The Malaysian Insider :: Books
The Malaysian Insider :: Books |
| Chinese family seeks to return books in 70-year vow Posted: 16 Oct 2013 11:45 PM PDT A Chinese family is seeking a former Jewish refugee in Shanghai to return 2,000 of his books they kept safe for 70 years, media reports said today. Shanghai was home to tens of thousands of Jewish refugees who fled Nazi persecution in Europe from the 1930s. One of them, a Jewish schoolteacher, left books with Lin Daozhi for safekeeping when he left China in 1943, the China Daily newspaper reported. He is believed to be a German Jew named Carl Anger, based on a card dated 1947 and found with the books, it said. They include religious works in Hebrew, English and German as well as children's tomes. The books narrowly escaped destruction by the invading Japanese during World War II and again by China's rampaging Red Guards during the chaotic Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976. But the Lin family's 108-square-foot home, which sheltered the texts for decades, is now scheduled for demolition and his descendants – he died in 1981 aged 93 – hope to return them. "After keeping these books for seven decades, we are seeking help... because the room we use to store these books is going to be pulled down," Lin's daughter-in-law told the Global Times newspaper. A local library is storing the works while the family seeks the assistance of the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum to find the original owner or his relatives. – AFP, October 17, 2013. |
| Morrissey’s Autobiography a classic before it’s even been read Posted: 16 Oct 2013 05:22 PM PDT The decision to promote his memoirs under the respected Penguin Classics imprint puts the former lead singer of the Smiths in the company of Oscar Wilde, Thomas Hardy and Virgil. Morrissey, 54, told the BBC two years ago that he wanted the book, titled simply Autobiography, to come out as a Penguin Classic, an imprint started at Penguin with a translation of Homer's The Odyssey nearly 70 years ago. The publisher's acquiescence has provoked a debate between devoted fans who think Morrissey's words on love and loneliness can be nothing but classic, those who think its a joke, and others saying it devalues the Penguin Classics canon. Eoin Devereux, a senior sociology lecturer at Ireland's University of Limerick who has written a book about the singer's cultural impact, said his initial impression was that it was a typical irony-laden, self-deprecating request by Morrissey. "However after a while I genuinely thought 'Why not?'," he said yesterday. "It's a bold decision by Penguin. Why should the imprint just be for the dead? Morrissey is a classic in all senses of the word." Penguin noted on its website that Morrissey had been voted the second-greatest living British icon by BBC viewers behind natural history broadcaster David Attenborough in 2006. "It has been said 'Most pop stars have to be dead before they reach the iconic status that Morrissey has reached in his lifetime'," said the publisher, declining to comment further. A debate raged on Twitter with Seren Myamoto describing it as "narcissism at its finest". Beverly Stark said: "Don't books become classics when they have proved their worth over time?" Others viewed the issue as a joke, engineered to ensure publicity for the book which hits the shelves today. "Still giggling over Morrissey insisting his autobiography is published under the Penguin Classics imprint. Wonderful self-confidence," tweeted Jamie McKelvie. Devereux, who co-wrote the book Morrissey: Fandom, Representations and Identities, was confident the book – and Morrissey – would remain as relevant as the literary greats. "Morrissey is essentially a prose poet," he said. "His will be a lasting legacy." Morrissey, whose songs are rooted in a nostalgic vision of England, was saying nothing on the topic and only planned to hold one book signing in Gothenburg, Sweden, according to Penguin. He was lead singer of The Smiths, an indie rock band that released The Queen Is Dead and three other studio albums between 1984 and 1987, when they split up. He has subsequently been a solo performer. – Reuters, October 17, 2013. |
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