Thank you for joining the Asymptote blog again on this lovely Friday for another segment of the Weekly News Round Up in our digital world. Worlds change constantly with time and influence, just like the world of India. Graphic novelist Sarnath Banerjee works to depict the ever-changing sub-continent in all four of his books. A review of his work is available in The New Yorker this week.
Worlds we grow up in and come to know are not constant, however much we may think they are, and they change with time and memory. Just ask Vu Tran, a Vietnamese refugee, whose entire world changed at the age of four. His “uncertain memories” were featured in LitHub this week. It’s a haunting and beautiful story of transition.
Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street, Caramelo, and most recently the memoir A House of My Own, spoke with NPR about the importance of creating her own world. This world is simpler, but just as important: moving out of her parents’ house and into her own first apartment.
My favorite world is the world of books, fair readers, and the 13th annual Shanghai Book Fair understands. With big names in literature on the guest list and over 150,000 books on display, what’s not to like? If you happen to be in Shanghai between August 17th and August 23rd, go visit the Shanghai Exhibition Center to see this world of books for yourself.
And then there are metaphorical worlds we create for ourselves, such as the patriarchal world. These are worlds that can be overcome, as Rufi Thorpe extrapolates this week while discussing writing female protagonists and male stupidity. He gleans this idea from one of his “patron saints” Lithuanian writer Czeslaw Milosz.
The world of analyzing every nook and cranny of Elena Ferrante continues. This week, it’s her run-on sentences. She’s been the subject of much news lately, from people trying to figure out who she is, to overall commentaries on Italian literature, to interviews with her English translator Ann Goldstein, such as this one in Asymptote.
Speaking of exhausted writers, Japanese writer Haruki Murikami is obviously excellent. However, there are other excellent Japanese writers everyone should know about. Barnes and Noble has a great starter guide for researching and reading other fascinating Japanese writers.
Worlds sometimes blossom open for us to see, such as the first English-Language history of Colombian literature. A History of Colombian Literature edited by Raymond Leslie Williams is now available to purchase.
Whatever our Earth changes into as we float through time, you can count on the Weekly News Round Up for your literary news cravings. Until next week, literary globetrotters!
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