This Yale College course, taught on campus twice per week for 50 minutes, was recorded for Open Yale Courses in Spring 2008. Course Materials Video and audio elements from this course are also available on: About Professor Amy Hungerford Amy Hungerford is Professor of English at Yale. She specializes in 20th- and 21st-century American literature, especially the period since 1945. She is a founder of Post•45, a collective of leading scholars in the field; Post•45 is developing a web journal based at Yale. Professor Hungerford is author of The Holocaust of Texts: Genocide, Literature, and Personification, (Chicago, 2003); her second book, Postmodern Belief: American Literature and Religion Since 1960 is forthcoming in 2009 (20/21 Series, Princeton UP). Her next project is The Cambridge Introduction to the American Novel Since 1945 . She serves as an editor at the journal Contemporary Literature. Professor Amy Hungerford, Professor of English Description In "The American Novel Since 1945" students will study a wide range of works from 1945 to the present. The course traces the formal and thematic developments of the novel in this period, focusing on the relationship between writers and readers, the conditions of publishing, innovations in the novel's form, fiction's engagement with history, and the changing place of literature in American culture. The reading list includes works by Richard Wright, Flannery O'Connor, Vladimir Nabokov, Jack Kerouac, J. D. Salinger, Thomas Pynchon, John Barth, Maxine Hong Kingston, Toni Morrison, Marilynne Robinson, Cormac McCarthy, Philip Roth and Edward P. Jones. The course concludes with a contemporary novel chosen by the students in the class. Texts Richard Wright, Black Boy (American Hunger) (Harper Perennial Restored edition, 1993) 1945 Flannery O'Connor, Wise Blood (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) 1949 Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (Vintage) 1955 Jack Kerouac, On the Road (Penguin) 1957 J.D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey (Little, Brown) 1961 John Barth, Lost in the Funhouse (Anchor) 1963-68 (selections) Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49 (HarperCollins) 1967 Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (Knopf) 1970 Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior (Vintage) 1976 (selections) Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping (Picador) 1980 Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian (Vintage) 1985 Philip Roth, The Human Stain (Houghton Mifflin) 2000 Edward P. Jones, The Known World (Amistad) 2003 Students' Choice Novel for Spring, 2008: Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated (Houghton-Mifflin) 2002 Requirements Students must complete the readings, explore archival material on the web for selected authors and attend all lectures. Students must enroll in a section in order to take the course; attendance at section will not only enhance the intellectual benefit and pleasure of the course (and will fill out 5% of your grade) but will also help you in preparing the papers. Your papers and exams will be graded by your TF. 1. Two graded papers: each a literary analysis of a single text, minimum 5 pages, maximum 8 pages. 2. Final exam: will cover the whole semester; identifications, passage readings, and one essay. The papers, lectures and section discussions, if pursued with energy and attended regularly, should prepare you well for the exam. Grading Paper 1: 30% Paper 2: 30% Final exam: 35% Discussion section attendance and participation: 5% Sessions Lecture 1 Lecture 2 Lecture 3 Lecture 4 Lecture 5 Lecture 6 Lecture 7 Lecture 8 Lecture 9 Lecture 10 Lecture 11 Lecture 12 Lecture 13 Lecture 14 Lecture 15 Lecture 16 Lecture 17 Lecture 18 Lecture 19 Lecture 20 Lecture 21 Lecture 22 Lecture 23 Lecture 24 Lecture 25 Lecture 26 Exam 1 Survey Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts about this course through the survey linked below. We also invite you to provide general feedback about Open Yale Courses by visiting the Feedback area of the site. Take the survey Join a Study Group Through a pilot arrangement with Open Yale Courses, OpenStudy offers tools to participate in online study groups for a selection of Open Yale Courses, including ENGL 291. If you wish to participate in one of these study groups, you will need to register for a free account with OpenStudy. View study group Course Books and Other Related Titles Yale University Press offers a 10% discount on the books used in ENGL 291 that it publishes, as well as on other related titles. A portion of the proceeds from your purchases will be donated for the ongoing support and development of the Open Yale Courses program. View the catalog for this course

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. Author Azar Nafisi has a gift for using literature for her own purposes in her best-selling memoir "Reading Lolita In Tehran" it's a key - the path to internal liberation in the midst of an oppressive revolutionary Iran. In her new book, "The Republic Of Imagination: America In Three Books, " literature becomes a map of American culture, society, and the disparate elements that make up the adopted home she loves. The three books that guide her are Mark Twain's "Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, " "Babbitt" by Sinclair Lewis and "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers. She told us she was drawn to these three books because together they're a kind of American conscience. AZAR NAFISI: As I was working for this book, I realized how much works of American fiction are almost like the moral guardians of the American reality - how much they remind us of the other aspect of the American dream. I see two contradictory aspects to this dream. One is the materialistic, crass one - it's a dog eat dog world. We each are after our own interests. And the other is the idealistic one where if you have a passion, you go after your passion, which is Huck Finn. He rejects any form of success, including money, you know. And then I realized that for me, Huck Finn becomes sort of literary Declaration of Independence. And the Mark Twain - maybe not consciously - he described what is the ideal of American - the homeless, restless American that is always looking to new horizons and thinks with his heart. And so Huck Finn came, you know, became my main character. And then I thought, OK, it seems to me that many of the great American novels became Huck Finn's progenies. As if these characters started walking out of "Huckleberry Finn" and populated landscape of American fiction.

