Literanista

Exploring Race & Literature

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:16:00 +0000

This is not a recent book but it sounds like a fascinating read to add to list:
Neither Black nor White yet Both: Thematic Explorations of Interracial Literature by Werner Sollors

Why can a “white” woman give birth to a “black” baby, while a “black” woman can never give birth to a “white” baby in the United States? What makes racial “passing” so different from social mobility? Why are interracial and incestuous relations often confused or conflated in literature, making “miscegenation” appear as if it were incest? When did the myth that one can tell a person’s race by the moon on their fingernails originate? How did blackness get associated with “the curse of Ham” when the Biblical text makes no reference to skin color at all? Werner Sollors examines these questions and others in Neither Black Nor White Yet Both, a new and exhaustively researched exploration of “interracial literature.” In the past, interracial texts have been read more for a black-white contrast of “either-or” than for an interracial realm of “neither, nor, both, and in-between.” Intermarriage prohibitions have been legislated throughout the modern period and were still in the law books in the 1980s. Stories of black-white sexual and family relations have thus run against powerful social taboos. Yet much interracial literature has been written, and this book suggests its pervasiveness and offers new comparative and historical contexts for understanding it. Via www.mixedracestudies.org

The more recently published A New Literary History of America (Harvard University Press Reference Library) by Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors looks very interesting as well:

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The full national-literary character of the United States is on display in this mighty history and reference work for our time. Written by a distinguished team, under the sure-handed editorship of musicologist and historian Marcus and Sollors, Harvard professor of English and African-American studies, this volume begins with America's first appearance on a map and concludes with the election of President Obama. Among the more than 200 contributors are Bharati Mukherjee (on The Scarlet Letter), Camille Paglia (on Tennessee Williams) and Ishmael Reed (on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn).

The book includes entries on not strictly literary themes: the first U.S. natural history collection of painter Charles Willson Peale; the invention of the blues; and the art of Grant Wood. This balancing act is even less sure-footed as we enter present time with entries on Some Like It Hot and the National Football League. Although it is impossible to include every important author in one volume, Sylvia Plath barely gets a nod as does James Merrill. Such are the blemishes on exquisite skin. Overall, this is an astounding achievement in multiculturalism and American studies, which in the age of Google and the Internet lights the way toward serious interpretive reference publishing. 27 illus.
Review
In snapshots of a few thousand words each, the entries in A New Literary History put on display the exploring, tinkering and risk-taking that have contributed to the invention of America...A New Literary History of America gives us what amounts to a fractal geometry of American culture. You can focus on any one spot and get a sense of the whole or pull back and watch the larger patterns appear. What you see isn't the past so much as the present.
--Wes Davis, Wall Street Journal

Things of Value

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:25:00 +0000

Make for thyself a definition or description of the thing

which is presented to thee, so as to see distinctly

what kind of a thing it is in its substance,

in its nudity, in its complete entirety,

and tell thyself its proper name,

and the names of the things of which it has been compounded,

and into which it will be resolved.

For nothing is so productive of elevation of mind

as to be able to examine methodically

and truly every object

which is presented to thee in life,

and always to look at things

so as to see at the same time what kind of universe this is,

and what kind of use everything performs in it,

and what value everything has with reference to the whole,

and what with reference to man,

who is a citizen of the highest city,

of which all other cities are like families;

what each thing is, and of what it is composed,

and how long it is the nature of this thing to endure.

- Marcus Aurelius

Fun for Bookish Folks

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:43:00 +0000

Some people get annoyed with the tendency of web to produce a wide array of lists covering everything but I tend to like them - their fun, neat wrap-ups and their low on verbage and to the point. Here are some I came accross this week:

and

Narrative of an Italian American in East Harlem

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:15:00 +0000

Good stuff:

Web News

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:28:00 +0000

Latin American films that made it to the Academy Awards shortlist for the top foreign film at ourlatinamerica

The Latin American Review of Books calls Mexico Unconquered: Chronicles of Power and Revolt by John Gibler the one book about Latin America you should read this coming year.

