The Loose Canon

Article Tools

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Naguib Mahfouz: The Cairo Trilogy (1956 - 57). In a leisurely, sensual family saga, the Arab world's first Nobel laureate tells the story of modern Egypt from street level. Pramoedya Ananta Toer: The Buru Quartet (1969 - 1979). Deprived of paper in prison, this often-jailed Indonesian novelist dictated his multivolume masterpiece of anti-colonialism (and veiled anti-Suharto-ism) to fellow prisoners, who kept it alive in their memories till he could write it down.

Ingmar Bergman: The Seventh Seal (1957). A gripping philosophical inquiry into whether God exists played out in the story of a medieval knight home from the Crusades. John Sayles: The Secret of Roan Inish (1995). An enchanting fairy tale about family secrets and the endurance of tradition set among the myth-lush scenery of Ireland's west coast.

Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong: Verve Recordings (1956 - 57). Two vocal masters at the height of their powers make this roster of standards, including all of Porgy and Bess, completely their own -- a truly joyful occasion. Louis Armstrong: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1922 - 1934). Few CD box sets could live up to this title, but this collection captures the young Armstrong at his most inspired, creating the music that turned the jazz age inside out.

Chinua Achebe: Things Fall Apart (1958). This saga of a Nigerian villager torn from his past by missionaries and colonialists, yet unwilling to 'modernize,' sums up the central spiritual dilemma of the 'developing' world. Edward Said: Culture and Imperialism (1993). Palestinian-born critic Said wants us to understand the colonialism implicit in many of the great 19th-century works of literature -- not just to be PC, but to make them richer reading experiences.

click here for more

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print