FluentU is perfect for learning from difficult videos like movie trailers. FluentU has great videos for learning English in one convenient place. It also provides a video player designed for learning English. When you review vocab, you do it with video clips. And FluentU remembers your progress and uses it to recommend videos to you. Below are a couple of must-watch movies to help you become more fluent in English…and not to mention a movie buff (movie expert) too! 1. “The Social Network” (2010) Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake, Andrew Garfield. Story: Want to know the history behind the invention of Facebook? This story tells the story of the young Mark Zuckerberg, a geeky Harvard student, who wants to revolutionize the way we communicate with other people. The story shows how Zuckerberg accidentally finds fame and becomes a multi-millionaire – but there is a price. Many of his old friends and people he’s connected with over the years want him to fail. Mark Zuckerberg shows us he’s got everything in terms of material things but very little in terms of friends. Mark Zuckerberg finds himself in court a number of times and the movie questions whether it was really Mark Zuckerberg or not who first created the world’s largest social network, Facebook. Why it’s a great movie for learning English: This is an award winning movie written by Aaron Sorkin. He’s famous for his natural dialogue and funny lines, which makes this movie really enjoyable to watch and of course it’s easy to follow too. Also, almost everyone understands and knows Facebook and you will automatically be able to relate to the movie and not to mention, you’ll also be able to pick up a lot of great English vocabulary related to computers, technology and social networks. Favorite quote: “I invented Facebook!” 2. “The Hangover” (2009) Starring: Ed Helms, Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifiankis. Story: Four male friends go to Las Vegas for a bachelor party a couple of days before their friend’s wedding. It follows their wild adventures and how they find themselves in a lot of trouble. They find themselves in so much trouble, it’s unsure whether they are going to make it back in time for the wedding or not. Why it’s a great movie for learning English: First of all it’s hilarious (really funny) and it keeps us interested throughout the movie. Because it’s a comedy and we rely a lot on the visuals to understand, it makes it a lot easier to understand the dialogue between the characters. All of the characters in “The Hangover” use everyday English, which makes this movie an awesome way of learning modern American slang which will help you fit into everyday life if you’re planning on moving to the United States. You’ll hear common phrases such as “stag party” (bachelor party) and “all-nighter” (staying up all night without sleep). Favorite quote: “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” 3. “The Hunger Games” (2012) Starring: Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth. Story: This story is set in the future and set in a futuristic nation called Panem. Every year there are two people who are chosen to represent their district in the Hunger Games fight. Those who are chosen are done so by a lottery system. This follows the story of Katniss, a 16-year-old girl, from District 12. It shows her intense training and then how she is suddenly thrown into the fight to represent her area in the 74th annual hunger games. Why it’s a great movie for learning English: This is a very visual movie and what you miss in the dialogue, you’ll be able to be filled in by the visual action. While the actions are fast, the language is relatively easy to understand unlike other sci-fi and futuristic movies which use complex terms. The accent is a clean North American one so you’ll have no problem understand what the characters say. The characters don’t speak too fast and it’s fairly easy to understand what’s going on. It’s also an action-filled movie and has an interesting plot, which makes it even better. This movie has something for everyone as it cleverly includes action, romance, comedy and the future all in one movie. Favorite quote: “Here’s some advice, stay alive!” 4. “Toy Story” (1995) Starring: Tim Allen and Tom Hanks. Story: This is an animated (cartoon) movie that follows a young boy called Andy. Andy loves playing in his room with his toys. He especially loves to play with his action figure called Woody. When Andy disappears, the toys come to life. Andy’s mom gives him a new toy for his birthday which is called Buzz Lightyear, which becomes Andy’s new favorite toy to play with. Woody feels hurt and is jealous of the attention Andy gives his new toy and as a result he tries to get rid of him. However, as the two toys begin to fight they get lost. This story follows their adventure and is full of action and a lot of laughs. Why it’s a good movie to learn English: Animation movies such as “Toy Story” are usually written for and aimed at a younger audience which means the story and vocabulary used is not complicated. Even though the movie is mainly for kids, it doesn’t feel like it. The director made it attractive for adults too, by including a little bit of adult humor in it. Favorite quote: “Woody to Buzz