Each title on this reading list has been selected for the geographical
setting or for the nationality of the author. It is for readers who want to
experience the culture of a place through reading. It is not intended as an
armchair travel guide so it will not include travel books or journals by
travelers passing through. It may contain a few titles by foreign residents
of a region, particularly if the works reveal customs of the place or
of the author's homeland. It is hoped that the reader will gain (or regain)
a "sense of place" through these readings.
All works are in English or English translation unless otherwise noted. The
editor welcomes suggested readings. Contact: seeword @ snet.net Use subject:
Geobib.
Note: Progress has been slow on this project. I have been reading a lot, but
I haven't had time to work on this page for some time so only a few titles have been
added since September, 1998. The links were most recently updated in June 2008.
AFRICA
Egypt
Naguib Mahfouz: This Nobel prize winning author has written several
novels set in Cairo.
Abd al-Hakim Qusim: Rites of Assent, Philadelphia, Temple University Press,
199r. Translated by Peter Theroux. Two novellas, Al-Mahdi and Good News from the
Afterlife, of rural life in Egypt.
Nawal Sa'dawi: God dies by the Nile; London, Zed Books, 1985.
Translated from the Arabic by Sherif Hetata. Village life in
Egypt is depicted in this short novel.
ASIA
China
Zhang Jie: Heavy wings; New York, Grove Weidenfld, 1989. Translated
from the Chinese (Ch'en chung ti ch'ih pang; Beijing, People's
Literature Publishing House, 1980) by Howard Goldblatt. Life and
politics in the bureaucracy of Communist China is depicted through
events and relationships at the fictional "Morning Light Auto Works"
in Beijing.
Mo Yan: the Garlic ballads; New York, Viking, 1995. Translated from
the Chinese (T' ien-t' ang suan t' ai chih ko) by Howard Goldblatt.
Love, loyalty, and corruption in rural Communist China.
Dai Sijie: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress; New York, Random House, 2002.
Translated from the French (Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise) by Ina Rilke. Two
young men from the city living in exile in a remote village during China's Cultural
Revolution discover a hidden stash of forbidden western novels.
India
Arundhati Roy: The God of small things; New York, Random House, 1997.
Set in Kerala, on the southern tip of India, this tale weaves in and
out of the past while revealing the family that caused the separation
of a sister and brother who are fraternal twins.
Indira Ganesan: The Journey; New York, Knopf, 1990. A mother and
her two daughters journey from New York to their native Indian
island after the death of one of the daughter's "twin" cousin.
Iran
Sadegh Hedayat: The Blind owl; London, John Calder, 1957; London,
Pan/Picador, 1973. Translated from the Persian by D.P. Costello. This
is the haunting story of a miniaturist who always paints the same scene.
Is it a memory, dream, or hallucination? The Cyprus tree, the old man,
the stream, and the girl in the black dress....
Naveed Noori: Dakhmeh; Toby Press, 2003. A young man whose family fled Iran when he was
a child returns to discover that life in the Islamic Republic of Iran is not the way he
dreamed it. He finds himself in the notorious Evin prison.
Japan
Kobo Abe: The ark Sakura; New York, Knops, 1988. Translated by
Juliet Winters. (Originally published as: Hakobune Sakura Maru.)
One of many books by this prolific (and much translated) author.
This novel concerns the resident of a secret community of survivors.
Yasunari Kawabata: Palm-of-the-hand-stories; San Francisco, North
Point Press, 1988. Translated, by Lane Dunlop and J. Martin Holman
Kawabata, a winner of the Nobel Prize, is well known in the West for
his novels (Snow country, Sound of the mountain, Thousand cranes).
These shorter works, some barely a page long, give us miniature views
of life as Kawabata saw it.
Morio Kita: The house of Nire, Tokyo, dodansha International, 1984.
Translated by Dennis Keene. (Originally published by Shinchosha in
1964 as: nireke no hitobito.) The saga of a Japanese family who run
a private mental hospital in Tokyo. This novel covers the period from
the end of World War I to the end of World War II.
Kenzaburo Oe: Rouse Up O Young Men of the New Age! New York, Grove Press,
2002. Translated from the Japanese by John Nathan. A writer struggles
with his relationship with his art and his family, particularly his
mentally disabled son. Set mostly in Tokyo.
Yuko Tsushima: Woman running in the mountains; New York, Pantheon,
1991. Translated from the Japanese by Geraldine Harcourt.
(Originally published in 1980 in Japan by Kodansha as: Yama o hashiru
onna.) The story of a young Japanese woman coping with raising an
illegitimate child while living with her parents.
