Totalitarian Reads Part 1

Although we don't intend this to happen, and although our books are chosen each month by different members, we often find our book club reads seem to somehow fall into themes. 2008 was the year of the dysfunctional family (We Need to Talk About Kevin, Evening is the Whole Day), and 2009 seems to be shaping up to be the year of books set in totalitarian regimes!

Last month we tackled our first graphic novel together, Persepolis by Marjane Satrappi, which got a firm thumbs up from every member of the group. The book is a a coming-of-age story with a difference, a memoir recording what it was like to grow up in Tehran in the 1970's and '80s, and live through the Islamic revolution then through the horrors of the Iran-Iraq war.

Despite the bleakness of the setting, it is though the humanity of the book which wins the reader over. Marjane is a very ordinary kid, though precocious and more than a little rebellious, trying to make sense of what is happening around her. Women are forced into wearing headscarves, thousands are arrested, her own uncle is executed.

Marjane is sent overseas by her parents for her own safety after she gets in trouble at school, but she is lonely and vulnerable in Vienna and the usual growing-up pains that all teenagers endure are greatly exacerbated. At one point she's sleeping rough on the streets, on drugs and contemplating suicide. She decides that it is better to live with her family under an oppressive regime than to endure this sense of dislocation, and returns to Iran. More than this I won't reveal as I really hope that if you haven't read the book, you will.

There were many episodes in the book we all really loved including Marjane's conversations with God, who comes and sits on the end of her bed to chat; her portrait of her grandmother, who sleeps with jasmine flowers crushed into her bra so that she will always smell good; and of course the part where her parents risk arrest at the airport to smuggle in a pop poster for her.

There is a film of the books (The Complete Persepolis is actually both parts of the story) and it won a "Prix du Jury" at the Cannes Film Festival :



Our most recent oppressive regime read was Tom Rob Smith's Child 44 set in Stalin's soviet Union. But since this piece is growing longer, and I'm starving to death as I tap at the keyboard, I think I will move to another post to tell you about that one!

When Fatimah Lost her Kampung

A few days ago I wrote about the launch of a children's book called Fatimah's Kampung by Iain Buchanan at Badan Warisan. I ended up being pretty late because I had decided to walk to Jalan Stonor from KLCC, along what I thought was a familiar route. I ended up getting lost, completely thrown by the way the area has changed since I was last there, with huge high-rises and building sites beginning to dominate this formerly green and peaceful enclave with its colonial bungalows.

I realise now, after reading the book, that there's a certain irony to all this - for Fatimah's Kampong is the story about how a landscape changes as the city encroaches, and how what is best about a place will be sacrificed to commercial interest.

In the introduction to the book Buchanan talks about how the book came to be written. He says he came to Malaysia first to teach shortly after Independence and that he took away with him a memory of the landscape which became part of him.

He continued to teach geography in a university in the East Midlands, and one day he had a call from one of his former students, Maznoor, now a college lecturer herself, coming to the UK to do a diploma in TEFL. They later married and Buchanan found himself part of a :

... large, lively, and very loving Malaysian family ..

But revisiting the landscape he had fallen in love with, he found that there was good reason to mourn :

... there was painted concrete, dead laterite and a gaudy brittle sameness ...

After taking early retirement, and wanting to communicate the ideas that he has lectured on in a way that was more vivid and exciting to young people, he began work on Fatimah's Kampung, a labour of love which took him eight years to complete, while Maznoor went out to work in a British factory to pay the bills. It was a true labour of love.

The book tells the story of a girl growing up in Kampong Hidayah. The family home was built by her great-grandfather with materials taken from the forest. When most of the other kampungs disappeared because of the expansion of the city it was allowed to remain untouched by the Sultan who owned the land.

Fatimah grows up amidst fruit trees, and forest (where she believes Pak Belang the tiger still might be hiding), and near to the frangipani filled graveyard where her relatives were laid to rest, and the keramat once home to a holy man who knew the ways of the forest in the way no others did.

The rhythms of kampong life of are recorded - her grandmother gathering herbs to cure ailments, the children's games, the visits by hawkers, Ramadan and the bustle of Hari Raya at the end of it, the monsoon floods.

But then the bulldozers move in and Fatimah and her family are forced to relocate to a high rise near by where they can see the final destruction of their kampung, and the forest around it.

There is one small mercy - the kampong house itself is to be saved and taken to be part of a new theme park which Fatimah gets the chance to visit.

