The Malaysian Insider :: Books
The Malaysian Insider :: Books |
| Review of ‘literary blah’ wins 2013 mauling award Posted: 13 Feb 2013 07:03 AM PST  screencap of the winner of the "Hatchet Job of the Year". The "Hatchet Job of the Year", run by British literary criticism website The Omnivore, was set up to promote integrity and wit in literary jouralism and is awarded to the "angriest, funniest, most trenchant book review". Literary heavyweights are as game for a public mauling as lesser known writers with reviews of works by novelists Martin Amis and Salman Rushdie and former poet laureate Andrew Motion among the shortlist for the 2013 award. But a panel of three journalists and writers chose Sunday Times journalist Camilla Long over seven others as the winner for the second annual award for her review of "Aftermath". Long, who wins a year's supply of potted shrimp, described the book as bizarre and "a needy, neurotic mandolin solo of reflections on child sacrifice and asides about drains". "I thought what was wonderful about Camilla's review was that it totally hatcheted the book, but in such an intriguing way that I then thought I must read "Aftermath" - and did, and loved it because it was just as weird as Camilla said," said judge Lynn Barber, a Sunday Times journalist, in a statement. "So a hatchet job isn't necessarily a turnoff." Among those with the harshest verdicts over the last year were Ron Charles of the Washington Post for his review of Amis's "Lionel Asbo", and Zoe Heller for her critique of Rushdie's memoir "Joseph Anton" in the New York Review of Books. Heller took Rushdie to task for what she called his "magisterial amour propre." Motion, poet laureate until 2009, fell foul of the London Evening Standard's Claire Harman for his "Silver: A Return to Treasure Island", in which she described the characters "as wooden as absent Silver's leg." In the Mail on Sunday, Craig Brown accused Richard Bradford of plagiarising himself in "The Odd Couple", while Allan Massie damned Craig Raine with faint praise in the Scotsman, writing of "The Divine Comedy" that "Raine can spell. That much must be admitted." Suzanne Moore of The Guardian slated Naomi Wolf's biography "Vagina," saying much of her work is "utter drivel" while Richard Evans in the New Statesman wrote that A.N. Wilson's judgments in "Hitler: A Short Biography" were "breathtaking in their banality." But the authors savaged by reviewers may yet have their revenge. Long is currently at work on her first book. — Reuters |
| Posted: 13 Feb 2013 12:13 AM PST  Phiwayinkosi Mbuyazi has created 450 new words in Zulu, the mother tongue of a quarter of South Africa's 50 million population. – Picture courtesy of ©marema/shutterstock.com Determined not to use English as a crutch, Phiwayinkosi Mbuyazi instead created 450 new words in Zulu, the mother tongue of a quarter of South Africa's 50 million population. His book, titled Amayiphendleya, is an adventure tale about four teenage boys and the wonders of technology. For the first time in Zulu history they come across an isilolongamoya - a machine that controls the air temperature, or air conditioner. They also come to terms with umnukubalo,(pollution) and with ubungqonela (colonialism), both words derived from their function or sound. Mbuyazi said his creations were motivated by a realisation that Zulu has not kept up with the developments in almost all major sectors of knowledge. "It now lacks the terminology that would allow one to hold a conversation, let alone write a book." The 41-year-old is dismissive of traditionalists who would keep isiZulu—of the Zulu language—"pure." "Many people speak proudly about preserving isiZulu but the truth is by keeping it unchanged we are contributing to its death," he said. "Languages evolve, and isiZulu need not be left behind, otherwise it will become irrelevant," he told AFP. He hopes that the new words will catch on with the legions people who speak Zulu as a first and second language, and eventually become part of everyday vocabulary. But the author's own path shows how many hurdles exist. He had to set up his own publishing company after several mainstream houses turned him down, saying there was "no market for Zulu literature." A recent industry survey showed no Zulu books were published in 2011, except for religious or school books. Some 33 books were published in Afrikaans, which is spoken by around seven million people in South Africa. But Mbuyazi feels that little has been done to create the market for Zulu readers. The Oxford University graduate is trying to change that. He compiles a crossword puzzle for the Sunday Times Zulu edition and wants to use his company, Mbuyazi Publishing, to get Zulu writers published. So far the company has produced his three books. Despite its shortfalls, Zulu has some major advantages compared to South Africa's eight other indigenous African languages. It is the only South African language besides English and Afrikaans in which a major national newspaper is produced. The first Zulu newspaper Ilanga (The Sun) as published in 1903 by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) founding leader John Langalibalele Dube. It is still in existence and has faces fierce competition from Isolezwe (The Eye of the Nation), which is owned by Irish media mogul Denis O'Brien. Mbuyazi's work has caught the attention of academics, some of whom caution against words being created on the hop. Professor Nhlanhla Mathonsi who is an African Languages researcher at the University of KwaZulu Natal warned that "people must not make up words just for the sake of it". "Creating new words takes a deep understanding of the language and it nuances... words should not confuse people but enlighten them," he added. – AFP-Relaxnews |
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