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    Tag: Immigration

    No human being ever believed she was the right person in the right place

    Dear Charlotte, A Struggle for Fame (1883) explores the way social judgements based on nationality, class, and gender give shape to one’s identity and one’s opportunities in…… Read more “No human being ever believed she was the right person in the right place”

    14 de April de 202010 de December de 2020 by juliana

    The alphabet of my childhood

    Dear Hella, Running just beneath the nostalgic waters of The Black Lake (tr. Ina Rilke, 2012. Original: Oeroeg, 1948), there is a disturbing current of tainted innocence: at…… Read more “The alphabet of my childhood”

    20 de December de 201920 de December de 2019 by juliana

    It was a family of women buccaneers

    Dear Gladys, The Matriarch (1924) is a family saga told in a fragmented way, weaving together vignettes, sketches and anecdotes that read like a series of family…… Read more “It was a family of women buccaneers”

    24 de August de 201824 de August de 2018 by juliana

    My spirit rose to meet this challenge

    Dear Jamaica, The Autobiography of My Mother (1996) is an exploration of the self as other – and back. The book is centred on Xuela Claudette Richardson,…… Read more “My spirit rose to meet this challenge”

    22 de February de 201811 de December de 2018 by juliana

    The sky was red and all my life was in it.

    Dear Jean, In your novel Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), you seem to be holding up a distorting mirror to Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847): if we look…… Read more “The sky was red and all my life was in it.”

    19 de January de 201820 de March de 2018 by juliana

    Look at the colour of it

    Dear Ali, It takes us only a few paragraphs of Autumn (2016) to recognize your characteristic marks: experimental writing; a collage of literary references; a narrative propelled…… Read more “Look at the colour of it”

    6 de October de 201726 de January de 2018 by juliana

    The girl is a peasant warrior

    Dear Xiaolu, Your book Nine Continents (2017, also published in the UK with the title Once Upon A Time in the East: A Story of Growing up) is…… Read more “The girl is a peasant warrior”

    14 de September de 2017 by juliana

    From now on I shall only wear white,

    Dear Nuala, Sometimes I feel that your novel Miss Emily (2015) is haunted by the ghost of something – a bird? – it distractedly let slip out of…… Read more “From now on I shall only wear white,”

    10 de March de 201711 de March de 2017 by juliana

    Everyone was fleeing and everything was temporary

    Dear Anna, Do you know this feeling we have when something terrible happens in a dream and we must scream or run, but we find ourselves suddenly…… Read more “Everyone was fleeing and everything was temporary”

    1 de December de 20161 de December de 2016 by juliana

    They didn’t dare before; now they do, that’s all

    Dear Anna, I was halfway through Manja (tr. Kate Phillips, 2003. Manja: Ein Roman um 5 Kinder, 1938) this past week, when your book acquired a new…… Read more “They didn’t dare before; now they do, that’s all”

    13 de November de 201613 de November de 2016 by juliana

    There you go again, narrating through a prism of pain

    Dear Tatiana, Your novel The House in Smyrna (tr. Alison Entrekin, 2015; originally published in Portuguese in 2007) was a puzzling read for me. And not a confortable…… Read more “There you go again, narrating through a prism of pain”

    10 de August de 201616 de October de 2018 by juliana

    wade/ through black jade/of the crow-blue mussel-shells

    Dear Adriana, As in your previous books, Crow Blue (2013, tr. Alison Entrekin, originally published in Portuguese in 2010) also depicts  a journey, through which the protagonists -…… Read more “wade/ through black jade/of the crow-blue mussel-shells”

    5 de August de 201616 de October de 2018 by juliana

    Beware against the sweet person, for sugar has no nutrition

    Dear Anne, I was unsure whether I should read Vinegar Girl (2016), the latest book in the Hogarth Shakespeare series. “The Taming of the Shrew” is a…… Read more “Beware against the sweet person, for sugar has no nutrition”

    21 de July de 20163 de April de 2017 by juliana

    The line of light marking the bottom of the locked door

    Dear Lori, Your short-story collection The Bigness of the World (2009, 2016) followed me throughout a very pleasant trip by bike I made last May.  I confess it…… Read more “The line of light marking the bottom of the locked door”

    1 de June de 201610 de August de 2016 by juliana

    Questions of displacement

    Dear Elizabeth, This is just a quick note to let you know that I read a posthumous collection of your poems (The Complete Poems, 1927-1979) earlier this…… Read more “Questions of displacement”

    24 de February de 20168 de November de 2018 by juliana

    summer rains / trace of a poem card/ torn off the wall

    Dear Adriana, Your novel Hut of Fallen Persimmons (2011, tr. Sarah Green. Original title Rakushisha, 2007) caught my attention from its title and its starting point. Mukai Kioray (1651…… Read more “summer rains / trace of a poem card/ torn off the wall”

    20 de August de 201510 de August de 2016 by juliana

    I don’t scream. I’ve thrown my mouth away.

    Dear Aglaja, It breaks my heart to know that your debut novel, Why the Child is Cooking in the Polenta (Warum das Kind in der Polenta kocht), is a semi-autobiographical…… Read more “I don’t scream. I’ve thrown my mouth away.”

    5 de August de 201510 de August de 2016 by juliana

    The words we speak leave small bruises on the skin,

    Dear Hiromi, Your book draws a lot on inter-generational conflict and cultural assimilation. Chorus of Mushrooms centers around  the lives of three generations of women in a Japanese…… Read more “The words we speak leave small bruises on the skin,”

    9 de July de 201510 de August de 2016 by juliana

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