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| Road Trip Chaucer’s lusty pilgrims return in a Modern English incarnation. feeds.nytimes.com |
A question of books and borders Earlier this month at a creative writing school in Havana, I found myself wondering if there is such a thing as a national literature any more, something autonomous and utterly distinctive, and with a sufficiently large local audience. Cuba is one of the most isolated and singular countries in the world; many writers there are patronised by the state. And yet the question still seems worth asking, if not about the west, then about many non-western countries.German writers in the late 18th century were the first to uphold a prickly, literary nationalism, in reaction to the then dominance and prestige of French literature. Proclamations of national literatures accompanied the rise of nation states in 19th-century Europe. Since then the internationalisation – or the cross-fertilisation – of literature seems to have proceeded swiftly. Much of contemporary "English" literature, for instance, seems a sub-category of American literature, many of whose most written-about representatives – Martin Amis, Ian McEwan – owe more to writers across the Atlantic than to any British ones.But the view from the vantage point of the politically homogenous west is often distorted. Literature elsewhere is far from being an autonomous, pure and ahistorical realm, where writers and their works freely float across national borders and political allegiances. National independence, and the preceding political struggles, helped create the space for literary creation in many post-colonial countries. Much of modern Indian or Chinese literature is inconceivable without the political movement for freedom from foreign rule.Speaking of the influence of the French revolution on literary modernity, Walter Benjamin once wrote that "the lava of revolutions provides uniquely fertile ground for the blossoming of art, festivity, fashion". Liberation from colonial rule spurred modernist experimentation in places as remote from the metropolitan west as Manila and Bogota, often motivated by the feeling among many aspiring writers that they were, as Octavio Paz once wrote about his Latin American peers, "inhabitants of the suburbs of history".That said, the nation state or nationalism is hardly a guarantor of literary quality. Joyce and Beckett founded their aesthetic in opposition to the norms of a culturally defensive Irish nationalism; the cosmopolitan novels of Milan Kundera and Danilo Kis self-consciously defied the philistinism of cultural commissars. The formative moment for many of China's most interesting writers today – Yu Hua, Mo Yan, and Su Tong, this year's winner of the Man Asian prize – was their break with socialist realism, often through avant garde experimentation.It is also true that national power alone doesn't ensure great literature. Many writers from the suburbs of history, such as Ireland and Argentina, produced more original work than their counterparts in the United States; they still seem to. But there does exist, in the western metropolis, the kind of cultural power that determines the artistic worth of, and, more importantly, confers commercial value upon, work from places peripheral to the west. Paris with its cultural institutions, publishers and critics was the great arbiter in the past, before being replaced by London and New York. Rarely perceived by writers and critics in the west themselves, this inequality in the world of letters has important ramifications for the still surviving national literatures.Local markets for literary fiction remain underdeveloped; the metropolis often holds out the only real possibility of a professional writing career. The metropolitan west, however, has its own expectations from non-western fiction. Last year an Egyptian writer in Cairo told me that international publishers were mostly interested in books that dealt with the treatment of women in Islam. A writer I met in Havana said he had been informed by one of the international publishers and agents who regularly visit Cuba that his work was not Cuban enough: in other words, it didn't have enough steamy sex or salsa.The steady globalisation of national literatures can subtly distort both their production and consumption; and travelling to Hong Kong to judge the Man Asian prize, I found it hard not to wonder whether the prize was meant to promote literature from Asia to western readers, or to create a space within Asian countries, many of which are still forming their modern literatures, for literary themes and modes that are not commercial or globalisable.That space seems necessary simply for the eco-diversity of ideas, for the flourishing of