World Literature An Anthology of Great Short Stories, Poetry, and Drama Review

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(More customer reviews)This is an excellent text for use in introductory world literature courses at either the high school or college levels. It offers a wide array of short stories, drama, and poetry by respected authors throughout history and up into the 20th century. Included are ancient pieces such as Akhenaton's "Hymn to the Aton" and Psalm 23 from the Bible, works by modern authors like Alice Walker, and everything in between, including Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Kafka, Dante, Dostoyesvsky, Yeats, Brontë, Wordsworth, Sophocles, Schiller, Ibsen, Colette, Bombal, Hemingway, Poe, Dickinson, and many more. There are 76 pieces in all, categorized by continent / region: the Mediterranean, Continental Europe, Africa, the Far East, Latin America, North America, and Great Britain.
Each piece, usually one of that particular author's best and most famous, is introduced by the editor with information on the author's life, times, and works. There are also accompanying critical questions for each story, play, and poem. I found that these were very useful as jumping-off points for the analysis of a piece, helping to start the critical thinking process. In addition, the editor suggests a few creative writing exercises to go along with each piece. I enjoyed using this book and feel that I gained a lot from it. The pieces are well-selected and give a nice sampling of literature from all geographical regions and time periods, including works in all genres and literary styles. Definitely a recommended text.

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World Literature © 2004 is a superb collection of short stories, poems, and plays from around the globe. This anthology is ideally suited for use as an integral part of the standard high school English curriculum or for a global literature elective. Content and activities provide valuable practice in preparing high school students for college classes or for the Advanced Placement exam. World Literature can also be used in an English-social studies core program that focuses on the study of world cultures, or as the perfect literature supplement to a world history course!

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The River Between Review

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(More customer reviews)With every work of Ngugi's that I read, the more impressed I am. I first came across his "Petals of Blood" by chance in a used bookstore years ago, and ever since I've kept an eye open for other books of his. I admit that I've only read his novels, though; reading plays (as opposed to seeing them performed) for the most part doesn't move me nearly as much.
In "The River Between", Ngugi once again arrives at a viewpoint of tolerance while denouncing corruption in society; he manages to do so without demonizing the people on either side of any particular issue. He recognizes the strengths and weaknesses, the convictions and the doubts with which most human beings are imbued. He doesn't automatically blame all of his country's or his continent's problems on the "White Man", but rather he recognizes that the corruption and venality that continue to plague his society are things which are rooted in the universal human condition, not imports from Europe or the USA. He manages here to deal with a highly charged issue, as provocative and controversial now as it was at the time he wrote this book, namely "female circumcision" or "female genital mutilation", depending on your point of view. Almost uniquely, it seems, among Kenyan intellectuals he questions the absolute necessity of the practice to the maintenance of traditional social structure and values; but he does so while neither fervently condemning nor acclaiming it. As I've come to expect from Ngugi, he finds a road between extreme and fanatical stands - or a "river between", if you prefer; the protagonist attempts to make up his own mind rather than unquestioningly accepting received teaching about the absolute rightness or wrongness of either traditional practices or revolutionary knowledge. He recognizes that not all traditional practices are necessarily "better" or more "pure" than new ways of thinking, but that neither can they be eliminated by fiat without disastrous consequences for society, that education and time are necessary for peoples' thinking to evolve and for other values to be allowed to take the place of some of those that have been cherished since time immemorial. I confess that I was a little leery when I began reading this book; I feared that Ngugi would follow the line of so many other African writers in fervent support of female circumcision or FMG. That was the staunch rock of faith upon which I foundered when reading other books such as Jomo Kenyatta's "Facing Mount Kenya" and Camara Laye's "The African Child". I was suitably heartened to find that Ngugi once again finds his own mind, something I've come to see as the hallmark of his writing. But his protagonist doesn't arrive at the journey's destination by easy paths - I'm reminded of a line by the great singer-songwriter Silvio Rodriguez, that "la angustia es el precio de ser uno mismo" ("anguish is the price of being oneself").


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Explores life on the Makuyu and Kameno ridges of Kenya in the early days of white settlement. Faced with an alluring, new religion and "magical" customs, the Gikuyu people are torn between those who fear the unknown and those who see beyond it.

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A Man of the People Review

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(More customer reviews)I loved "Things Fall Apart", and it was what got me to fall in love with African literature in the first place-and download a list of Africa's 100 greatest works of literature in order to try to feed my passion! (I'm not sure how far into it I am now!) It is a masterpiece and so moving.
However, I have to admit there is something so perfect about "A Man of the People", so witty, so well-written, so perfect, so flawless, that it might be better than "Things Fall Apart". Since this book takes place during the post-colonial period, it has a completely different tone than Things Fall Apart. For one thing, it uses a smattering of pidgin (a Nigerian combination of indigenous words, English and slang), which is hard to understand for outsiders to the culture but fascinating-only a little is used and doesn't at all detract from understanding the novel if you're not a native speaker, and it adds a lot of flavor.
Achebe's masterful writing and talent at crafting stories-saying more with subtlety than many have said with bombast- is what makes this book worth reading if you're not interested in Africa in particular. If you are interested in Africa, this is an important exploration of the post-colonial situation. The narrator, part of the educated elite, becomes enamored of the so-called "Man of the People", a man who embodies a Nigerian postcolonial political leader of a certain kind-always ready to take a bribe, charming, populist, and utterly corrupt.
At first the narrator is intrigued by the Man of the People, and admires his style. The realization of what men like this are doing to his country forces the narrator to realize what is at stake when the nation allows itself to accept thievery as a cultural value. Although he is initially immature and moved to vengeance because the "Man of the People" beds his girl, he rapidly matures and comes to identify with his idealist friends, a couple who have not abandoned their optimism and compassion for the people.
A Must-Read, and one of my favorite books of all time.


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By the renowned author of Things Fall Apart, this novel foreshadows the Nigerian coups of 1966 and shows the color and vivacity as well as the violence and corruption of a society making its own way between the two worlds.

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