Lightyear: This town ain’t big enough for the two of us.” 5. “Cast Away” (2000) Starring: Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt and Chris North. Story: This is an American adventure drama that follows Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks), a systems analyst, who has to travel around the world fixing problems at Fedex centers. Chuck is called up at Christmas time to go to Malaysia on business and is forced to leave his girlfriend Kelly (Helen Hunt) behind. His plane hits a terrible storm and it crashes somewhere into the Pacific Ocean. Chuck manages to escape the crashed plane and holds on to a life raft in the cold sea. Eventually he washes up onto a deserted island the next day. The story follows Chuck and his survival on the island and focuses on a ball he calls Wilson. Every day Chuck talks with the ball (Wilson) to fight his loneliness. Four years later Chuck is still on the island and is fishing off a man-made raft he made with Wilson. Wilson falls into the sea and cannot be rescued leaving Chuck feeling lonely and lost again until he’s rescued by a passing cargo ship. Chuck is taken back home, however, four years later everything has changed and it’s no longer the life he once knew. Why this is a great movie for learning English: Most of the dialogue in this movie is a monologue (one person speaking). There are no complicated relationships or turnovers between different characters which makes this movie very easy to follow. Tom Hanks is also known for his clear and slow voice, which is perfect for any English learner to understand.

Are given annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values. The award commemorates the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and honors his wife, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace and world brotherhood. 2016 Author Award Winner The 2016 Coretta Scott King Book Awards Author Winner is given to Rita Williams-Garcia, author of “Gone Crazy in Alabama.” “Gone Crazy in Alabama, ” published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, is the final book in Williams-Garcia’s trilogy about the Gaither sisters. She blends cultural and family history in a vivid, readable way, laced with humor. Each sister is a distinct individual, growing, changing, and helping to change the perspectives of their elders. Rita Williams-Garcia is the author of several award-winning books for young people, including the 2014 Coretta Scott King Book Award for “P.S. Be Eleven” and “One Crazy Summer, ” recipient of the 2011 Coretta Scott King Book Award and Newbery Honor title. Williams-Garcia is also the recipient of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction. She lives in Jamaica, N.Y., and is on the faculty of the Vermont College of Fine Arts’ Writing for Children and Young Adults Program. “Rita Williams-Garcia has written a convincing, often humorous portrayal of three young sisters from Brooklyn spending the summer in the South, living and learning in the bosom of a complicated but loving multigenerational family, ” said Coretta Scott King Book Awards Jury Chair Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop. 2016 Illustrator Award Winner The 2016 Coretta Scott King Book Awards Illustrator Winner is given to Bryan Collier, illustrator of “Trombone Shorty." In “Trombone Shorty, ” written by Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews and Bill Taylor, and published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMS, Collier creates vibrant, bold color collages and realistic images that portray the musical growth of a young boy in the jazz tradition of the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans. “Collier’s illustrations beautifully capture important events in Andrews’s life, as well as the spirit of his beloved city and the music that is at the heart of both New Orleans and Trombone Shorty, ” said Bishop. Bryan Collier is the illustrator of over 25 picture books and the recipient of multiple awards, including the Coretta Scott King Book Award, Caldecott Honor, and Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Award. He lives with his family in upstate New York, where he creates illustrations and visits classrooms to share his books and art. 2016 John Steptoe Award for New Talent The Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent affirms new talent and offers visibility for excellence in writing and/or illustration at the beginning of a career as a published African American creator of children’s books. This year’s winners are Ronald L. Smith, author of “Hoodoo, ” published by Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company; and Ekua Holmes, illustrator of “Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, ” written by Carole Boston Weatherford and published by Candlewick Press. “Hoodoo” is the rich, atmospheric tale of a boy trying to ward off an evil spirit in 1930s small-town Alabama. When the foreboding Stranger comes to town, Hoodoo Hatcher must use the folk magic passed down in his extended family to save the day. “Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement” is a powerful biography of the heroic Civil Rights leader. Told with inspiring poetry and vivid images, Hamer’s humanity shines through in this impressive collection.

