In A Report on the Afterlife of Culture, one of Canada?s most provocative writers ranges across continents, centuries and linguistic traditions to examine how literary culture and our perception of history are changing as the world grows smaller. Weaving together daring literary criticism with front-line reporting on events such as the end of the Cold War in Poland, the plight of indigenous cultures in Mexico and Guatemala and African reactions to the G8 Summit, Henighan evokes a world where astonishing cultural riches flourish under siege from all-consuming commercialized uniformity. Whether illustrating in irreverent detail the reasons for the popularity of Ian McEwan?s Atonement, providing authoritative accounts of the work of writers such as Gabriel García Márquez, Alice Munro, Haruki Murakami or José Saramago, writing with fresh insight on Cuban literary politics or the practice of literary translation, or intervening with forceful clarity in debates about the Giller Prize, book reviewing or Margaret Atwood?s LongPen book-signing technology, Henighan is equally engaged with the word and the world. The work of a writer whose vision is simultaneously local and global, A Report on the Afterlife of Culture is entertaining and essential reading.
Authors
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- C814/.54
- Dewey Decimal Edition Number
- 22
- General Note
- Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- ISBN
- 9781897231654 9781897231425
- LCCN
- PR9199.3.H4515
- LCCN Item number
- R46 2008eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- CaOONL
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (339 p.)
- Published in
- Canada
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)thg00604398 (OCoLC)752596690 (CaOOCEL)422908
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Transcribing agency
- CaOONL
Table of Contents
- Contents 8
- I. A Report on the Afterlife of Culture 10
- II. Reports from the World 74
- 1. The Uses of Englishness 76
- 2. Mexico Against Itself 86
- 3. Mayan Guatemala Revisited 100
- 4. New Europe Grows Old 106
- 5. Watching the G8 in Luanda 116
- 6. Travel, Writing – and the Unexpected Links between Them 120
- III. Words in the World 124
- 1. The Translation Gap 126
- 2. Carlos Fuentes 142
- 3. João Ubaldo Ribeiro 150
- 4. Wole Soyinka 154
- 5. Julio Cortázar 158
- 6. Günter Grass 164
- 7. Haruki Murakami 168
- 8. Mario Vargas Llosa 174
- 9. Cuban Writing Beyond Inside and Out 180
- 10. Gabriel García Márquez 188
- 11. Péter Esterházy 194
- 12. José Saramago 198
- 13. Roberto Bolaño 206
- 14. The Angolan Novel 214
- IV. Words for Our World 222
- 1. Yes, Toronto, I Do Own a Black Turtleneck 224
- 2. Court Jester 228
- 3. Totalitarian Democracy 232
- 4. Bad Spellers 236
- 5. In Praise of Borders 240
- 6. Writing the City 244
- 7. White Curtains 248
- 8. Becoming French 252
- 9. How They Don’t See Us 258
- 10. Translated from the American 262
- 11. Nations Without Publishers 266
- 12. Atwood’s Interventions 270
- 13. An Ending for Alice Munro 282
- 14. Ondaatje’s People 290
- 15. Leaving Canada: Generational Change in a Historical Vacuum 296
- 16. The Afterlife of Criticism 320
- Acknowledgements 342