Labelling books can sometimes do them a disservice, and whilst the book will undoubtedly appeal to older children (many of whom may have lived the story!), it will strike a chord with every Malaysian who cares about the environment and heritage, regardless of age, and will probably travel very well beyond these shores as the issues it raises are universal ones. I'm not ashamed to say that the story moved me to tears - especially the part where Fatimah finally does come face to face with her tiger.

But it is the stunning illustrations, with every detail of tree and leaf and kampung lovingly recorded, which make this book an absolute joy to own. (I have had to pries my copy out of the hands of visitors to the house who haven't wanted to put it down and talk to me!)

I wonder if Fatimah's Kampung might not be better described as a graphic novel and one that could easily become a classic of the genre?

The book is published by the Consumers Association of Penang, and this surprises on two counts. First of all, the organisation is known for its pamphlets on consumer and environmental issues and they have not, to my knowledge, ever undertaken a project like this before. Secondly, that they have made such a great job of it - this is a beautifully produced book that you could put beside any produced overseas and feel proud of.

Have I raved? Sorry. But I sincerely mean every word of praise I have heaped on this book.

But why not see for yourself? Iain will be appearing at Readings@Seksan this coming Saturday and a limited number of his books will be on sale.

Lat-titude

Q: Why is Town Boy such an enduring favourite with Malay-sians?
A: I think many people look at Town Boy as something that promotes unity, friendship and encourages people to understand others' cultures.

Cartoonist and yes, let's call him graphic novelist, Datuk Mohd Noor Khalid, alias Lat, talks in the New Straits Times today about reflecting a multi-cultural Malaysian society in his work.

Town Boy and Kampong Boy were two of the first books I was recommended to read when I first landed in Malaysia to teach back in 1984. These gentle and humourous tales were the best introduction I could have had, and were clearly created with someone with a keen eye for human foibles, as well as a love and respect for the different races.

I must confesss that in those early months here, I had many "Lat moments" when I recognised his characters in the street or in the coffee shop, or among my own teaching colleagues!

(See also this entry on Kak Teh's blog and Amir Muhammad's excellent review of Kampung Boy*.

(*Thanks Preeta for reminding me.)

Redrawing Shakespeare

John Mullan is the Guardian finds Jon Howard's graphic fiction version of Macbeth:

... a jarring experience

But notes that it is:

... something more interesting than just another attempt to make the Bard look flashy and relevant. The graphic novel helps the unschooled reader see that Macbeth - extraordinary as its language might be - is not just words. Every frame has people acting and reacting, pressed by events. Pupils reading the play often have difficulties simply understanding what is happening. Here, the illustrations will let them see, and leave them (you hope) free to absorb the words.

Graphic fiction representations of the bard are taking off in a big way as some of you will realise from attending events organised by the British Council when Paul Duffield and Emma Schofield were in town.

But how do the literary purists feel about this? Shakespearean expert Professor Lim Chee Seng of University Malaya is all for it, in this very nice review of Duffield and Schofield's manga interpretations on the Kakiseni website.

Me? I think it looks great fun and I love to see Shakespeare interpreted in new and interesting ways. (By the way, I love the series of BBC dramas based on Shakespeare plays that were shown here last year.)

Such interpretations never harm the original. Shakespeare's work was meant to be performed and not poured over on the page. And every performance is of course a reinterpretation.

Shakespeare Goes Manga!

From the British Council news of events I'm sure many of you will be interested in:

MANGA SHAKESPEARE

Bringing to life the great Bard’s words!

To kick start 2008, British Council has something for Shakespeare enthusiasts and manga fans alike with Manga Shakespeare. Published by UK-based SelfMadeHero, Manga Shakespeare is a series of graphic novel adaptations that fuses classic Shakespeare with manga visuals in cutting-edge adaptations, drawing inspiration from trend-setting Japan. Using Shakespeare's original texts, this series brings to life the great Bard's words. The collection includes Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, Richard III, The Tempest and A Mid-Summer Nights’ Dream. Emma Hayley (Director, SelfMadeHero) and Paul Duffield (Artist for The Tempest) will be in Kuala Lumpur 23 to 26 January 2008 to run workshops and will meet the public at a bookshop talk.

Meet Emma Hayley and Paul Duffield!

Date : Wednesday, 23 January 2008
Time : 8.00 p.m.
Venue : Kinokuniya Bookstore, Suria KLCC
Admission : This event is free Emma and Paul will be at Kino’s to talk about Manga Shakespeare and sign books.
If you’re a Manga/Comic artist, bring your best artwork and the Top 3 as selected by Emma and Paul will win Kinokuniya vouchers.

