Happy Columbus Day, everybody.
For those of you who actually have the day off and some spare time to read, here’s some suggested literature about ethnocentrism, colonialism, and genocide:
Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave by Aphra Behn
Actually one of the earliest British novels. Behn is more open minded and sympathetic on this subject than many who would come after her.
Extracts from journals by Christopher Columbus
Not sure which text this orginated from, but I feel all right in trusting Fordham’s sources. An interesting read, and although he wasn’t as outright murderous as I had assumed, the man was undoubtedly a egomaniac with a God complex.
What Is The What by Dave Eggers
An excellent and harrowing “novel” tha will remind you that humans really aren’t all that different than we were 517 years ago, or 517 years before that.
The Sneetches by Dr. Suess
If only more people would actually listen to Dr. Suess…
Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee
An excellent inside out allegory every bit deserving of the Nobel prize it received.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Haven’t read this since high school, and all I remember is that yams were really important to daily life. Thanks public high school.
Other suggestions: Kim (Kipling), Heart of Darkness (Conrad), The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation (Anderson)
