Friday, April 6, 2012

YA novel, or not? An Amazon review of Jaclyn Moriarty's "Spell Book of Listen Taylor"


Well Written, But Who's It For?, August 14, 2007
By 
This review is from: The Spell Book Of Listen Taylor (Hardcover)
This book threw me off a bit. The Spell Book of Listen Taylor begins by focusing on a seventh grader named Listen Taylor, addressing her troubles with her old friends at a new school. Listen finds an odd spell book and the spells might actually work, though Listen seems less informed than readers about the spells' outcomes. (Despite the wonderful cover, this is NOT a fantasy--it's contemporary realism with hints of whimsy and magical realism.) Anyway, I quickly allied myself with Listen as the main character, only to find that she was a member of an ensemble cast--many of whom are adult characters.

The narrative is framed by the Zing Family Secret, which impacts a surprising number of lives. Listen's father's girlfriend Marbie is a Zing, and a large portion of the book is about Marbie, Marbie's sister Fancy, and Fancy's daughter Cassie's second-grade teacher, whose name is Cath. I should note that people cheating on their spouses or boyfriends is a strong thread running through the narrative. It occurs three and a half times in key subplots--the half being an imaginary affair. (The affairs are treated as troubling, but not entirely objectionable.)

Of course, readers will spend much of the book trying to guess the Zing Family Secret; it turns out to be both ordinary and extraordinary when it is finally revealed. Moriarty's characters are likable and the humor is subtly ironic. There are also a number of fresh plot points and details, plus the author has a very appealing voice.

I soon found myself wondering, however, whether this is truly a book for Young Adults. The majority of the book is about the adult characters, which is usually a no-no when writing for children or teens. Listen's piece of the plot is certainly compelling--Moriarty captures the random cruelty of middle schoolers with laser-like precision. But Marbie, Fancy, and Cath--grown-ups understandably preoccupied with their adult relationships--are given an awful lot of page time. A reader Listen's age may be unwilling to sit through long passages about adult women's lives (mothers, teachers, and grandmothers, no less!), but perhaps older teens will.

In a way, what throws me here is the juxtaposition of the story of a cluster of affairs with the humorously cloak-and-dagger plot line of the Zing Family Secret, as well as with Listen's school troubles. These story strands feel like they could have been three different books. Connections are eventually made between the strands, but in the meantime, they make for a slightly uneven braid.

Yet I found a lot to like about the book. Certain characters are particularly intriguing--Cassie, the second grader, could do with her own book, in my opinion. And there are so many nice touches, like the thread about hot-air balloons and the role of pies in one of the subplots, also a sly, funny bit about writer's block--how writing manages to emerge in someone's life even when she thinks she's stuck. Obviously, I have mixed feelings about The Spell Book of Listen Taylor, but I'll end by happily vouching for Jaclyn Moriarty' talent.

P.S. Update: It's been a few weeks, and I just have to say, "Aha!" Last night I read a Horn Book review that says Listen Taylor is "a revised version of an adult novel." So that explains a lot!
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Monday, April 2, 2012

Taglish, Pidgin, Theory of Relation - MELUS excerpt


The politics of relation: Creole languages in Dogeaters and Rolling the R's.(Taglish and Hawaiian Pidgin )

Article from: MELUS | March 22, 2004 | Nubla, Gladys | 
On March 25, 1990, a review of Jessica Hagedorn's novel Dogeaters appeared on the cover of The New York Times Book Review. While the review was generally favorable, the reviewer offered this critique of the use of different languages in the book:
 
      There are times when, reading "Dogeaters," one wishes for not 
   only an intimate knowledge of contemporary Manila society, but also 
   of Spanish and Tagalog. Filipino English [Taglish] will be an 
   unfamiliar dialect to most readers. Conveying its nuances to an 
   English-speaking readership is a task Ms. Hagedorn has set herself 
   but one in which she has not quite succeeded. [...] It's amusing to 
   interbreed the languages and the music like that. But I'd like to 
   know what it means. 
 