Liza's look at the grossly incomplete Latino Blogosphere list from BlogWorldExpo

Brian Solis takes a look at Social Media and real business metrics on Mashable.

Latinos and the Culture of Anti-Intellectualism

I love the thought-inducing posts over at Sociological Images. Here are three of their latest good reads:
Guest Post – Jersey Shore: On Beauty and Not Even Looking Italian,
Adultifying Kids in a Mini Daddy Video, and
Contradictions in the Depiction of “Plus-Size” Model Crystal Renn

Humorous: Relationship Dealbreaker >> You steal books from the public library

On a sadder note: Which City Has the Most Depressing Local News?

Latest censorship news: A Dictionary gets Banned in a school - the rest of the world laughs at us and
The Texas Board of Ed. Confuses Authors of 'Brown Bear,' with 'Ethical Marxism'

Harlem Get Funding for a New Arts Space

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:55:00 +0000

New York City is using $2.2 million in federal stimulus funding to develop My Image Studios (MIST), a 20,000-square-foot facility devoted to African and Hispanic arts and culture will offer three screening rooms, performance space, film and digital media studios for postproduction work, and a 7,000-square-foot restaurant, in Harlem - on West 116 Street on the ground floor of the Kalahari Condominium, a new 249-unit mixed-income development that was completed two years ago.

Via Crain's New York Business

iRead iBooks: Thoughts on Apple's iPad

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:26:00 +0000

So despite (or maybe even in addition to) the obvious unfortunate name chosen for Apple's latest geek lust-inducing new product, it's been the thing everyone has been talking about this week on the web and online.
I always thought that aesthetically at least the ereader market needed Apple's touch and now we've got it:

Watch Steve Jobs unveiling the iPad at http://www.apple.com/

Apple’s iPad: What book lovers need to know, on Entertainment Weekly’s Shelf Life blog

Cute: JACKET+BOOKMARK

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:26:00 +0000

Via www.icoeye.com/blog

Arte Público Press 30th anniversary/Piñata Books 15th

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:57:00 +0000

New Patricia Engel Story on Amazon Kindle

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:30:00 +0000

Patricia Engel’s “The Bridge” and Paul Theroux’s “Siamese Nights” are the latest stories published as part of the partnership between The Atlantic and Amazon.

Patricia Engel is the author of Vida, forthcoming from Grove/Atlantic in 2010. Her stories have received awards including the Boston Review Fiction Prize, a Florida Artist Fellowship in Literature, and distinctions from Narrative Magazine and Kore Press; her work has recently appeared in Guernica, Harpur Palate, Slice Magazine, Nimrod, Quarterly West, Fourteen Hills, and Sycamore Review, among other publications.

Patricia Engel is the author of Vida, forthcoming from Grove/Atlantic in 2010. Engel’s “The Bridge” is the story of Carlito and Reina, a brother and sister from Miami. When he was a boy, Carlito was thrown from a bridge by his distraught father. Saved by a fisherman, Carlito was treated with special care throughout his life: no one bothered him about school, about his manners, about beating up his sister.

Years later, when he found out his girlfriend was unfaithful, Carlito threw her baby off a bridge. Murder is Carlito’s inheritance, people say, and he is paying the price, languishing on death row at Florida’s South Glades Penitentiary. Only his sister, Reina, refuses to abandon him, visiting him every weekend to preserve his humanity, and to drive away her own terrible secret.

“The Bridge” combines the lyricism of a Gabriel García Márquez with the stripped-down realism of a Raymond Carver to produce a story that will sadden readers’ hearts while expanding their souls.

Two new Amazon Fiction on Kindle stories will appear at the beginning of each month. Readers can find these stories in the Kindle store as well as through the Kindle for iPhone and Kindle for PC apps, and planned Kindle platform expansions for Mac and Blackberry.

