tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7120755123134887404.post8006526522643533585..comments2015-03-16T05:32:56.170-05:00Comments on A Common Fire: Writing in a Universal LanguageGale Kennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051295784299114920noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7120755123134887404.post-86620846976599589512008-06-09T15:22:00.000-05:002008-06-09T15:22:00.000-05:00Just a response in passing: I was recently in a Br...Just a response in passing: I was recently in a Brussels francophone bookstore where I saw an enormous stack of foreign literature translated into French. African, but also Pakistani, Israeli, Korean, Japanese. Lots of Japanese. When literature is successful, it gets translated into the languages such as English and French, Chinese and Arabic. We ought not to miss the fact that certain cultures put more emphasis on literature than on visual forms, rituals, dance, singing, and so forth, and their languages tend to win the semiotic war when it is fought on the literary front. Chinese mandarin wiped out Manchu as well as other minor languages, who remain alive in oral forms but do not have viable script tradition. I wonder if our African writers are not missing out on a fact long recognized by Césaire, namely, to write in the language of the "enemy" gives you a chance to love and critique them at the same time.Joyce Chenghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02352934552525664628noreply@blogger.com