| Monday, May 4, 2009 6:26AM | | | | My People | Posted By: Masha Hamilton
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| Tags: World Voices, Readers, World Literature, Reading Statistics | I attended a variety of panels over these last few days covering a smorgasbord of topics—truth and deceptions, political atrocities and censorship, the future of literature and its past—but there has been one blissful and unexpected unifying factor. In every audience, in casual conversations, I’ve found kindred spirits of that rarest of types—the person who not only reads, but cares passionately about, world literature.
In moments squeezed in before or after a panel from the Upper East Side to Brooklyn, waiting to use the restroom or lined up to get in to an event, I’ve chatted to poets and literary agents and other novelists; I’ve spoken to writers and readers of a variety of ages and background, and over and over again, I’ve met people with whom I knew I could happily spend much more time.
You know the figures, or some version of them. One-fourth of all Americans say they don’t read books at all. On the other end of the spectrum, 20 percent say they read fifteen or more books per year. But often those are culled from airport bookstands or the best-seller list—don’t get me wrong, some great books are surely to be found there, but many great books are excluded, especially translated works by foreign authors or those that challenge the reader and provide no simple answers.
So if I am in the minority being a big reader of novels and short stories and poetry, I am really in the minority in finding myself absorbed by foreign literature.
At least once a year, at the PEN World Festival, that sense of isolation changes.
Not only have I bought books by panelists I didn’t previously know, but fellow audience members have shared the titles of some of their favorites, which I eagerly jotted down. I’ve discussed the books I love too, and met with receptive ears. I’ve exchanged cards, hopefully paving the way for a future shared drink or cuppa. And I’ve read my fellow bloggers with gratitude, so that I could share in events I didn’t attend.
Thank you, PEN, for these are my people. | | |
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3 Comments | Add a Comment |
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| 5-10-09 1:57PM: King Wenclas said...
The question is whether a writer is allowed to dissent from the "world" view of the multi-national conglomerates-- or if all writers are required to think alike.
Masha Hamilton is comfortable among what she calls "my people," because they think like she does. No smorgasboard of ideas. No dissent. Bland unthinking acceptance of the U.S. literary establishment. Is that really PEN's mission? Something about it doesn't add up.
Are you afraid of contray ideas?
www.kingwenclas.blogspot.com
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| 5-9-09 4:38PM: King Wenclas said...
Your "people"? Let's be honest, Masha. Your people are similarly well-educated, well-credentialed literary apparatchiks who care more about your vague conception of "world" literature than what's going on among all writers in your own land. PEN is certainly more interested in "the world" and their expensive events than in American literature.
www.kingwenclas.blogspot.com
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| 5-4-09 9:28AM: Leora Skolkin-Smith said...
I felt the same way, too, Masha. it was a very affirming week. Thanks to PEN and all the amazing writers who came over. I, also, felt so much less isolated in my literary sensibilities and hunger and loved meeting other American writers like me who really valued "foreign work" (actually "foreign work" is a strange term, so much of what is perceived as "foreign literature" has made me feel right at home in special ways I don't get here!)
Well-said, Masha.
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