The Road Ahead

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 01:01:00 +0000

Carlos Ruiz Zafón's Newest Book: THE PRINCE OF MIST

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:37:00 +0000

Fans of Carlos Ruiz Zafón are now getting a new opportunity to share his work once again with younger readers with his upcoming release, The Prince of Mist, coming in May.

For more information and latest news, check out: www.princeofmist.com and join Facebook.com/princeofmist

Douglas Rushkoff's Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:16:00 +0000

Tonight: on PBS Frontline at 9 PM ET

Douglas Rushkoff's Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier premiers tomorrow night on PBS Frontline at 9 PM ET. The new program "explores the use of technology at home, school, work, and in the military, examining the pros and cons of multitasking, immersion in virtual worlds and even remote warfare."

As part of its examination of whether or not multitasking may actually be diminishing students' mental abilities, It includes a visit to a middle school in The Bronx, one where a new principal provided all students with laptops.

The school, which was suffering from frequent fights, gang activity, and only 9 percent of students meeting state standards in math, now boasts 90% attendance, a 30% improvement in reading scores, and an almost 40% improvement in math scores.

Via www.nyconvergence.com

Racial Differences in US Wages

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:13:00 +0000

One of the authors I work with, Lisa Johnson Mandell (Career Comeback: Repackage Yourself to Get the Job You Want), writes at Aol. Dimecrunch and recently posted this:

The latest findings show that median earnings for white men working at full-time jobs came in at $850 in the fourth quarter, while their African American counterparts made $653 per week, or 76.8 percent of what whites are bringing home. But it's the Hispanics who really feel the pain: They take home the lowest weekly average; $547. That's $581 for males, and $503 for females.

But at least everyone, blacks, whites, Asians, Hispanics, males and females earned more in the fourth quarter of 2009 than they did in the fourth quarter of 2008. Median weekly earnings are up 2.7 percent across the board.

Interestingly enough, racial differences in median weekly salaries are less among women than they are among men. Median earnings for black women ($610) were 89.8 percent of those for white women ($679). And it's still Asian women who average the highest earnings, at $786, and Latinas who average the lowest, at $512.

On gender differences:

And even if poverty and race & ethnicity aren't of interest to you, this might be: Last year around 271,000 Mexican immigrants in the United States “entered a state of poverty...

Take The Voto Latino, (free) iTunes 2010 Census Pledge

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:59:00 +0000

Via Guanabee:

Take a stand and pledge your participation in the 2010 Census at the Voto Latino site today. You’ll receive 25 free songs from major artists like Pitbull, Aventura, Morrissey, Mos Def, Jaguares and Los Tigres del Norte via a partnership with iTunes that makes this exclusive soundtrack be available for FREE to anyone who visits Voto Latino’s home page and simply takes a pledge to participate in the Census.

School Sued for “Acting White” Harassment

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:12:00 +0000

Just two items, I came across today that I found rather interesting fodder for anyone who's ever been accused of "selling out," being bougie, or "acting White" because you: went to college, speak proper English,etc.

1.

COLUMBIA, SC — Two Williamsburg County students and members of their family have reached a $150,000 settlement in what may be the first Title VI lawsuit based on claims of intra-racial discrimination in South Carolina public schools.

Lawrence “Larry” Kobrovsky, a Charleston attorney who focuses his practice on constitutional law and school issues, said the parties settled after a female student’s claims of sexual and racial harassment at a Salters school went to trial in U.S. District Court in Florence. The suit was one of two against the Williamsburg County School District and school officials. The other suit, filed on behalf of the student’s uncle, was dismissed.

Both students were members of an African-American family that shared a home in rural Williamsburg County. Both attended public schools at the time of the alleged harassment.

The trial lasted two days, but the case never went to the jury. SOURCE

and 2.