Lebanon
Liyana Badr: A balcony over the Fakihani; Brooklyn, N.Y., Interlink
Books, 1993. Translated from the Arabic by Peter Clark with Christopher
Tingley; introduction by Barbara Harlow. Three novellas set in Beirut.
Told from the Palestinian point of view.
Hassan Daoud: The House of Mathilde; London, Granta Books, 1999. Translated
from the Arabic by Peter Theroux. Set in a Beirut apartment building during the
Lebanese Civil War (1975-76).
Saudi Arabia
Bahiyyih Nakhjavani: The Saddlebag, A Fable for Doubters and Seekers; Boston, Beacon
Press, 2000. Exotic, dark, comic, and spiritual tales emerge as, on a journey between
Mecca and Medina, a saddlebag passes from traveler to traveler. A merchant, a thief, a
bride-to-be, a bandit, a chieftain, a moneychanger, a slave, a pilgrim, a priest, a
dervish, and a corpse are its temporary "owners". Author is Persian born, educated in
England and the United States, and, at the time of publication of this book, lived and
taught in Belgium. This novel is included in my list because of it decidedly Middle
Eastern flavor.
Sri Lanka
Romesh Gunesekera : Reef; New Press, New York, 1995. Original Language:
English. Written in England, this novel traces the boyhood and
immigration to England of a Sri Lankan. A Booker Prize Finalist.
Tibet
Alai: Red Poppies, a novel of Tibet; Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 2002. Translated from
the Chinese by Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-chun Lin. An epic novel of the reign of
Tibetan warlords during the rise of Chinese Communism.
Thailand
Sila Khoamchai: The Path of the tiger; Bangkok, Thai Modern Classics,
1994. First published in Thai in 1989 as: Thang Suea; Translated by
Phongdei Jiangphattanarkit. This brief novel pits a young hunter, lost
in the jungle, against a tiger.
Arkartdamkeung Rapheepha: The Circus of life; Bangkok, Thai Modern
Classics, 1995. First published in Thai in 1929 as: Lakhorn Haeng
Cheewit. Translated by Phongdei Jiangphattanarkit. This novel traces
the life of an aristocratic Thai who leaves Thailand to study in London
and Washington.
Chart Korpjitti: The Judgment; Bangkok, Thai Modern Classics, 1995.
First published in Thai in 1981 as: Khamphipharksa. Translated by
Phongdei Jiangphattanarkit. A man with a promising career as a monk
falls into despair and alcoholism after his father's death leaves him
to care for the father's deranged widow. Set in a rural Thai village
in the 1980's, this novel won the 1981 Book of the Year Award of the
Literary Council of Thailand and the 1982 SEA Write Award for Thailand.
Botan (Supa Sirisingh): Letters from Thailand; Chiang Mai, Silkworm Books,
2002. First published in Thai in 1969. Translated by Susan Fulop Kepner.
Observations on Thai culture and the Chinese community in Bangkok through
the eyes of a Chinese immigrant. The novel consists of a series of letters
written to his mother in China from 1945 through 1967.
Kepner, Susan Fulop, editor: The Lioness in Bloom: Modern Thai Fiction About
Women (Voices from Asia, 9); University of California Press, 1996. Short
stories and excerpts from Thai novels give varying snapshots of the status
of women in modern society.
Rattawut Lapcharoensap: Sightseeing, Stories. (written in English) Interesting
views of Thailand and Thai family relationships through the eyes of complex characters.
The author was born in the United States, raised in Bangkok, and educated in
Thailand and the USA.
Unidentified Middle Eastern
Abd al-Rahman Munif: Cities of salt; New York, Random House, 1987.
First published in Beirut, 1984, in Arabic as Mudan al-milh. Translated
into English by Peter Theroux. This novel chronicles the cultural
disruption caused by the American development of oil in an unnamed
Persian Gulf Kingdom. The first in a trilogy which includes this title,
The Trench, and Variations on Night and Day.
Hanan Al-Shaykh: Women of sand and myrrh; London, Quartet Books,
1989. Translated by Catherine Cobham. This novel by a Lebanese
woman explores the lives of four women in an Arab desert community.
OCEANIA
New Zealand
Keri Hulme: The Bone people; Penguin, 1983. A woman who lives in a
tower, a strange orphan boy, and the boy's foster father form a strangly
disturbing trio. Winner of the 1985 Booker Prize.
Philippines
Arlene J. Chai: The last time I saw Mother; New York, Fawcett
Columbine, 1995. A Chinese-Filipina is called home to Manila from
her home in Australia. She learns more about her family history.
This novel gives a picture of both modern Manila and of the period
of World War II in the Philippines.
