiful and intelligent, she is only sixteen when she is first brutalised by the police. Her fear of the white man leads her to join the black resistance movement, where she trains as a terrorist. With her in the fight for justice is the one white man Tandia can trust, the welterweight champion of the world, Peekay. Now he must fight their common enemy in order to save both their lives.
The Power of One, also by Bryce Courtenay.
"First with your head and then with your heart . . ." So says Hoppie Groenewald, boxing champion, to a seven-year-old boy who dreams of being the welterweight champion of the world.
For the young Peekay, it is a piece of advice he will carry with him throughout his life. Born in a South Africa divided by racism and hatred, this one small boy will come to lead all the tribes of Africa. Through enduring friendships with Hymie and Gideon, Peekay gains the strength he needs to win out. And in a final conflict with his childhood enemy, the Judge, Peekay will fight to the death for justice.
-
-
- Kindle Fanatic
- Posts: 528
- Joined: Thu Oct 19, 2006 11:38 am
- 17
Hi Rose,
I just did a bit of research and found that the American Library Association has it on their list of Most Challenged Books 1990 - 1999. It is #33 on their list.
It also shows up on Amazon.com and Powells.com in their 'banned books' section.
It was banned from most high school libraries, mostly due to the passage in which men offer young boys a trade of food for sex.
I just did a bit of research and found that the American Library Association has it on their list of Most Challenged Books 1990 - 1999. It is #33 on their list.
It also shows up on Amazon.com and Powells.com in their 'banned books' section.
It was banned from most high school libraries, mostly due to the passage in which men offer young boys a trade of food for sex.
-
-
- Kindle Fanatic
- Posts: 528
- Joined: Thu Oct 19, 2006 11:38 am
- 17
-
-
- The Pope of Literature
- Posts: 2553
- Joined: Sun Nov 14, 2004 4:24 am
- 19
- Location: decentralized
I've been meaning to read "Things Fall Apart" for some time now, and I wouldn't mind having a discussion group to read along with. But I don't see any particular reason to wait for the next reading period. If anyone else is interested and can find the time, why don't we make it an ad hoc, additional reading? Later on, we can compare the Africa of "Thing Fall Apart" to the Africa of "The Heart of Darkness".
-
-
- Kindle Fanatic
- Posts: 528
- Joined: Thu Oct 19, 2006 11:38 am
- 17
-
-
Genius
- Posts: 759
- Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2008 6:09 am
- 16
- Has thanked: 2 times
- Been thanked: 13 times