* Photo: Kara Walker - The Rich Soil Down There

Book Review: Matthew Carr's "Blood and Faith: The Purging of Muslim Spain"

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:33:00 +0000

100 Favorite African American Books of the 20th Century

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 01:08:00 +0000

In honor of African American History Month (which we celebrate at Literanista on the daily), here are the AALBC's Favorite 100 African American Books of the 20th Century:

The Color Purple - Alice Walker
Their Eyes Were Watching God- Zora Neale Hurston
Beloved- Toni Morrison
And This Too Shall Pass - E. Lynn Harris
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
Some Love, Some Pain, Some Time: Stories - J. California Cooper
Disappearing Acts - Terry McMillan
Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison
Song of Solomon - Toni Morrison
Native Son- Richard Wright
2nd Time Around- James Earl Hardy
A Raisin In The Sun - Lorraine Hansberry
Homemade Love - J. California Cooper
Sister, Sister- Eric Jerome Dickey
Kindred - Octavia Butler
A Lesson Before Dying - Ernest Gaines
Flyy Girl- Omar Tyree
Friends and Lovers- Eric Jerome Dickey
Tumbling - Dianne Mckinney-Whetstone
Blessings- Sheneska Jackson
Waiting to Exhale - Terry McMillan
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/when the Rainbow Is Enuf: A Choreopoem - Ntozake Shange
A Little Yellow Dog- Walter Mosley
The Autobiography of Malcolm X- Malcolm X and Alex Haley
Invisible Life: Fifth Anniversary Edition- E. Lynn Harris
Possessing the Secret of Joy - Alice Walker
Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America - Nathan McCall
Just as I Am - E. Lynn Harris
Mama Day- Gloria Naylor
The Wedding- Dorothy West
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
Breath, Eyes, Memory - Edwidge Danticat
Li'l Mama's Rules - Sheneska Jackson
One Better- Rosalyn McMillan
Your Blues Ain't Like Mine - Bebe Moore Campbell
Devil in a Blue Dress- Walter Mosley
Sula - Toni Morrison
The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison
A Gathering of Old Men - Ernest Gaines
My Soul to Keep - Tananarive Due
Roots: The Saga of an American Family - Alex Haley
The Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni (1968-1995) - Nikki Giovanni
The Street - Ann Petry
Cane - Jean Toomer - Terry McMillian
Tar Baby - Toni Morrison
The Souls of Black Folk (Modern Library Series) - W.E.B. DuBois
Ugly Ways- Tina McElroy Ansa
Another Country- James Baldwin
Black Gold- Anita Richmond Bunkley
Caught up in the Rapture- Sheneska Jackson
Only Twice I've Wished for Heaven - Dawn Turner
Trice The Heart of a Woman - Maya Angelou
A Do Right Man- Omar Tyree
Go Tell It on the Mountain - James Baldwin
The Between - Tananarive Due
The Hand I Fan With - Tina McElroy Ansa
The Piano Lesson - August Wilson
The Spook Who Sat by the Door- Sam Greenlee
Big Girls Don't Cry- Connie Briscoe
Knowing - Rosalyn McMillan
Paradise - Toni Morrison
The Best of Simple - Langston Hughes
The Third Life of Grange Copeland- Alice Walker
Trying to Sleep in the Bed you Made- Out-of-Print
Bailey's Cafe - Gloria Naylor
In Search of Satisfaction - J. California Cooper
Just above My Head - James Baldwin
The Parable of the Sower - Octavia Butler
Tempest Rising - Diane McKinney - Whetstone< The Fire Next Time (Modern Library Series)- James Baldwin
The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors - Dr. Frances Cress Welsing
Mama Black Widow- Iceberg Slim
Miss Ophelia- Mary Burnett Smith
The Wake of the Wind- J. California Cooper
Baby of the Family - Tina McElroy Ansa
Billy- Albert French
Black Betty- Walter Mosley
Manchild in the Promised Land - Claude Brown
Novels and Stories of Zora Neale Hurston (Library of America) - Zora Neale Hurston
The Women of Brewster Place- Gloria Naylor
Bessie - Chris Albertson
Black Boy: (American Hunger) - Richard Wright
Magic City - Jewell Rhodes Parker
Scenes from a Sistah - Lolita Files
The Color of Love - Sandra Kitt
What a Woman's Gotta Do - Evelyn Coleman
B-Boy Blues: A Seriously Sexy, Fiercely Funny, Black-on-Black Love Story - James Earl Hardy
Belly Song and Other Poems- Etheridge Knight
The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother- James McBride
Corregidora - Gayl Jones
Giovanni's Room- James Baldwin
I Been in Sorrow's Kitchen and Licked Out All the Pots: A Novel - Susan Straight
In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens - Alice Walker
Jazz- Toni Morrison
Middle Passage- Charles Johnson
Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination- Toni Morrison
Push- Sapphire
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man- James Weldon Johnson
Sounder- William H. Armstrong