EUROPE
Albania
Ismail Kadare: Broken April;New York, New Amstedam, 1990. Translated
from the Albanian. (Originally published in 1982, Librairie Artheme
Fayard.) A city couple on their honeymoon in the Albanian hill country
encounter a young mountaineer trapped in a cycle of obligatory murder
that passes though generations of families.
Denmark
Hanne Marie Svendsen: The Gold ball; New York, Knopf, 1989. Translated
from the Danish ( Guldkuglen: Fortaelling om en o; Copenhagen, 1985) by
Jorgen Schiott. Several generations of the lives of villagers and
strangers on an island off the Danish coast are followed in this
novel. Much of the story is seen through the eyes of Maja Stina and
her curious golden ball.
Peter Hoeg: History of Danish dreams; New York, Farrar, Straus and
Giroux, 1995. Translated by Barbara Haveland. (Originally published
in Copenhagen, 1988 under the title: Forestilling Om Det Tyvende
Arhundrede.) A delightful romp through the history of an incredible
family
Herman Bang: Katinka; Seattle, Fjord Press, 1990. Translated from
the Danish (Ved Vejen; Copenhagen, Det Schubotheske, 1886.) Life and
love in a Danish village.
Greece
Panos Karnezis: Little Infamies; Picador (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), 2002. Short
stories of life in a Greek village.
Panos Karnezis: The Maze; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004. A Greek brigade retreating
from the Turks in 1922 takes up residence in a Greek village untouched by the conflict.
The presence of the soldiers changes the village's apparent tranquility.
Alexandros Papadiamantis: Tales from a Greek Island; Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University
Press, 1987. Translated, with an introduction and notes, by Elizabeth Constantinides.
Written around the turn of the century (19th to 20th), these stories of village life are
set on the author's native island of Skiathos.
Ersi Sotiropoulos: Zigzag through the Bitter-Orange Trees, Northhampton, MA., Interlink, 2007.
Translated from the Greek by Peter green. A dark comedy of contemporary Greece through the
viewpoints of four characters: a young woman dying in an Athens hospital, her vengeful brother,
her male nurse, and a yound girl in the nurse's home village.
Iceland
Einar Mar Gudmundsson: Angels of the Universe: St. Martin's, 1995.
Translated from the Icelandic (Englar alseimsins, Almenna bokafelagid)
by Bernard Scudder. Lost souls caught in a spiral of madness live
out their lives in Reykjavik.
Olaf Olafson: The Journey Home:Pantheon, 2000. An Icelandic woman living
in England returns to her homeland when she discovers she has a serious
illness. Her journey is one of memories and self discovery.
Olaf Olafson: Absolution: Anchor Books, 2003. An expatriot Icelander in New York
city confronts the sins of his past.
Italy
Natalia Ginzburg: Voices in the evening; New york, Arcade, 1963.
Translated by C. M. Low. (Originally published in Italy in 1961 by
Giulio Einaudi as: Le Voci Della Sera) This short novel depicts village
life.
Norway
Pal Espolin Johnson: For love of Norway; University of Nebraska Press,
1989. Translated from the Norwegian by Conrad Royksund. (Originally
published in Oslo, 1975 as: Alt for Norge.) Life in an isolated
fishing village during the first half of the Twentieth Century in this
short novel.
Netherlands
Margriet De Moor: The Storm: A novel; New York, Knopf, 2010. Translated from
the Dutch by Carol Brown Janeway. Originally published in the Netherlands by
Querido, 1999 as: De Verdronkene (the Drowned). Set in the horrific storm of
January/February1953 which swept away entire islands and killed nearly 2000
people along the coast of Holland. This is the story of two women.
One, a storm victim; the other, her sister who must cope with loss.
Portugal
Fernando Namora: Fields of Fate; Crown, 1970 First published in
Portuguese as O trigo e o joio in 1954. Translated by Dorothy Ball.
This story of a day laborer and his patroness gives a view of rural
Portugal.
Antonio Lobo Antunes: Fado Alexandrino, New York, Grove, 1990.
Translated from the Portuguese by Gregory Rabassa. Five members of
a military unit meet in Lisbon for a reunion and share their stories
of love, family, and politics. This complex novel provides a picture
of life in urban Portugal.
Russia/Soviet Union:
Andreï Makine: Confessions of a Fallen Standard-Bearer, New York,
Penguin, 2000. Translated from the French by Geoffrey Strachan. Two
young boys deal with Soviet life and disillusionment.
Spain
Llrenc Villalonga: the Dolls' room; London, Andre Deutsch, 1988.
Translated from The Catalan (Bearn o la Sala de las Munecas) by Deborah
Bonner. Set in Mallorca in the late 1800's. This is the story of a
declining country nobleman, told through the eyes of his house priest.
