Category Archives: Gender

Mama Day: The Tempest in the Global South

Posted on October 2, 2013 by wcd2

October 2, 2014 Her name is Miranda (“Mama”) Day — yes, that Miranda, the one who said, “Oh, wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is!” Gloria Naylor is not the first to take on Shakespeare, of course. … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, African-American literature, Americas, Caribbean literature, Contemporary novel, Gender, Global South, Race, slavery, world literature | Tagged Aime Césaire, George Lamming, Gloria Naylor, Mama Day, Shakespeare, The Tempest, Tunisia, Une Tempête, Water with Berries | Leave a comment

Ralph Ellison, Marianne Moore: Yams and Nectarines

Posted on January 16, 2013 by wcd2

January 16, 2013 The yams are as real as anything in Invisible Man. The mere smell of them sends a “stab of swift nostalgia” coursing through the protagonist. The years of his life seem so many yams eaten: candied, … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, China, Chinese art, Ethnicity, Food in literature, Gender, lyric, Poetry, Twentieth century literature | Tagged China, Invisible Man, Marianne Moore, Nine Nectarine and Other Porcelain, Ralph Ellison, The World's Geography | 2 Comments

Frederick Douglass, H.D.: Egypt Again

Posted on January 2, 2013 by wcd2

Janurary 2, 2013 She never mentioned him and probably never read him. Still, he anticipated her. Visiting Egypt in 1887, Douglass wrote: “I do not know of what color and features the ancient Egyptians were, but the great mass of … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, ancient Greece, Christianity, Classics, Comparative literature, Egypt, Gender, Global South, Islam, Modernist poetry, Poetry, Race, slavery, Translation, Twentieth century literature, Wars, world literature | Tagged Egypt, Frederick Douglass, Greeks, H.D., Islam, Malcolm X, Petition for franchise for women, Seneca Falls Convention, Stesichorus of Sicily, Trojans | Leave a comment

Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: “Re Dis Appearing”

Posted on October 24, 2012 by wcd2

October 24, 2012 I’m getting ready for the World Humanities Forum, held next week in Busan, South Korea. So I’ve been thinking about Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, born in 1951 in Busan. She immigrated with her family to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts communities, Asian-American literature, Autobiography, Cities, Comparative literature, Contemporary Art, Diaspora, digital humanities, digital platforms, Ethnicity, film medium, Gender, Genre, Interdisciplinarity, Media, print medium, Publishers, twentieth century art, Twentieth century literature, Universities, Visual arts, World religions | Tagged "Re Dis Appearing", Berkeley, Busan, Christian Metz, Demeter, Dictee, France, Joan of Arc, Korea, Manchuria, New York, Persephone, Raymond Bellour, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Thierry Kuntzel, Tumblr, World Humanities Forum, Yu Guan Soon | 1 Comment

Jack Kerouac, Edwidge Danticat: Joual and Creole

Posted on October 10, 2012 by wcd2

October 10, 2012 The name on his birth certificate is Jean Louis Kirouac – that’s the most common spelling of the name in Quebec, which is where his parents were from. His father, Léon-Alcide, continued to work as a printer … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, Americas, Atlantic, Autobiography, Canada, Caribbean literature, Cities, Comparative literature, Contemporary novel, Creole, Diaspora, Ethnicity, Gender, Global South, Latin America, Libraries, Media, mexico, peripheral networks, print medium, Publishers, Radio, Twentieth century literature, Vernacular dialects | Tagged Creole, Edwidge Danticat, French, Gabriel Anctil, Haiti, Jack Kerouac, Joual, La Nuit est ma femme, Le Devoir, Lowell MA, New York Public Library, Québécois, Sur le chemin | 1 Comment

Seamus Heaney: More Strange Fruit

Posted on August 8, 2012 by wcd2

August 8, 2012 This week I’ve been listening to many versions of “Strange Fruit”: Nina Simone, Jeff Buckley, Gil Evans and the Sting. I have to say: I still prefer Billie Holiday. But I had no idea Seamus Heaney also … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, collaboration, Comparative literature, contemporary poetry, Diaspora, Gender, globe, Irish literature, lyric, Modernist poetry, Music, Race, Racial violence, Remediation, Rock music, slavery, Translation, twentieth century art, Twentieth century literature, World history, world literature, YouTube videos | Tagged " Jutland, " Seamus Heaney, "Punishment, "Strange Fruit, Billie Holiday, Denmark, Gil Evans, Jeff Buckley, Nina Simone, North (1975), Northern Ireland, the Sting | 6 Comments

Cristina Garcia’s Cuba

Posted on April 11, 2012 by wcd2

April 11, 2012 We had to move the book up from the initial lineup — several people wanted to write about it in their final papers. How did they hear about it? But I should have guessed something like this … Continue reading →

Posted in Caribbean literature, Contemporary novel, Creole, Ethnicity, Gender, Global South, Latin America, macro politics, Mayan mythology, mixed races, peripheral networks, Spanglish, Translation, Twentieth century literature, world literature | Tagged baseball, Bay of Pigs, Castro, ceiba tree, Celia del Pino, Cuba, El Líder, NIkolai Lenin, People's Court | 8 Comments

Edwidge Danticat: French, English, Creole

Posted on March 14, 2012 by wcd2

March 14, 2012 Her first languages were Creole and French. At 12, she spoke almost no English. At 26, her collection of short stories, Krik? Krak!, was nominated for the National Book Award. It’s mind-boggling to think of that trajectory … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, Caribbean literature, collaboration, Comparative literature, Contemporary novel, Creole, Gender, Global South, Igbo, Latin America, Media, mixed races, peripheral networks, print medium, Radio, Remediation, Translation | Tagged Chinua Achebe, Creole, Edwidge Danticat, French, Haiti, Igbo language, Joseph Conrad, Krik? Krak!, literacy, mediascape, National Book Award, Paris Review, Polish, Radio Lumière | 82 Comments

Margaret Fuller, H.D., Joanne Kyger

Posted on December 7, 2011 by wcd2

December 7, 2011 Why is it that all of them reach back to ancient Greece, and not always out of any reverence for the classics? Of the three, Margaret Fuller is the most law-abiding: in Woman in the Nineteenth Century, … Continue reading →

Posted in ancient Greece, Classics, Egypt, epic, Gender, Global South, Translation, Uncategorized, world literature | Tagged Black Athena, Classics, Cyropedia, Egypt, Euripides, Global South, Greece, H.D., Helen in Egypt, Herodotus, Hesiod, Homer, Joanne Kyger, Margaret Fuller, Martin Bernal, Penelope, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, Xenophon | 5 Comments