      Maybe because there is no equivalent, there is no colloquial way 
   of talking about merienda in English ("a light meal in the late 
   afternoon or evening"), let alone kundiman and halo-halo. Or no 
   equivalent for any of the hundreds of other non-English expressions 
   that pepper Ms. Hagedorn's pages. [...] The exoticisms become 
   tiresome, more a nervous tic than a desire to make connection across 
   the gulf of culture. (D'Alpuget 38)
In remarking that "conveying [Taglish's] nuances to an English-speaking readership is a task Ms. Hagedorn has set herself but one in which she has not quite succeeded," the reviewer reveals her misapprehensions about Hagedorn's use of Taglish in the novel, assuming that failure stems from Hagedorn's unwillingness to translate and make indigenous culture easy to understand for Anglophone consumers. Indeed, the remark assumes that the author is supposed to cater to this particular English-speaking American audience and inadvertently points to a hierarchization of languages that reflects the global division of labor in the political economy of the United States, where English is privileged over both Tagalog, a language of a former American colony, and Spanish, the language of many of America's underclass immigrants. (1)
Despite what this New York Times book review suggests, Hagedorn uses a rather superficial form of Taglish, an almost inaccurate depiction of the Taglish used in Manila, which comprises much more Tagalog than English. Rather, the sprinkling of Tagalog and Spanish words and phrases among the English words in the novel stimulates a dynamic among the various languages quite different from the way Standard English is deployed in the United States. The novel, set in the Philippine martial law period, depicts Manila society and politics in the 1970s, focusing on the experiences of characters that are considered marginal by the society in which they lived: the daughters, wives, and sisters of powerful male senators and generals as well as working-class Filipinas and impoverished male sex workers. The moments in the novel where Taglish is present amid the predominantly English text present us with a cultural sensibility that evokes the author's perception of Manila during Martial Law (1972-1986).
More specifically than in Dogeaters, R. Zamora Linmark's novel Rolling the R's dramatizes this opposition between English and a creole language. Rolling the R's depicts a culture where Hawai'i Creole English (HCE) or Pidgin, the language regularly used by the local, poor, working-class Filipino American residents in the novel, is considered far inferior to "standard" English and is regulated by the education system. Here, Pidgin is linked to marginalized identities, particularly sexualized and racialized identities: for example, Edgar Ramirez, as a young gay Filipino boy, is deemed sexually and racially unacceptable to the traditional values of Hawai'i's Filipino communities. The novel follows the lives of a cast of ten-year-old fifth-graders who are considered outcasts in the economically depressed community of Kalihi in 1970s Hawai'i. This cast includes not only Edgar, but Katrina, a sexually promiscuous girl; Florante, a recent immigrant from the Philippines who is fluent in several languages and is a brilliant poet; and Vicente, a sexually repressed boy who allows himself to soar only when he performs Donna Summer songs.
But imagine how different these two novels would be without the so-called "exoticisms." The worlds that Hagedorn and Linmark create through language are created mostly through their use of these creole languages, and we find that the use of Taglish in Dogeaters and of Pidgin in Rolling the R's deploys third spaces (2) that mimic the real social relations and physical realities of many Filipinos in the Philippines and the diaspora (Lefebvre 80-83). (3) In the case of Dogeaters, rather than reaching across that mental gulf from the shores of the Philippines to those of the United States in order to educate Americans about Philippine culture per se, the novel is already functioning and working in a third and specifically transnational space apart from both national abstractions. Because it is created through the use of Taglish, this third space is characterized by the creole, or mestizo, sensibility of media and consumption in the imagined Philippine market. Meanwhile, the languages used in Rolling the R's--primarily Hawai'i Pidgin, Taglish, as well as other types of speech including disco lingo and gossip--portray young Filipino American characters living at the fringes of both the American mainstream and the Filipino community of Kalihi, an impoverished area of an island state that is itself at the periphery of the US nation-state.
This essay considers Taglish and Hawai'i Pidgin as creole languages in Edouard Glissant's sense and examines their relationships to mass consumerism and popular culture with regard to the workings of transnational capitalism in the Philippines and Hawai'i, respectively. In my readings of the novels, Taglish and Pidgin are determined not only by the history of American colonialism in the Philippines and Hawai'i but also by class, race, gender, and sexuality. Both languages, at this particular historical moment, effectively expose the logic and effects of global capitalism: neocolonialism, cultural hegemony, center-periphery relationships, and a global division of labor where migrant laborers from economically disadvantaged countries are heavily exploited and abused by host countries. I argue that the use of the creole languages in the novels sustains an effective critique of both American cultural hegemony in former US colonies and the "common culture" as articulated by the related discourses of American multiculturalism and nationalism in the actual political and cultural economy in which the novels circulate as commodities.
Taglish, Pidgin, and the Theory of Relation
Glissant privileges creolization as a site of resistance in a certain kind of center-periphery relationship: a nation's colonial or neocolonial relationship with its (former) colonizers. According to his theory, "creolization approximates the idea of Relation," which is global, multilingual, open, and always changing (34). Creole language, then, as connected to creole culture, evinces the logic of Relation, constantly changing as a result of influxes of different languages and new practices, …
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Joaquin Sabina, singer from Spain


(courtesy of Wikipedia and Google Translate)

Se peinaba a lo garçon
la viajera que quiso enseñarme a besar
en la gare d'Austerlitz.