intellectual and cultural life outside the well-worn grooves of the west. Last year's winner of the Man Asian, an unpublished manuscript by Miguel Syjuco, is soon to be released in several languages around the world; but the encouragement given to aspiring writers and artists in the Philippines counts for more in the long run.The international success of these writers need not compromise the integrity of the artistic and intellectual convictions they have developed out of a steady engagement with their part of the world. Preparing for my visit to Cuba, I was intrigued to discover the work of Leonardo Padura, author of literary mystery novels, whose belief in socialist values marks him off from the kind of anti-communist dissident long admired in the west. Resident in Cuba, and often critical of the regime, he has created a degree of independence for himself through his affiliation with international networks of publicity and publishing; at the same time, he hasn't had to abandon themes that would baffle or alienate many among his western audience. His new novel, for instance, describes the betrayal of the soviet revolution by Stalin.Padura is a rare case. The pressures of the advanced global market combined with the inadequacies of local markets can overwhelm the most talented of artists. After starting off as an avant-gardist, Su Tong took to writing historical romances of the kind that the most promising Chinese directors of the 1990s – Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige – now work up into blockbuster exotica. The Boat to Redemption, Su Tong's new novel and the Man Asian winner, represents a return to a less lucrative genre.Though bestsellers in Cuba, Padura's new novels are also unlikely to find as many readers in the west as his mystery fiction. But his refusal to cater to the aesthetic and ideological prejudices of a globalised audience is heartening. Perhaps, one day soon, a Chinese novelist aspiring for an international reputation will be able to steer clear of the misery of the cultural revolution or the massacre in Tiananmen Square (perennial favourites in the west). Certainly, the Man Asian prize will find its strongest justification in allowing this creative and intellectual autonomy to flourish.Pankaj Mishraguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
Philip Pullman disappointed over film prospects of His Dark Materials The author Philip Pullman has expressed his disappointment that the second two novels in his fantasy trilogy have not yet made it to the big screenThe author Philip Pullman has spoken of his disappointment over the failure of Hollywood to complete the film trilogy of his series of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials.The actor Sam Elliott, who starred in the 2007 adaptation of the first novel, Northern Lights (the film was called The Golden Compass), said earlier this week that books two and three were not being filmed due to a successful campaign by America's religious right. The Golden Compass grossed more than £230m around the world, but was less successful in America, where the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights called for a boycott on the grounds that Pullman's books introduced children to atheism.Pullman, 63, told the Western Mail: "If Sam is right then I am very disappointed because it obviously would have been very good to have seen the other two films made."Catholic League leader Bill Donahue has said he is "delighted" by the effectiveness of his religious boycott – "I knew if we could hurt the box office receipts here, it might put the brakes on the next movie."Pullman said of Donahue's triumphalism: "It's disgusting, but only the sort of behaviour I expect of these people. It's rubbish [that the Golden Compass introduces children to atheism]."He added that he was particularly disappointed because the film adaptation of Northern Lights finished about three quarters of the way into the book. "So there were a number of very important scenes that were shot and were very good, but we didn't see them in the film."Their justification was that they were going to use the scenes they'd shot, but at the start of the second film. It sort of made sense, but if what Sam Elliott says is true we won't see those scenes."The failure to complete His Dark Materials, which would have continued with The Subtle Knife and finished with The Amber Spyglass, echoes the travails of film-maker Ralph Bakshi, who completed the first film in his two-part Lord of the Rings adaptation in 1978, but failed to find funding for the sequel due to poor box office receipts. The series was later completed - in three films - by Peter Jackson.Philip PullmanChristianityReligionBen Childguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