Pakistani author Intizar Hussain, one of the greatest Urdu writers in history, died on February 2, 2016, aged 92, in Lahore. The prolific author was known for his novels, short stories, columns and poetry and belatedly saw worldwide recognition when he wasand was awarded France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres a year later. Born on December 7, 1923, in Dibai, India. Hussain said that as a child he was inspired by reading a copy of Arabian Nights that his girl cousins and sisters kept hidden. He migrated to the newly formed Pakistan in 1947 – an experience he wrote about 50 years later in The First Morning. The story captured the horror and optimism that accompanied the partition of India where an estimated 14 million people were displaced. The history of Pakistan and the subcontinent was also the setting for his acclaimed novel Basti, published in 1979 and later translated into English. Asked once whether he preferred the short story to other forms, Hussain replied: "The tradition of the Progressives in the 1930s and 1940s made it easier to get short stories published. We could do it in literary magazines. Finding a publisher with a longer novel was usually very difficult, so while I have written many novels, the short story was the form I found very useful and turned to frequently." Naya Gar (The New House) paints a picture of Pakistan during the ten-year dictatorship of General Zia-ul-Haq. Agay Sumandar Hai (Beyond is the Sea) contrasts the spiralling urban violence of contemporary Karachi with a vision of the lost Islamic realm of al-Andalus, in modern Spain. He was also a regular literary columnist for Pakistan's leading English-language daily Dawn, and in later years became known as a voice of moderation and advocate of what he saw as the subcontinent's ancient traditions of pluralism and tolerance. Fellow Urdu writer Munnu Bhai told AFP: "Intizar Hussain was a man of letters. His death has left a huge gap in the literary circle of the subcontinent that would be felt of the centuries to come."

I believe the idea originated from our managing editor Mercer Baggs. But not even his imagination could so dutifully or beautifully construct what turned out to be the greatest week of my professional life. Baggs' idea was this: As a way to further generate attention during Open Championship week, and as a way to provide original, feature content to supplement news coverage, GolfChannel.com would send me to the 144th Open Championship at St. Andrews to cover the action going on outside the ropes. So away I went, to cover my first major championship. I – as one member of a team that included three other writers – arrived to St. Andrews first. To help out with the news coverage before the other writers arrived, I sat in on the news conference Monday afternoon where Dustin Johnson spoke for the first time about what transpired at Chambers Bay. He maintained what was in the past was in the past. I believed him, and in his chances of winning the Open. On Monday night, I set out at 9 p.m. (yes, you read that correctly) and walked all 18 holes of the Old Course, examining the eyelines from the tee boxes and the nuances of the greens. My 18 hole expedition concluded at 10:30 p.m., just as the last of the sunset vanished on July 13th. On Tuesday, my assignment was to eat and drink my way around St. Andrews. I repeat: My boss told me to eat and drink all day , to take photos and document it, then come back and write about it for the website. I ran into Chris Como at the Jigger Inn and ate a fish sandwich the size of my face, among various other highlights. On Friday night, when Tom Watson played his 38th and final Open, I sat in the press center afterward, listening to the eight-time major champion speak of the joy and happiness he felt as he walked across the Swilcan Bridge, competitively, one final time. And on Monday, when it seemed the impossible was entirely possible ... that Jordan Spieth was going to win the Open, I was there. Ultimately, his bid to win his third consecutive major came up inches short, and when it did, I was in the press tent filing blogs and helping cover the news. The biggest "party" of my week thus far - truly in the thick of things as a reporter at a major championship.

