Recently, I discovered a challenge on Library Thing encouraging users to discover new books from the 192 countries recognised by the UN. Some users also included disputed territories such as Taiwan, Palestine/Occupied Territories, etc.
I tried to do an informal tally of the contries whose literature I had sampled, and was quite disappointed with the results. The list was overwhelmingly Anglo-Saxon in taste, with a heaping cup of the Great American Novel, a few dashes of the Anitpodes and a generous serving of the UK (mostly England) thrown in to create a homogenous blend. The list, of course, had classification problems: how to define, for example, a novel written by an Ethiopian about the immigrant experience in America or pretty much anything written by a white South African. Similarly, how to deal with the Québec question, as Québécois literature is quite distinct (and quite superior) to its Anglo-Canadian counterpart, which is largely a subset of its hegemonic American cousin ("Southern Ontario Gothic" my arse). In the end, even giving myself maximum credit for the most extraneous of links, I still came of far short of where I assumed I would be.
Therefore, I want to make a greater effort to look beyond the US and the UK for novels. Particular dark spots include Asia and Central/South America, areas my reading has barely touched in 22 years. I read "The Good Earth" in junior high, but that once again presents a classification dilemma as it was written by an American missionary in China. I attempted "Soul Mountain" when it first came out in 2000/2001, but soon gave up somewhere around the time the narrator had his sixth or seventh orgy in the woods. I have only seen Vietnam and Korea through the eyes of American GIs, South Africa from the perspective of embittered Afrikaaners, and all of I have seen of the Occupied Territories are the fun-loving kibbutzes of Amos Oz. In short, the literature of the colonisers and the oppressors.
So, this is the list I will be working from, borrowed from the LibraryThing group, "Reading Globally":
AFRICA
Southern Africa:
1.Angola: Return of the Water Spirit by Pepetela ***
2.Botswana: Maru by Bessie Head **
3.Lesotho: Chaka by Thomas Mofolo ****
4.Malawi: The Last of the Sweet Bananas by Jack Mapanje (poetry) ****
5.Mozambique: Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto ****
6.Namibia: The Purple Violet of Oshaantu by Neshani Andreas **
7.South Africa: Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton ****
8.Swaziland: A Time of Bliss by Martha Mphahlele *
9.Zambia: Bitterness by Malama Katulwende **
10.Zimbabwe: Year of the Uprising by Stanlake Samkange *
East Africa:
11.Djibouti:The Land Without Shadows by Abdourahaman Waberi (short
stories)***
12.Eritrea: Riding the Whirlwind by Bereket Habte Selassie ***
13.Ethiopia: The Thirteenth Sun by Daniachew Worku ***
14.Kenya: The Wizard of the Crow by Ngugi wa Thiong’o *****
15.Somalia: From a Crooked Rib by Nurredin Farah ***
16.Tanzania: Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah ****
17.Uganda: Abyssinian Chronicles by Moses Isegawa **
Indian Ocean:
18.Mauritius: Getting Rid of It by Lindsey Collen **
North Africa:
19.Algeria: Exile and the Kingdom by Albert Camus (short stories)
*****
20.Egypt: Woman at Point Zero by Nawal el Saadawi***
21.Libya: Anubis: a desert novel by Ibrahim al-Koni **
22.Morocco: A Life Full of Holes by Driss ben Hamed Charadhi *****
23.Sudan: Minaret by Leila Abouleila ***
24.Tunisia: The Pillar of Salt by Albert Memmi ****
Central Africa:
25.Cameroon: Dark Heart of the Night by Leonora Miano ****
26.Congo (Brazzaville): Seven Solitudes of Lorsa Lopez by Sony Labou
Tansi ***
27.Congo (Kinshasa): Full Circle by Frederick Yamusangie **
28.Gabon: Mema by Daniel Mengara ***
29.Nigeria: A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe ****
West Africa:
30.Benin: Snares Without End by Olympe Bhely-Quenum ***
31.Cote d’Ivoire: Allah is Not Obliged by Ahmadou Kourouma ****
32.Gambia: Reading the Ceiling by Dayo Forster **