Illustrating graphic novels and manga for aspiring artists – workshop by Paul Duffield

Date : Saturday 26 January 2008
Time : 10.00 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.
Venue : Dram Projects, Happy Mansion, Section 17, Petaling Jaya
Admission : This event is free. Participants should be 16 years old and above.

This workshop is for the casual manga or comics hobbyists with an interest in learning more. Paul will take participants through drawing exercises that focus on observing and drawing the figure, the process of designing a character, and producing a character sheet with turn-arounds, costumes and notes.

The workshop is free but space is limited. If you’d like to be a part of this workshop, please contact us via email (arts@britishcouncil.org.my) letting us know a bit about your background and interest manga/comics/graphics/drawing/doodling and a sample of your work.

We’re also running a graphic story competition in conjunction with Manga Shakespeare - watch this space for more details! In the meantime, send us an email at arts@britishcouncil.org.my if you have further queries.

More about Emma and Paul:

Paul Duffield is an illustrator and animator who takes influence from a fusion of manga and european comics. After graduating from a BA in animation at Kingston, he went on to win both Tokyopop's Rising Stars of Manga, and the International Manga and Anime Festival grand prizes, and is now at work on several upcoming publications.

With a background in journalism, film PR, and as editorial director for a number of publishers, Emma Hayley launched SelfMadeHero in March 2007 with the first titles in the Manga Shakespeare series - Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet. She was recently shortlisted as Young Publisher of the Year in the British Book Industry Awards.

Of Machine-Guns, Doorbells and Cancer: The 2007 Blooker Prize

The 2007 Lulu Blooker Prize, awarded for a book blook based on a blog, has been won by a former American machine gunner with My War: Killing Time in Iraq. Colby Buzzell based his memoir on the blog he began while in Mosul, in northern Iraq, in 2004, about eight months into his deployment.

According to the Guardian:

... he portrayed the texture of daily life ... from listening to Metallica on his iPod to watching his fellow "grunts" surf the web for pornography.

Within weeks his blog was receiving thousands of hits a day, and he was contacted by literary agents wanting to sign him up.

There is an irony about the timing of the prize as the US military high command is clamping down on blogs written by its personnel - ostensibly for security reasons.

The winner in the Fiction category is The Doorbells of Florence by British blogger Andrew Losowsky based in Madrid. His book of short stories was based on photographs he had posted on Flickr (which makes the genre he's writing in "fliction", it seems).

The Comics section was won by Brian Flies with a true-life account of his mother's struggle with lung cancer. The blook is called simply Mom's Cancer and is based on an Eisner Award-winning webcomic. The original blog has had to be removed from the internet now that the book has been published, but you can see some of the graphics here.

There were more blooks shortlisted, and I do hope that you will take a look and come away inspired. Blooks are certainly a very interesting route to publication. But first find the right concept for your blog.

Now before I end this post, I'd like to make mention of an excellent litblog:

... about fiction - both online and offline. It deals with the way the Internet is changing the way we read - whether it is books we’re dealing with or not. What is the future of the book? Can blooks make a lasting impact in the publishing industry?

I'd landed up at Novelr a few times after googling stuff about blooks and having been much informed by the posts. Then one day I checked to see who the blogger is. American? British? Someone in the publishing industry?

Nope. Eli James is a student in Kucing, Sarawak. And I don't even dare ask how young he is ...

(Picture of Colby Buzzell from the Guardian)

American Born Books

The graphic novel really is getting respectable. So respectable in fact that for the first time one was shortlisted for a major literary award. Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese was nominated for the 2006 National Book Award in the Young People's Writing category. Writes Edward Guthman in the San Fransisco Chronicle:

That pride of identity is the overriding theme of "American Born Chinese," which tells the story of Jin Wang, a son of Chinese immigrants who moves to the suburbs from San Francisco's Chinatown and struggles to assimilate at a mostly white school. Yang interweaves Jin's journey with two other stories: the legend of the Monkey King, a Chinese folk hero; and a sitcom starring Chin-Kee, a gross Chinese stereotype with buck teeth and a habit of interchanging his r's and l's. ... It's easy to imagine, while reading "American Born Chinese," that Yang based Jin Wang's story largely on his own childhood. The author says that's true: "I was Asian and I wore glasses and I was really skinny, and I knew that I was stereotyped as a nerd. So there was part of me that kind of rebelled against that."

