Issue 40 / January 2012
Dreams from My Father, Lolita and One Hundred Years of Solitude - the 25 books that have shaped world literature
To celebrate their 25th Aniversary, Wasifiri Magazine has compiled a list of the 25 books which have most shaped world literature in the last 25 years, chosen by a roll-call of names in international writing. It's a surprising mix - while Midnight's Children was probably a shoo-in, who would have expected to see Birthday Letters or Elizabeth Bishop's collected poems? According to Susheila Nasta, editor and founder of Wasafiri, "The eclecticism of this selection showcases the true diversity which is international contemporary writing today."
1. Aminatta Forna: The Famished Road by Ben Okri
2. Amit Chaudhuri: Collected Poems by Elizabeth Bishop
3. Bernardine Evaristo: Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain by Peter Fryer
4. Beverley Naidoo: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D Taylor
5. Blake Morrison: The Stories of Raymond Carver by Raymond Carver
6. Brian Chikwava: The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño
7. Chika Unigwe: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
8. Daljit Nagra: North by Seamus Heaney
9. David Dabydeen: A House for Mr Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
10. Elaine Feinstein: Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes
11. Fred D'Aguiar: Palace of the Peacock by Wilson Harris
12. Hirsh Sawhney: River of Fire by Quarratulain Hyder
13. Indra Sinha: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
14. John Haynes: Philosophical Investigations by Ludwig Wittgenstein
15. Lesley Lokko: Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
16. Maggie Gee: Disgrace by JM Coetzee
17. Marina Warner: Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
18. Maya Jaggi: The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
19. Michael Horovitz: Collected Poems by Allen Ginsberg
20. Minoli Salgado: Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje
21. Nii Parkes: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
22. Roger Robinson: Sula by Toni Morrison
23. Sujata Bhatt: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
24. Sukhdev Sandhu: The Private Life of Chairman Mao by Dr Li Zhisui
25. Tabish Khair: The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
In an increasingly globalised world, where access to information and media is widespread, is there still a need to demarcate world literature from literature'. How exactly should we define 'world literature' anyway, and by whose measure?
What do you think of their selections? Are there any glaring omissions? Which books would you nominate?
Monday, 28 September, 2009
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