Whether you have read it or not, James Joyce’s main work Ulysses had a huge impact on literature. The novel follows two protagonists and their actions around Dublin in Ireland, over the course of June 16, 1904.
And we in Dublin are pretty proud of our own literary genius Joyce (even though he left Ireland at the age of 22 and stayed mostly abroad until his death in 1941) – so if you happen to be in Dublin today, don’t be surprised if you see men and women wearing outfits from the 1910′s, reciting Ulysses on street corners. It’s Bloomsday after all.
This is a guest post by Gayle Pescud. Gayle lives and works in Bolgatanga, Ghana. She writes G-lish with her partner Godwin.
I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I have absolutely no sense of direction. I mean, not a single cell in my body has any idea where it is once I turn a few corners, least of all my brain cells. As a collective, my brain cells throw their arms up and go on strike if I travel further than right, left, and right again. Game over.
So, I can only ever write a guide book for a country I have spent nearly four years traversing because it takes me this long to work out where I am and where I’m going—but when I work it out, I really work it out.
If you haven’t already seen it, I highly recommend making 20 minutes to listen to this talk by Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on the danger of a single story. It’s funny, articulate and very true.
Our countries and cultures are made up of thousands of lives and stories. We know that, because we grew up with them.
But what about far away places? Sometimes we don’t get to hear all the stories. Sometimes we make generalisations from the ones that reach us.
To really understand another country’s culture go in search of the other stories.
Read the newspapers – find local (national) newspapers as well as international. But don’t stop there.
Talk to people who have been there – and talk to people who grew up there. They will give you different perspectives, which you can use to create your own picture.
I’ve been asked a few times recently what inspired us to create PocketCultures. Well, it was to show alternative points of view – the second, third and (one day) the hundredth story. We collaborate with people who live all over the world, each has a different story to tell.
Sometimes it’s the one you expect, sometimes it’s something else completely.
It may get less international attention than British or American literature, but Australian writing has a distinctive voice of its own.
According to the Australian government culture portal, language and literature in Australia have been influenced by “Aboriginal storytelling, convict tales and the desire by colonists to relate their experiences in a new country”
Australian publishers believe that local writing has flourished partly because of copyright laws which protect the local industry. Others complain that these laws mean books in Australia are expensive and that this discourages people from reading.
Australian authors fear that proposed changes to Australian copyright law will stop their books from being published in future. More from The Economist.
If you’re interested in reading more from Australian writers, take a look at the list of authors on this page, compiled by a book lover from Melbourne.
When the Jubilee library opened in Brighton, UK it was described as the ‘library of the future‘. However some have complained that whilst the building is futuristic, the books are not.
Maybe the books of the future are on their way though. The publisher Bloomsbury has been searching for something to do with its Harry Potter windfall, and this is one of the things they have come up with.
The Bloomsbury Library Online is an electronic book service for libraries. The libraries choose which books to ‘stock’ and library members can read the books through a viewer which is available in the library. It’s just a trial at the moment, with 4 different titles available, so it remains to be seen whether UK libraries will embrace the future.
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