11/5/15 The shortlist for the Authors Club Best First Novel Award 2015 is as follows: The Letter Bearer by Robert Allison (Granta) A Song for Issy Bradley by Carys Bray (Hutchinson) The Fair Fight by Anna Freeman (Weidenfeld) Ishmael’s Oranges by Claire Hajaj (Oneworld) Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey (Penguin) The Restoration of Otto Laird by Nigel Packer (Sphere) The chair of judges, Suzi Feay, comments: ‘When reducing the longlist to the shortlist, we have only one criterion in mind: literary quality. As the shortlist is then handed over to a guest adjudicator to make the final choice, we have to make sure that every one of our selections is a potential winner. This year’s list includes one novel, Elizabeth Is Missing, that has already been an immense success, but the others are no less worthy of a huge readership. From the deserts of North Africa in World War Two to the bloody world of 18th century prize-fighting, from the decaying dreams of an ageing modernist architect to the compulsions and convictions of a woman with dementia, from a forbidden love affair set against the background of the Middle East, to the sweet/sour account of life in a Lancashire Mormon family, all these novels are compulsively readable, the work of six born storytellers.’ The winner will be announced – and the £2, 500 prize awarded – by this year’s guest adjudicator, the novelist and memoirist Susie Boyt, at a reception at the National Liberal Club on Wednesday 17 June. ___________________________________________ Best First Novel Award 2015 Long List Announced 25/4/15 We are delighted to announce the long list for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award 2015. The 12 books were selected from a record number of more than 60 submissions by a panel of Club members after intense and wide-ranging debate. The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton (Picador) Academy Street by Mary Costello (Canongate) The Spring of Kasper Meier by Ben Fergusson (Little, Brown) Ishmael’s Oranges by Claire Hajj (Oneworld) The Dynamite Room by Jason Hewitt (Simon & Schuster) In the Light of What We Know by Zia Haider Rahman (Picador) Acts of Omission by Terry Stiastny (John Murray) The shortlist will be made public in May, and the shorted authors will read from their work at Foyles bookshop, 107 Charing Cross Road, London, WC2H 0DT, on Wednesday 27 May. The winner will be announced – and the £2, 500 prize awarded – by this year’s guest adjudicator, the writer Susie Boyt, at a reception on Wednesday 17 June at the National Liberal Club in London. ______________________ 3.6.14 Shortlisted authors (from left) Gavin Extence, Jack Wolf, Kevin Maher, Anthea Nicholson and Lucy Cruickshanks The Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award has been won by Jack Wolf for his astonishing debut The Tale of Raw Head and Bloody Bones. The prize was adjudicated by the novelist Isabel Wolff, who announced the winner and presented the cheque for £2, 500 at a reception at the National Liberal Club in London on Tuesday 3 June. “It was a privilege to be asked to judge this prestigious award, ” said Isabel Wolff, “and a great pleasure to read the six shortlisted titles: Lucy Cruickshanks’ searing portrayal of post-war Vietnam in The Trader of Saigon; Gavin Extence’s touching coming of age story The Universe Versus Alex Woods; Kevin Maher’s exhilaratingly funny, dark, tale of growing up in rural Ireland, The Fields; Eimear McBride’s extraordinary, transfiguring A Girl is a Half Formed Thing; and The Banner of the Passing Cloud, Anthea Nicholson’s beautifully written novel about life in post-Stalin Georgia. “But in the end it was Jack Wolf’s astonishing debut that really stood out. The Tale of Raw Head and Bloody Bones is an extraordinary novel that explores the 18th-century tension between reason and emotion, science and superstition, in an absolutely masterful way. It’s both thrillingly erudite and infectiously entertaining, completely compelling and morally unsettling. The voice never falters, and the execution is masterful. What a marvellous book – a tour de force.” Jack Wolf added: “I was thrilled to win the Authors Club Best First Novel Award last night, and to hear my work praised so highly by Isabel Wolff. The award is a tremendously affirming and encouraging prize to win, as the way in which novels are long and shortlisted is entirely transparent and reflective of both novelistic excellence and readers’ enjoyment. I now can’t wait to read the other shortlisted novels.” ___________________________ We are delighted to announce the shortlist for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award 2014. The six books were selected by a panel of Club members after intense and wide-ranging debate.