Sweden
P.C. Jersild: Hause of babel; Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press,
1987. Translated by Joan Tate; afterward, a Conversation with P.C.
Jersild, by Lief Sjoberg. Original title: Babels hus. A novel of
life, death, and politics in a large hospital.
Turkey
Alev Lytle Croutier: Seven Houses, New York, Atria, 2002. The story of
several generations of a Turkish family as told by the houses in which
they lived. Covers the period 1911-1997. Set in Smyrna/Izmir, Bursa,
Ankara, and other Turkish towns.
Yashar Kemal: Iron Earth, copper sky; New York, William Morrow, 1979.
Translated from the Turkish (Yer Demir Gok Bakir; 1963) by Thilda Kemal.
A village waits in fear for their creditor to confiscate all their
possessions. As the days draw on with no action from the creditor, they
become anxious and begin attributing mystical qualities to one of their
neighbors.
Orhan Pamuk: The black book; New York, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1994.
Translated from the Turkish by Guneli Gun. A man searches Istanbul for
his wife. Both the hero and his city seem to be searching for their
identities. A rich picture of modern Istanbul.
NORTH AMERICA
Canada
Robertson Davies: Davies has left a large body of work which gives
his insight into the Canadian national character. The Deptford
Trilogy: Fifth business, the Manticore, and World of wonders; The
Salterton Trilogy: Tempesttost, a Mixture of frailties, and Leaven
of Malice; and the the Cornish trilogy: the Rebel angels, What's
bread in the bone and the Lyre of Orpheus all are delightful, witty
novels. Each novel stands alone and can be read apart from the others
in each trilogy. Published by Viking/Penguin.
Robert MacNeil: Wordstruck; Viking Penguin 1989. A memoir of growing
up in Halifax, Nova Scotia during World War II. This book and MacNeil's
novel, Burden of desire (Talese/Doubleday, 1992) set in the Halifax
of World War give a portrait of this Canadian city.
Mexico
Luis Eduardo Reyes: Modelo Antiguo; El Paso, Cinco Puntos Press, 1997.
Originally published in Mexico, D.F.; Ediciones Era, 1992. Translated
by Sharon Franco and Joe Hayes. A young Mexico City cab driver gives
up driving his VW Bug to chauffeur an eccentric old woman through the
streets of her youth in a classic 1942 Ford. A strange tale of past
times and time passing.
Mexico/USA
Sylvia Lopez-Medina: Cantora; Albuquerque, University of New Mexico
Press, 1992. This novel follows four generations of women beginning
on a Mexican hacienda in 1904 with a young woman fleeing an arranged
marriage. The family finally ends up in the United States.
Carlos Fuentes: The Crystal frontier: a novel in nine stories; New
York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997. Translated from the Spanish
by Alfred Mac Adam. Originally published as: La frontera de cristal:
una novela en nueve cuentos, Mexico, Aguilar, Altea Taurus, Alfaguara;
1995. Fuentes, a leading Mexican literary figure, takes the Mexican/
United States border as the subject matter for this collection of
stories within a novel.
CENTRAL AMERICA
Guatemala
Arturo Artas: After the bombs; Willimantic, CT, Curbstone Press, 1990.
Translated from the Spanish (Despues de las bombas; Joaquin Mortix,
Mexico, 1979) by Asa Zatz. Traces the life of a young man in Guatemala
beginning in 1954.
SOUTH AMERICA
Peru
Laura Riesco: Ximena at the Crossroads; White Pine, Fredonia, N.Y., 1998.
Translated from the Spanish (Ximena de dos caminos) by Mary Berg.
Story of a young girl's childhood in Peru in the 1940's. Told
through a serious of relationships.
LINKS TO WORLD LITERATURE
AFRICA: Reading Women Writers and African Literature.
Although this site is an overview of African women writing in French it has some
information in English, including a brief list of titles which have been translated
from French into English. There is also an alphabetical listing of African women
authors with notations on which language (French, English, Portuguese, Spanish, or
Afrikaans) they write in. The author entries also include bibliographies and brief
biographical information.
ARAB WORLD:
Arab World Books is a combination bookstore/book club.
It has author profiles and some short stories, poetry,
book reviews, and essays. Material is in English and/or Arabic.
ASIA:
Southeast Asia Literature by Women is limited to materials available in English.
(Last updated in July, 1998.)
Sawnet bookshelf: Books by and for South Asian womenThai Fiction in Translation has selections from Marcel Barang's translations
of Thai literature and some information about Thai authors.
It includes his list of The 20 Best Novels of Thailand. Some of the titles are available from the
DCO Made in Thailand book section.
The Sunthorn Phu Page has two essays on the poet (1786 - 1855) and the full
text of his Phra Abhai Mani as retold in English by Prince Prem Burachatr.