33.Guinea: The Radiance of the King by Camara Laye***
34.Ghana: Our Sister Killjoy by Ama Ata Aidoo ***
35.Mali: Bound to Violence by Yambo Ouologuem *
36.Senegal: The Belly of the Atlantic by Fatou Diome ***
37.Sierra Leone: A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah (non-fiction) ***
AMERICAS
North America
39.Mexico: Tinisima by Elena Poniatowska ****
Central America:
41.Belize: Beka Lamb by Zee Edgell ***
42. Cost Rica: Years Like Brief Days by Fabian Dobles ***
43.El Salvador: Cuzcatlan, Where the Southern Sea Beats by Manlio
Argueta ****
44.Guatemala: The Mulatta and Mister Fly by Miguel Angel Asturias **
45.Honduras: The Big Banana by Roberto Quesada ***
46.Nicaragua: The Country Under My Skin by Gioconda Belli (non-fiction)
***
Caribbean:
47.Antigua and Barbuda: Mr Potter by Jamaica Kincaid **
48.Bahamas: God’s Angry Babies by Ian Gregory Strachan ****
49.Barbados: In the Castle of My Skin by George Lamming *****
50.Cuba: The Lost Steps by Alejo Carpentier *****
51.Dominica: The Orchid House by Phyllis Shand Allfrey ****
52.Grenada: Angel by Merle Collins ****
53.Haiti: Aunt Resia and the Spirits (short stories) ***
54.Jamaica: The Hills Were Joyful Together by Roger Mais ****
55.St Lucia: Omeros by Derek Walcott (poetry) ****
56.St Vincent and the Grenadines: Spirits in the Dark by H. Nigel
Thomas ****
57.Trinidad and Tobago: A House for Mister Biswas by V.S. Naipaul ****
South America:
58.Argentina: Winter Quarters by Osvaldo Soriano ****
59.Bolivia: Juan de la Rosa by Nataniel Aguirre ***
60.Brazil: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho **
61.Chile: My House is On Fire by Ariel Dorfman (short stories) ****
62.Colombia: In Evil Hour by Gabriel Garcia Marquez ****
63.Ecuador: Huasipungo by Jorge Icaza ****
64.Guyana: Tide Runnings by Oonya Kempadoo *
65.Paraguay: I the Supreme by Augusto Roa Bastos***
66.Peru: Death in the Andes by Mario Vargas Llosa ****
67.Uruguay: Five Black Ships by Napoleon Baccino Ponce de Leon ****
68.Venezuela: Dona Ines Versus Oblivion by Ana Teresa Torres ****
ASIA
Middle East:
69.Afghanistan: Earth and Ashes by Atiq Rahimi ***
70.Bahrain: QuixotiQ by Ali al Saeed **
71.Cyprus: Young Man Seeks Position: Good References by Loukis Akritas
****
72.Iran: The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat **
73.Iraq: Saddam City by Mahmoud Saeed ****
74.Israel: Two Tales by Shmuel Yosef Agnon (short stories) ***
75. Jordan: Inside the Night by Ibrahim Nasrallah ***
76.Lebanon: Women of Sand and Myrrh by Hanan al-Shayk ***
77.Saudi Arabia: Adama by Turki al-Hamad ***
78.Syria: Just Like a River by Mujammad Kamil al-Khatib **
79.Turkey: My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk ****
Caucasus:
80.Armenia: Khent by Raffi ***
81.Azerbaijan: Ali and Nino by Kurban Said ***
South Central Asia:
82.Bangladesh: Lajja by Taslima Nasrin **
83.Bhutan: The Circle of karma by Kunzang Choden ****
84.India: All About H. Hatterr by G.V.Desani ****
85.Nepal: The Guru of Love by Samrat Upadhyay **
86.Pakistan: Trespassing by Uzma Aslam Khan ***
87.Sri Lanka: Reef by Romesh Gunesekera **
Central Asia:
88.China: Red Azalea by Anchee Min ***
89.Kazakhstan: Abai by Mukhtar Auezov ***
90.Kyrgyzstan: The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years by Chingiz
Aitmatov ***
91.Mongolia: The Blue Sky by Galsan Tschinag **
92.Uzbekistan: The Railway by Hamid Ismailov ****
Far East:
93.Japan: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami ****
94.South Korea: The Reverse Side of Life by Lee Seung-U ****
South East Asia:
95.East Timor: The Crossing by Luis Cardoso ****
96.Indonesia: Footsteps by Pramoedya Ananta Toer ****
97.Laos: Mother's Beloved by Outhine Bounyavong (short stories) ***
98.Malaysia: Srengenge by Shahnon Ahmad **
99.Philippines: Waywaya by F. Sionil Jose (short stories) ***
100.Singapore: The Bondmaid by Catherine Lim ***
101.Thailand: Mad Dogs & Co by Chart Korbjitti *
102.Vietnam: The Family Wound by Jade Ngoc Quang Huynh *
Take a look it's in a book reading rainbow....