The twentieth century saw an unmatched period of artistic accomplishment in Latin America. Though it is nearly impossible to choose only a few writers to highlight, the following Latin American authors must be noted for their contributions to the richness of modern literature and poetry. In the early portion of the 1900s, poets like Gabriela Mistral, Pablo Neruda and César Vallejo, as well as Cuban novelist Alejo Carpentier, and Argentine prose writer Jorge Luis Borges laid the foundation for the Latin American Boom. The Latin American Boom was a period of literary flourishing in the 1960s and 70s that brought much of the area’s literature to an international audience. Famous Boom authors include Julio Cortázar, Carlos Fuentes, Octavio Paz, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Gabriel García Márquez. To get a sense of the puissance of 20th century Latin American writers, it should be mentioned that of the ten figures mentioned above, half (García Márquez, Mistral, Vargas Llosa, Paz, and Neruda) have won the Nobel Prize. They are among the fortunate international authors who no doubt signify legions of worthy Latin Americans waiting for an audience. Here we explore a selection of authors whose works contribute to the robust Latin American canon. Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Borges was a precocious writer. He published his first work, a translation of Oscar Wilde's "The Happy Prince, " at age 7. However, Jorge Luis Borges, the classic writer, did not surface until his late thirties. Always afflicted with poor eyesight, Borges fell down a staircase and sustained a severe head injury. It was during his recovery that he turned his attention to his writing abilities, and in an attempt to prove he could still, or at all, write, he began a story which was to become "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius." Borges was a learned reader, sometimes startlingly so. He first read Don Quixote in an English translation; he admired Walt Whitman; and he was drawn to the many classical writers of England, North America, and Europe. He had a taste for Poe, and especially Kafka, whom he deliberately emulated. His short stories frequently present his reader with a dizzying array of libraries, labyrinths, and mirrors. Ana Maria Barrenchea, in an expertly brief description of Borges, said that he "is an admirable writer pledged to destroy reality and convert man into a shadow.” Alejo Carpentier (1904-1980) Alejo Carpentier’s great stylistic contribution to Latin American literature was his magical realism, called lo real maravilloso, which reflects the fantastic, and often otherworldly, properties of Latin American life. As the likes of García Márquez and Neruda have expressed (see below), their real-life world of revolution and upheaval has created an audience that embraces the extreme as never too far from the truth. Carpentier was musically inclined and was drawn to Afro-Cuban culture. His novel The Kingdom of this World depicts the Haitian uprising in which African slaves rebel against their French colonial rulers. Carpentier’s work not only provided the Boom authors with stylistic inspiration, but his life of exile and arrests offered a model for the Latin American artist’s dedicated political activism. Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) Few Latin American authors have had the luxury to ignore politics. Neruda was an outspoken voice in Latin American world politics, a move which allowed him, in some ways, to alienate everyone. He controversially favored Joseph Stalin and had his library ransacked and desecrated by the ruling Chilean regime. He depended on the kindness of supporters across Latin America to escape. Talk to any of his devoted readers, and you’re sure to find something about his politics that they both admire and condemn.

Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels, An English-Language Selection, 1946-1987 is a nonfiction book written by David Pringle, published by Grafton Books in 1988 in the United Kingdom and the following year by Peter Bedrick Books in the United States. The foreword is by Brian W. Aldiss. Primarily the book comprises 100 short essays on the selected works, covered in order of publication, without any ranking. It is considered an important critical summary of the field of modern fantasy literature. Modern Fantasy followed Pringle's, published by Xanadu in 1985. In the introduction he commends the nearly simultaneous "rival" followup by Xanadu: Stephen Jones and Kim Newman, Horror: The 100 Best Books (Xanadu, 1988). In fact Xanadu had followed with at least three more books in its 100 Best series: Crime and Mystery in 1987, both Horror and Fantasy in 1988. Xanadu had commissioned Michael Moorcock to write Fantasy but the project had been turned over to James Cawthorn when it became "clear that I would not be able to deliver it for a long time". Modern Fantasy [edit] Pringle says in the introduction, rebutting one academic complaint about the sprawling scope of fantasy, "But it seems to me that fantasy is an indiscriminate form. We may even view it as the primal genre, essentially formless, a swamp which has served as the breeding ground for all other popular fiction genres ... Up to the eighteenth century, almost all narrative fictions, both verse and prose, were fantastic to a greater or lesser degree." In the introduction to the earlier book, he had distinguished "Supernatural Horror" and "Heroic fantasy" as the other important divisions of fantastic fiction beside science fiction. They may be represented by and, featuring "the irruption of some supernatural force into the everyday world" and "set in completely imaginary worlds" respectively. Here he adds "the Fabulation, or absurdist metafiction—stories which are set in the real world, but which distort that world in ways other than the supernaturally horrific." He names Thomas Pynchon, Angela Carter, John Crowley, and Geoff Ryman as authors of fabulations included in his hundred. While covering no foreign-language fantasies and few children's or 'light' fantasies, "I have tried to make a balanced list, and in so doing I have included some books which are not really to my taste—they may well be other people's favourites, though. In truth, there are not a hundred masterpieces of modern fantasy, any more than there a hundred masterpieces of science fiction." "[A]t least some of the novels I have selected are masterpieces of modern literature, full of beauty and wonder. The others are craftsmanlike entertainments which I happily commend to you for your enjoyment." References [edit] Jack Merry, Fantasy Reference Works: An omnibus review. Green Man Review (no date). Confirmed 2011-07-18. Reference Guide to Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, Michael Burgess, Lisa R. Bartle, Libraries Unlimited, 2002, p. 88 The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, John Clute and John Grant, Orbit Books, 1997, p. 788 Modern Fantasy, 23. Moorcock, "Introduction", p. 9; Fantasy: The 100 Best Books, Cawthorn and Moorcock, 1988. Modern Fantasy, 14. Modern Fantasy, 19. Modern Fantasy, 20.

