(no subject)

[skygiants]

A little while ago, schiarire asked me to add Cheikh Hamidou Kane's Ambiguous Adventure to my reading list. I don't know quite what to say about this book - although it's got the loose form of a novel, it's more of a philosophical argument than a story, following Sambo Diallo of the Diallobe tribe in Senegal from childhood on as he and everyone else around him debates on his education, and, on a larger scale, colonization, modernization, and religion. Ji, you are going to think I'm crazy for making this comparison, but I kind of reacted to the philosophy in kind of the same way I reacted to the stream-of-consciousness To the Lighthouse. When I was with him, I was completely with him; when I wasn't, I really wasn't. The religion thing is part of that, and part of that, of course, is that, I'm very much part of the culture he's critiquing. Those two things were so tied together in the philosophy that I ended up finding it difficult to separate them in my reaction. So I don't know.

Comments

[ceitfianna]

I just read Black Hearts in Battersea and have a Laurence Yep book, I love my children's lit class.

Also now I want to go find the one about Dido in Nantucket, the books are so odd and fun and weird yet they're addicting.

Sadly I have nothing to say about philosophy though it looks sort of interesting.

[skygiants]

Hee! I'm glad you liked the Aiken - Black Hearts in Battersea is I think when the series starts finding its wacky feet, and it just gets zanier from there. (Pink whales! Giant cannons shooting across the Atlantic! EVIL HANOVERIANS!)

Which Laurence Yep book? *curious*

[ceitfianna]

Gates of the Owl, I think and yes, I really enjoyed it. I remember being younger and freaked out by The Wolves of Willoughby Chase so its interesting how fun and different this one was. Tomorrow I may go back to the used bookstore and buy the next one.

[skygiants]

I haven't read that one, so you'll have to tell me how it is!

Yeah, Wolves of Willoughby Chase is very different in feel, I think - it's a lot more straight-up kid-gothic.

[ceitfianna]

I will, this is for my children's lit class and I'll be posting reviews on my library thing account under the username katekf. I'll try and link them to my lj too.

[skygiants]

Please do! I'm not on librarything, so I will never remember to go look unless you link. (WHY YES THIS IS ALL ABOUT ME. Um.)

[ceitfianna]

I only just got onto it so I will try and be good and link my reviews.

[schiarire.livejournal.com]

No, I don't think that comparison is crazy. I kind of suspected Ambiguous Adventure would not be precisely your thing from that line where Cheikh Hamidou Kane just straight up says, "In another story, something funny might happen now, but Samba Diallo is serious all the time because his world is tragic and he hates smiling." But I think it's very good all the same. It's similar to Season of Migration to the North, I think, but the ending seems more realistic to me. I also strongly desire a crossover with Go Tell it On the Mountain.

[skygiants]

I doubt Cheikh Hamidou Kane would be super happy to be compared to Queen of Modernism Virginia Woolf though . . .

Hah, yes. I did take note of that line. I was like "well, I guess it is nice that you . . . acknowledge the potential of humor in some universe . . . uh." But yes, I am glad I read it, even though it was not precisely my thing!

(Yuletide . . .?)