A tour of LA's underworld Author Richard Rayner takes us on a historic tour of 1920s LA, home to the real-life mobsters, racketeers and corrupt officials that inspired a host of hardboiled writersThe streets of old Los Angeles come alive in A Bright and Guilty Place, Richard Rayner's non-fiction account of the city at its most corrupt, during the late 1920s and early 30s. The book, which is published tomorrow, borrows a wise-crack description of LA by Orson Welles for its title. It details a group of interconnected characters, some forgotten, others familiar, including attorney-turned-murderer "Debonair Dave" Clark, underworld fixer Charlie Crawford (one of Clark's victims), mobster Albert Marco, crime-scene photographer Leslie White, tycoon Edward L Doheny, and oil industry executive Raymond Chandler, who was observing LA's dark side from the sidelines, collecting material for his future career as perhaps the greatest ever writer of Angeleno crime novels.Many of the book's key locations can still be found, some in a better state of repair than others, all of them glowing in the refracted light of deeds and misdeeds past. Bradford-born Rayner, who currently lives in Santa Monica, agreed to play tour guide for us, and mapped out a fascinating route from the time-warped boulevards of downtown — LA's once bustling hub — west through Hollywood and Beverly Hills, to the ocean piers of Santa Monica and Venice. Thanks to Rayner's directions and on-site commentary, a forgotten city starts to emerge from the shadow of Tinseltown: a world where actors like Charlie Chaplin have cameos, and the real stars belong to the "LA System": City Hall, the LA Police Department, and Prohibition-era gangland.For each location, we've recommended a suitable period song.1. Hall of Justice - currently derelictRayner: "So much of the action [in A Bright and Guilty Place] happened in this building, but it's quite hard to find, because it's blotted out by the more recent Criminal Justice Center. You have to seek it out. It was this complete legal city: the towers at the top were the county jail back then, immediately below was the press floor, two floors of courts, and then the DA's office. This is where Dave Clark and Leslie White came to work every day. It was built in 1925, a time when the powers that be in LA imagined they were capable of erecting this grand 'city on the hill'. It was a real nexus of power."• 210 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA 90012Song: Guilty" by Russ Columbo (1931)2. Angels Flight Funicular Railway"As you look out from the top you can see how much of downtown still is from the 1920s. Los Angeles was the fastest-growing city in the world during that decade, and it was all centred here. A lot of the buildings are those you think of as the classic New York type of building: 10-12-storey steel structures, sheathed in brownstone and glass. Here, you get a sense that downtown back then really was this bustling business place. Raymond Chandler fetched up here in 1912, and no other writer really got at the geography and feel and sensuality of the place in the way that he did."• 351 South Hill Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013 (best approached from Grand Avenue midway between Third & Fourth)Song: California Blues by Abe Lyman's California Ambassador Hotel Orchestra (1923)3. Los Angeles Theater"This is where, in 1931, six weeks before Dave Clark shot Charlie Crawford [see 7. The Crossroads of the World], Charlie Chaplin premiered City Lights. It was a huge event, there were crowds outside mingling with the lines of the homeless across the street, and it turned into a bit of a riot. Chaplin invited Einstein, and this was the moment when, with all the crowds mobbing them, Chaplin said to Einstein, 'People cheer me because they all understand me, and they cheer you because nobody understands you.' A lot of the location work in that film was done in downtown LA." • 615 S Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90014Song: La Violetera from City Lights Original Soundtrack (1931)4. Clifton's Cafeteria - the largest public cafeteria in the world"In 1937, someone tried to blow up [cafeteria founder] Clifford Clinton, who had a motto that no one would ever be turned away: in the Depression he was giving food away. A bomb went off in his house, he survived, and the perpetrator turned out to be an LAPD Captain called Earle Kynette — go back in time to 1928 when attorney Dave Clark hit the spotlight, during the trial of a gangster, Albert Marco [see 10. Venice Pier]: Kynette was a character witness, and said Marco was an upstanding citizen, a 'peaceful man'. At a time of very corrupt policemen, Kynette was one of the most corrupt." • 648 Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90014Song: Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? by Bing Crosby (1932)5. The Bank of Italy Building - former office space, currently empty"This was the downtown headquarters of Dabney Oil, where Raymond Chandler worked between 1922 and 1932. Chandler was the vice president of the company, earning $12-14,000 a year, drinking a lot, apparently knocking off several of the secretaries. When you see the few pictures of him in the late 20s he was this suave, suited, two-car business executive. He hated working in the oil business. He was an unhappy guy even before he got laid off by Dabney in 1932. So he became a pulp fiction writer, which happened slowly: when he wrote his early pulp stories, he was in his 40s."• 505 W. 7th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90014Song: I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan by Rudy Vallee (1932)6. The Doheny Mansion"This is all symbolic of the very oldest money in Los Angeles. Owner Edward L Doheny was the richest guy in America, but in the midst of the Teapot Dome [bribery] scandal, his son Edward Doheny Jnr. and his son's chauffeur Hugh Plunkett were both shot in the head. [See 8. Greystone Mansion]. Chandler was obsessed by the Doheny family: [his fictional detective] Philip Marlowe finds himself going into houses like this one. And I know that Dave Clark came to this house — his first job was with a downtown law firm, Wellborn, Wellborn & Wellborn, Doheny's private lawyers."• 10 Chester Place, Los Angeles, CA 90007Song: I'm Sitting on Top of the World by Al Jolson (1925)7. The Crossroads of the World - former shopping mall, currently office space"This is where [underworld fixer and racketeer] Charlie Crawford had his lair. One day in May, 1931, Dave Clark, who was running for judge, came here: Crawford could certainly have delivered the judgeship for Clark if he wanted to, because he controlled rosters of voters. Clark fatally shot Crawford (as well as a journalist, Herbert Spencer, who simply happened to be there), then got into his car, perhaps accompanied by a glamorous blonde getaway driver. A bullet was removed from the wall by Leslie White, one of the DA's forensic people who was investigating the crime scene, taking photos."• 6665/6671 Sunset Boulevard, CA 90028Song: I'm Gonna Get You by Ambrose & his Orchestra (1931)8. Greystone Mansion"The biggest, darkest, unsolved LA murder mystery happened here, one night in February, 1929. There were two dead bodies on the floor: Edward Doheny Jr. and Hugh Plunkett, the chauffeur. Leslie White, who took the crime scene pictures, arrived at the conclusion that Doheny shot Plunkett, then shot himself. But the plug was pulled and the shutters came down. The splendidly named EC Fishbaugh, the Doheny family doctor, came and pronounced that Plunkett went mad, shot Doheny Jr. and then shot himself. The bodies were buried very quickly without autopsies."• 905 Loma Vista Drive, Beverly Hills CA 90210Song: He's a Good Man To Have Around by Jimmie Noone (1929)9. Santa Monica Pier"After he shot Crawford, Dave Clark drove all the way west down Sunset Boulevard, before driving downtown. The following morning he came back out here to Santa Monica Pier while he was figuring out what to do. All of this suggests, despite the fact that he bought the gun previously, his shooting of Crawford might not have been pre-meditated. He read in one of the evening papers, right here on the pier, that he had been identified as the shooter. By the time he got to the Hall of Justice, about 30 hours after the shootings, there were scores of press men waiting for him."• Santa Monica, CA 90401Song: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by Cab Calloway (1932) 10. Venice Pier"At one time, Venice Pier had a famous restaurant called the Ship Café. People would drive there to get the bootleg booze. There was a guy who had come down from Seattle with Charlie Crawford, whose name was Albert Marco, aka Marco Albori, a full-on Italian gangster thug. One night in 1928, there was a fight at the Ship Cafe. Marco shot a guy, and was arrested. The case was given to Dave Clark, who secured a conviction: Marco was sent to San Quentin against all the odds. Clark was the crusading hero, but this is the moment when he started to get involved with bad dudes."• Washington Blvd & Ocean Front Walk, Venice, CA 90291Song: Let's Misbehave" by Irving Aaronson & His Commanders (1928)• A Bright and Guilty Place is available in paperback on 7 JanuaryLos AngelesUnited StatesCrime booksMike Hodgkinsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
Troy Story A novel exploring the encounter from the “Iliad” between King Priam of Troy and his bitter enemy Achilles. feeds.nytimes.com |