The National Book Awards began in 1950 when a consortium of book publishing groups sponsored the first ceremony and dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City to highlight exceptional American writing, and increase the popularity of reading in general. The awards recognize achievements in four categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People's Literature.

The overall winner in the fiction section was The Echo Maker by Richard Powers, with runners up:

Mark Z. Danielewski - Only Revolutions
Ken Kalfus - A Disorder Peculiar to the Country
Dana Spiotta - Eat the Document
Jess Walter - The Zero

The poetry award went to Nathaniel Mackey for Splay Anthem. Timothy Egan's The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl took the award for non-fiction. And Yang was beaten to the main prize for Young People's Literature by M.T. Anderson's The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume One: The Pox Party (now that's a title!). The complete shortlist is archived here.

(Thanks, Kamal, for your notes and recommendations in the e-mails you sent and if The Worst Hard Time really is better than The Grapes of Wrath, I must buy it!)

Graphic Gets Respectable!

This post is for Amir who dropped by the other day to leave a long list of must-read graphic fiction. (Am for sure learning lots from my blog readers!) As a literary form it had slipped beneath my radar, although I grew up on a diet of superhero and science fiction comics.

Alice O'Keeffe reports in the Observer that two of Britain's best known graphic novelists - Posy Simmonds (more of her work here) and Raymond Briggs have just been made fellows of the Royal Society of Literature. I've enjoyed the work of both "cartoonists" for years, and am so glad that they are being recognised.

Briggs says:

On the Continent, graphic novels have been as accepted as films or books for many years, but England has had a snobby attitude towards them. They've always been seen as something just for children ... When my Father Christmas was published in 1973, many people didn't consider a strip cartoon to be a real book at all. ... Cartoonists share some of the blame for the fact that their art has not been taken seriously. Too much of it has been superheroes socking people and semi-obscene stuff. But lately there has been much more work with a dignified, serious subject-matter. And as a genre it's increasingly commercially viable.

Update:

An article from Newsweek on the same theme.

Dream Ink at The Singapore Writer's Festival

A combination of circumstances conspiring against me (deadlines, the reading) and the kind of inertia that makes me angry with myself (particularly as I'm reading myself perfect in the loo every morning. Canfield in the can, haha!) meant that I did not manage to get down to the Singapore Writers Festival.

Fortunately, thanks to Zafar I was able to attend the sessions vicariously at least. Bruce Sterling, the well-known American science fiction writer, gave his take on Writing Sci Fi and painted a bleak picture of the world of the future.

Another session focused on crime writing, more specifically Women and Crime. Among questions raised:

Why is there so much of crime writing in the West? And why is there so little of crime writing in the East?

I find Nuri Vittachi's comment about writing in this part of the world in general very interesting:

Vittachi said that it was not just about the crime writers published internationally from the East but in general about writers in English from the East. He said that the simple reason was that there was no machinery to promote writers from this region: no literary agents, no publishers, no editors. But there was hope, he said. Two literary agents are now setting up office in Asia: one in China and another in Hong Kong.

Great to know!

There was a panel discussion Sexuality and Desire in Asian Writing consisting of writers Gerrie Lim (Invisible Trade), Wei Hui (Shanghai Baby; Marrying Buddha), and Isa Kamari (Kiswah). I'd have loved to have seen Wei Hui especially, having enjoyed her Shanghai Baby.

Then there was Tarun Tejpal, "India's ace journalist, editor, publisher" talking about his novel: The Alchemy of Desire.

and Colleen Doran

talking about graphic novels which are becoming increasingly popular in Singapore, and probably in Malaysia too. (Booksnobs like me haven't taken them seriously - after reading Zafar's entry I think I should begin to!)

Anyway, do go read the whole thing on Zafar's blog - this is very good stuff and the next best thing to being there yourself. I applaud the festival organisers for catering to a very wide variety of literary tastes. I think our own Litfest got a bit too snobby-elistist with almost no concession made to genre fiction. A narrow view indeed of what literature is.)

(By the way, did you know that one of Mills and Boon's top romance novelists lives in Cheras and is a HE writing under a female pseudonym?! Buy me a long-island iced tea for the rest of the story.)

Meanwhile, check out the Singapore Writers' Festival Blog for more stories and photos of other sessions. I'm jealous!!

DZ sent me this link to the excellent Kitaab website with plenty of Asian literary news.