The Pickup

South African Literature Overload?

My apologies for the late post; I just returned from a concert on the Quad featuring Samite, an African musician forced to flee Uganda in the mid-80's.  Samite eventually relocated to Ithaca, NY and did not return to his homeland until fifteen years later while filming a PBS documentary titled "Song of the Refugee".  The concert  was spectacular and is fitting for my mood lately.  I have been engrossed in literature on Africa: Vanity Fair Africa Issue; The Pickup; a second novel by Gordimer, "July's People"; and most recently, "Disgrace" by J.M. Coetzee (a novel set in South Africa about an older academic, disgraced by an illicit affair, who retreats to his daughter's farm).

I really hope I don't burnout on South African literature but for the time being I am really enjoying these novels.  "July's People" is particularly interesting as it takes  place in South Africa during the Apartheid.  The novel centers on a white family who flees their home to a remote village with the aid of their black, African servant, July (interesting note: Gordimer uses the same writing style in July's People as is found in The Pickup!).

Well, I'm off for now and will be posting only periodically for the next two weeks; I will be on holiday in France and the Netherlands, sans children!

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

Our author is literally everywhere these days.  The May 21st issue of The New Yorker magazine reminds us that Nadine Gordimer "a Nobel laureate, has a short-story collection, "Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black," coming out in November."  Her story, "A Beneficiary" appeared in that issue and is currently available to be read online from their web site.  While you are there, check out their new 10-second cartoon animations.

Ms. Gordimer also has a story included on the National Public Radio Selected Shorts three-CD compilation, Travel Tales.  Click here to listen to the beginning of "The Ultimate Safari."

She also shows up in an NPR piece from April 24th, Music and History with Vusi Mahlasela. Listen to the interview and hear some great new music from Africa. In the segment, Gordimer is quoted, saying that this South African musician "sings as a bird does in total response to being alive."  (With your Cornell NetID you can read the transcript of this segment on Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, one of the thousands of databases available through the Cornell University Library Gateway.)

In other news, it is snowing in South Africa this week.  And just in case you hadn't heard, that new reading device, the Apple IPhone, goes on sale tomorrow.

In the News

The July 2007 issue of Vanity Fair magazine is a special issue on Africa. Included there is an article that surveys African literature and offers profiles of 19 writers, including our author, Nadine Gordimer, who is referred to as a "literary giant."  As is Chinua Achebe.

Elissa Schappell and Rob Spillman write:

"With her long-cool-drink-of-water demeanor and serious street cred, Nadine Gordimer, a founding member of the once banned African National Congress and "the conscience of South Africa," earns the title of Grande Dame of South African Literature.  For more than a  half a century, her short stories and epic novels have articulated the real-life ramifications of apartheid in the lives of ordinary men and women. A master of employing multiple viewpoints--often those of the oppressed--she also has the chops to authentically paint the psychological nuances of apartheid's supporters, revealing the panoramic range of human experience under repression. Despite Gordimer's international fame, her novels Burger's Daughter and July's People were once banned in her own country.  Ironically, when Gordimer received the Nobel Prize, in 1991, Nelson Mandela still did not have the right to vote."

The Africa issue is guest-edited by Bono.  Check out the online slideshow of the 20 different versions of the cover. You may want to add this magazine to your summer reading list. There are many great articles on topics and issues found in The Pickup.

How many books have you read this year?

Our author, Nadine Gordimer, has been in the news lately.  Not for her writing, but rather because of her reading. A May article from The Independent discusses some of her recent activities.

“Nadine Gordimer has been doing some re-reading lately. Since last November, when the 83-year-old Nobel laureate first convened with Colm Tóibín and Elaine Showalter, her fellow judges on the second Man Booker International Prize committee, she has read through a small library of work by the 15 finalists, from Don DeLillo and Doris Lessing to Carlos Fuentes and Alice Munro..."I made a plan to read, say, the first two books by each author, one a bit further on, and then the book I thought was the work," says Gordimer of her judging strategy.”

That’s approximately 60 books that she has just read! 

By the way, the winner of the 2007 Man Booker International Prize was the Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe.  We read his best known book, Things Fall Apart, for the 2005 New Student Reading Project.  To the left are Ion Trewin (Man Booker International Prize Administrator), Elaine Showalter (Chair of Judges), Nadine Gordimer, Colm Toibin.

Summer Reading – Everyone Is Doing It!

According to U.S. News and World Report, “a growing number of universities are dishing out summer reading assignments to their first year students…The themes of books chosen for such programs generally parallel issues students confront daily in news and popular culture, such as the Middle East, the environment, poverty, and social justice.”  Click here to read the entire article.

Two universities worth mentioning (besides Cornell, of course) are the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California Berkley.  Penn offers one of the longest running student reading projects – 2007 marks the17^th year of the Penn Reading Project.  Over the years, they have chosen an eclectic bunch of titles. Click here to read about Penn's 2007 book selection.

UC Berkley’s program, On The Same Page, is unique.  Although the university does choose one book for all students to read, the book is chosen as part of a specific theme.  This year’s book, Lincoln at Gettysburg by Gary Willis, is based on the theme of survival.  UC Berkley faculty then provide recommendations of other compelling books on the subject. 

So, after reading about the book choices at other universities, what are your thoughts on Cornell’s choice?

Wendy

Reading Project Blog

Welcome to the first post of the Cornell University New Student Reading Project blog.

As we read The Pickup along with you this summer, we will be posting our thoughts and reactions to the book and related topics here on an almost daily basis, which means that starting on Monday, June 25^th, we will be here Monday through Friday over the next 8 weeks or so co-authoring these discussions. 

We look forward to hearing from all readers--new students, all students, alumni, small group discussion facilitators, and all others participating in this year’s Reading Project.

Your comments to this blog are moderated and will be posted by us if they are on-topic and not abusive. They may also be edited for length and clarity.

To our New Students: Your copy of the Cornell edition of Nadine Gordimer’s The Pickup should be arriving in the mail very soon.  The Cornell chapter of your life begins with the turning of a page.

Enjoy your summer reading.

Wendy and Lance