Primavera de un amor
amarillo y frugal como el sol
del veranillo de san Martín.

Hay quien dice que fui yo
el primero en olvidar
cuando en un si bemol de Jacques Brel
conocí a mademoiselle Amsterdam.

En la fatua Nueva York
da más sombra que los limoneros
la estatua de la libertad,

pero en desolation row
las sirenas de los petroleros
no dejan reír ni volar

y, en el coro de Babel,
desafina un español.
No hay más ley que la ley del tesoro
en las minas del rey Salomón.

Y desafiando el oleaje
sin timón ni timonel,
por mis sueños va, ligero de equipaje,
sobre un cascarón de nuez,
mi corazón de viaje,
luciendo los tatuajes
de un pasado bucanero,
de un velero al abordaje,
de un no te quiero querer.

Y cómo huir
cuando no quedan
islas para naufragar
al país
donde los sabios se retiran
del agravio de buscar
labios que sacan de quicio,
mentiras que ganan juicios
tan sumarios que envilecen
el cristal de los acuarios
de los peces de ciudad

que mordieron el anzuelo,
que bucean a ras del suelo,
que no merecen nadar.

El Dorado era un champú,
la virtud unos brazos en cruz,
el pecado una página web.

En Comala comprendí
que al lugar donde has sido feliz
no debieras tratar de volver.

Cuando en vuelo regular
pisé el cielo de Madrid
me esperaba una recién casada
que no se acordaba de mí.

Y desafiando el oleaje
sin timón ni timonel,
por mis venas va, ligero de equipaje,
sobre un cascarón de nuez,
mi corazón de viaje,
luciendo los tatuajes
de un pasado bucanero,
de un velero al abordaje,
de un liguero de mujer.

Y cómo huir
cuando no quedan
islas para naufragar
al país
donde los sabios se retiran
del agravio de buscar
labios que sacan de quicio,
mentiras que ganan juicios
tan sumarios que envilecen
el cristal de los acuarios
de los peces de ciudad

que perdieron las agallas
en un banco de morralla,
en una playa sin mar.


Joaquín Ramón Martínez Sabina (Úbeda, Jaén, Spain, 12 February 1949), known artistically as Joaquín Sabina, is a singer, songwriter, and poet. He has released fourteen studio albums, two live albums, and three compilation albums. He has collaborated and composed songs for Ana Belén, Olga Román andMiguel Ríos amongst others.
He performed both solo and with a group for his live albums, performing withJavier Krahe and Alberto Pérez in La mandrágora, the group Viceversa in a 1986 concert, and with Joan Manuel Serrat in "Dos pájaros de un tiro" (Two birds with one stone).
Sabina suffered a stroke in 2001 and although he physically recovered, he entered a deep depression which resulted in a four-year-long concert hiatus.[1]He recovered and released his eighteenth album, Alivio de Luto, in November 2005. He released his latest album, Vinagre y rosas, in 2009.

Contents

  [hide] 

[edit]Biography and career

[edit]Early years

Joaquín Sabina, is the second son of Adela Sabina del Campo and Jerónimo Martinez Gallego. His father was a policeman. He attended a Carmelite primary school and he started writing his first poems and composing music at the age of 14. He was part of a band called Merry Youngs which imitated singers such as Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Little Richard, as well as many others.
He attended a high school run by the Salesians of Don Bosco and during this period he began reading works by Fray Luis de León, Jorge Manrique, José Hierro, Marcel Proust, James Joyce and Herbert Marcuse.
After completing high school, his father wanted him to follow in his footsteps and become a police officer but he refused, saying that he preferred the guitar. In his song La del pirata cojo he says he fantasises about living different lives, but he would not even joke about becoming a police officer.

[edit]A refugee in London

He then enrolled in the University of Philosophy and Philology of Granada, reading philology in the faculty. There, he read the poetry of Pablo Neruda and César Vallejo. Sabina lived at first with a woman called Lesley and started to prepare his thesis.
His revolutionary ideology led him to be related to the anti-fascist groups. In 1970, he began collaborating with the magazine "Poesía 70", sharing pages with Carlos Cano and Luis Eduardo Aute, he then left the university, going into exile in Londonusing a fake passport under the name Mariano Zugasti, to avoid persecution from Francisco Franco's government after throwing a Molotov cocktail into a government building. That same year, his father received an order to arrest Sabina due to his anti-Franco ideals.[2]
In 1975, Sabina started writing songs and singing at local bars. In a local bar called "Mexicano-Taverna" Sabina performed in the presence of George Harrison, who was celebrating his birthday. The ex-Beatle then gave Sabina a five-pound note as tip, which Sabina still preserves to this day. When Franco's dictatorship ended in 1975, Sabina returned to Spain and joined the army but, feeling imprisoned, he got married in order to be able to sleep outside the barracks.