William Wells Brown has the distinction of being the first African American novelist ever to be published — in 1853. Brown wrote “Clotel” during five productive years in Europe in which he experienced a freedom that wasn’t possible in America. His novel is taught in some college classes today, but many people don’t know him. “He was erased, to a very large extent, from the public record, ” says Ezra Greenspan, author of the new biography, “William Wells Brown: An African American Life.” “It was nothing personal or particular. He was erased the way virtually all African Americans were — their presence, their culture. And he really only came back into existence with the civil rights movement.” Brown was born a slave in Kentucky around 1814. For many of his early years he was enslaved in Missouri. But by the time he was 19 years old he had been sold to a Mississippi River steamboat owner. While in port at Cincinnati, Wells Brown escaped - traveling in the Ohio countryside, by foot, in the January cold. “He took his life into his hands, ” says Greenspan. “He stopped a good Samaritan-looking figure, a person wearing a wide-brimmed hat, clearly, identifiably a Quaker.” The Quaker took him in and offered William the gift of a complete name, his OWN name: Wells Brown. In gratitude, the runaway slave went by the name William Wells Brown for the rest of his life. After two weeks, Brown kept going north, eventually settling in Boston. In the following years, he rapidly rose to prominence as an anti-slavery speaker and the author of a powerful slave narrative, “Narrative of William W. Brown.” As a black man, and a fugitive slave, he had more freedom in the North, but he certainly wasn’t free. “What we mean by freedom really is a relative term, ” says Greenspan. “Brown would say repeatedly: if one wanted to be free, absolutely free, one needed to go to England.” “Slavery had been abolished in England and France. They could have a wider scope for their actions and their thoughts than they could presumably have in the United States, ” Greenspan says. Brown left for Europe intending to stay only a few months. With London as his home base, he traveled extensively and freely in England, Ireland, Scotland and France. He spoke before large, receptive crowds. He developed close friendships with blacks and whites — in the anti-slavery movement, in government, in his social life. He wrote a book about his European adventures, which in England was published in 1852 as “Three Years In Europe.” (It was published in America three years later under the title, “The American Fugitive in Europe.”) Creatively, and in every way, Brown was thriving. “If you run forward 50, 60, 70, 80 years, ” Greenspan says, “what Brown and Douglass were doing in the 1840s and 50s was what the next generations of black Americans would do. We think of Josephine Baker, as it were, finding her feet on stage in Paris. We think of James Baldwin living much of his mature life feeling free for the first time. But there actually was a long history that went back to the middle of the 19th century. Brown in some ways was a pioneer.” He may have been a pioneer — but he couldn’t go home. Back in America, Congress had passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. That meant escaped slaves could be hunted down and captured — even in the north. Brown stayed in Europe four more years until a Quaker family in England, Ellen and Henry Richardson, raised the money to buy his freedom. The Richardsons had done the same thing for Frederick Douglass a few years earlier. “He was a free man, and he did not wait, ” Greenspan says. “As soon as the freedom papers arrived in London, Brown was on one of the first steamships out of Liverpool and right back into his life in the Boston area, but on a fundamentally different basis.”