Can literature make peace? Judging by this book of interviews and profiles, it’s not likely, at least not in that region.
Can writers put an end to war, or at least lessen ethnic and international strife?
Perhaps, answers Norwegian novelist and journalist Isaksen, adding, “Should this even be their task?” Following the lead of South African novelist André Brink, who averred that his fellow South African writers contributed to the collapse of the apartheid system merely by reading each other’s works, Isaksen takes the question to 15 Palestinian and Israeli writers. Depressingly, many of them answer to the effect that if it weren’t for the other guys then there would be no problem, as when novelist and Palestinian Minister of Culture Yahya Yakhlif declares, “The Israelis are our enemy!...But we don’t write about the Israelis as animals, in the way that the Israelis write about others.” Some of young writer Ghassan Zaqtan’s best friends are Jews, and he takes pains to acknowledge “the depth of Jewish culture,” adding, “but Israeli culture is completely different.” Poet Zakariyya Muhammad takes a broader view, remarking that fundamentalists cannot be good writers, at least about modern society—but again there are finger-pointing qualifications, as when he remarks, “I firmly believe that this insane version of Islam that we’re experiencing now is a product of the US and its allies.” On the Israeli side, many writers are battling among themselves, with Dorit Rabinyan protesting that she is not perceived as a real Israeli because she is a Mizrahi, “an Israeli of Iranian descent” whose Iranian component is an essential part of her self-identity. Yoram Kaniuk, an elderly novelist, is pessimistic about Israel’s chances against Islam, and unhappy that Israeli society is so oppressed by fundamentalists too. “We started out as a nation, then we were a religion, and now we’re a nation again,” he says. “And we still haven’t managed to resolve the relationship between the religious and the secular.” Other contributors include Etgar Keret, David Grossman, Amos Oz and Meir Shalev.
Can literature make peace? Judging by this book of interviews and profiles, it’s not likely, at least not in that region.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-56656-730-5
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Olive Branch/Interlink
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2008
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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