[edit]After the return

Sabina's first album, Inventario (Inventory) was released in 1978 by a small label Movieplay. He describes this album "as his own version of death metal", but the album largely went unnoticed. Afterwards, he moved to the powerful CBS (today Sony) and released malas compañías (bad companies). This album gave Sabina his first number-one hit single "Pongamos que hablo de Madrid"[3] (Let's say I'm talking about Madrid), and the artist attained wide recognition. He released a live album called La mandrágora (The Mandrake), sharing the spotlight with bandmates Javier Krahe and Alberto Pérez. The trio enjoyed much popularity due to their participation in a TV program. La Mandrágora created much controversy due to the racy and political content of the lyrics.
Sabina released his third album Ruleta Rusa (Russian Roulette) in 1983 and two years later, Juez y Parte (Judge and Side). His political views led him to take part in the anti-NATO movement. He later released Joaquín Sabina y Viceversa en directo, his first live album, recorded in the Salamanca theatre in Madrid. In this album, the singer collaborates with other singers such as Javier Krahe, Javier Gurruchaga, and Luis Eduardo Aute.
In 1987 he released Hotel, Dulce Hotel (Hotel, Sweet Hotel), which sold a large number of records in Spain. That success followed with his next album El Hombre del Traje Gris (The Man in the Gray Suit), and followed with a successful tour of South America. This was followed by the released Mentiras Piadosas (White Lies) in 1990, and two years later Física y Química(Chemistry and Physics), which led to another successful tour of the Americas.
His later albums Esta boca es mía (This Mouth is Mine), yo, mi, me, contigo[4] (i, my, myself, with you) and 19 Días y 500 Noches (19 Days and 500 Nights), won him more recognition and multiple platinum albums.
After recovering from a stroke,[5] he returned to the stage in 2002 with Dímelo en la Calle (Tell me on the Street or Dare to say that outside). He later released a double album called Diario de un peatón (A Pedestrian's Diary), which included both his previous album and 12 new songs, along with a book illustrated by him.
In 2005 Sabina's released a new record Alivio de luto (Mourning Relief). The album release was accompanied by a DVD that includes interviews, music videos, acoustic versions of the songs, and home-made recordings.
In 2007, he went on tour with Spanish singer Joan Manuel Serrat, called Dos Pájaros de un Tiro (Two birds with one stone)and they recorded a CD of this tour, which includes the DVD of the concert and a documentary.[6]
In 2009, he received the prize of the city of Madrid from the mayor Alberto Ruiz Gallardón, who said that he was one of the most important people who had given a good image to the city.[7] This year, he published his 15th studio album, Vinagre y Rosas (Vinegar and Roses), an album in which he collaborated with his producers Pancho Varona and Antonio García de Diego, and with the band Pereza. The first single of the album is the song Tiramisu de limón (Lemon Tiramisu), sung with Ruben and Leiva, the members of Pereza. For the promotional video, he collaborated with the actress and singer Mónica Molina. Finally the album was published the December 14th, entering directly to the first position of the Spanish album chart.

Her hair styled in a bobthe traveler who wanted to teach me to kissAt Austerlitz station.  .
Spring loveyellow and frugal as the sunthe Indian summer.
Some say it was meforget the firstwhen a Jacques Brel BbI met Mademoiselle Amsterdam.
In the fatwa New Yorkgives more shade than the lemonthe Statue of Liberty,
but desolation rowthe sirens of the oilleave no laugh or fly
and in the choir of Babel,a Spanish tune.There is no law but the law of treasurein the mines of King Solomon.
And defying the waveswithout rudder or helmsman,for my dreams go, traveling light,on a nut shell,my heart travelsporting tattoosa buccaneer past,to board a sailboat,I do not want an accident.
And how to escapewhen there are noislands to sinkthe countrywhere the sages are removedgrievance to seeklips that get on his nerves,lies earning judgmentssummary so that degradeglass aquariaof fish in town
that took the bait,who dive storey,undeserving swim.
El Dorado was a shampoo,virtue arms outstretched,sin a website.
In Comala understoodthat the place where you've been happyyou should not try to return.
When regular flightI trod heaven in MadridI expected a bridehe did not remember me.
And defying the waveswithout rudder or helmsman,going through my veins, lightweight luggage,on a nut shell,my heart travelsporting tattoosa buccaneer past,to board a sailboat,a woman's league.
And how to escapewhen there are noislands to sinkthe countrywhere the sages are removedgrievance to seeklips that get on his nerves,lies earning judgmentssummary so that degradeglass aquariaof fish in town
who lost the gutstrash in a bank,on a beach without sea.
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