I have read many of these books and some I'm not familiar with at all but I like this list because it's very inclusive and covers many genres and issues. However, of course, it's a tad outdated and missing recent must-reads.

How many of these have you read? Are there any obvious ones or not so obvious ones missing?

February is...

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:50:00 +0000

Did you know that in addition to being African American History Month, it's also Library Lovers' Month?

Library Lovers' Month is a month-long celebration of school, public, and private libraries of all types. This is a time for everyone, especially library support groups, to recognize the value of libraries and to work to assure that the Nation's libraries will continue to serve.

"How To Love Your Library"

Library Lovers' Things To Do With Kids"

Top 10 Literary Stepmothers

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 19:19:00 +0000

Stepmoms usually get a bad rap and unless you've been in their shoes(or had to deal with baby mama drama) most people find it hard to relate to those issues that (pardon the pun) pop up. That's why I was rather amused to see this:

Music Monday: K'NAAN

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:18:00 +0000

Just discovered this song and it's now my latest favorite:

Call for Latino/a African Diasporas > African American History Month

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:47:00 +0000

As the formal US focus on Black History Month (February 1-28/9) is upon us we seek to celebrate all of the peoples who have influence and history via the African Diasporas. Expanding the inclusively of Black History Month is a goal for several of us, self-identified LatiNeg@s, Afro-Latinos and Afro-Caribeños.

As people who recognize and claim the African heritage and history, we have often been excluded from US History, whether it be Black history or Latino history (Septermber 15-October 15). Join us in honoring and recognizing LatiNegr@s this year during Black and Latino History Month. We are Black, Latino and from the Caribbean. We REPRESENT!

Please share any images, videos, quotes, websites, links etc. you’d like to include on this page. Go to Lati-negros.tumblr.com/submit to submit what you’d like to contribute.

New Book: Working in the Shadows by Gabriel Thompson

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:21:00 +0000

Working in the Shadows: A Year of Doing the Jobs (Most) Americans Won't Do by Gabriel Thompson

In a new book, Working in the Shadows: A Year of Doing the Jobs (Most) Americans Won’t Do, labor activist Gabriel Thompson chronicles his year spent alongside low-wage Latino immigrants in the lettuce fields of Arizona, at an Alabama chicken plant, and as a delivery boy in New York City. Thompson’s book “shines a bright light on the underside of the American economy, exposing harsh working conditions, union busting, and lax government enforcement—while telling the stories of workers, undocumented immigrants and desperate US citizens alike, forced to live with chronic pain in the pursuit of $8 an hour.”

I’m usually suspicious of the ability of privileged outsiders to speak for marginalized communities, but Thompson seems to be very aware of his role and limitations.

This project underscores the need for immigration reform so we can finally move the millions of exploited immigrant workers out of the shadows.

Thompson’s Blog

Interview on NPR)

via Faizahm's tumblr

LatiNegr@s To Look Out For In 2010

valruss@gmail.com (Literanista) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:52:00 +0000

A fabulous post, not to be missed: