Other Voices, Other Vistas:: China, India, Japan, and Latin America

by Barbara H. Solomon

Book Overview

This collection of contemporary multi-cultural fiction includes stories by:

Bessie Head * Charles Mungoshi * Ngugi wa Thiong'o * Wang Anyi * Ding Ling * Wang Meng * Chen Rong * Lu Wenfu * Anita Desai * Mahasweta Devi * Ruth Prawer Jhabvala * R. K. Narayan * Khushwant Singh * Kobo Abe * Sawako Ariyoshi * Yasunari Kawabata * Yukio Mishima * Yuko Tsushima * Carlos Fuentes * Luisa Valenzuela * Nadine Gordimer * Isabel Allende

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451528409
• ISBN13: 9780451528407
• Release Date: June 2002
• Publisher: Signet Book
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 4.2" x 7.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Great Travel Book

I picked up this collection for a trip. It was a great collection to sit on the beach with. Each story is different and exciting. It's also nice to explore different cultures and think about your next great trip!

Around the world in 25 stories

"Other Voices, Other Vistas," edited by Barbara H. Solomon, is a wonderful anthology of stories. The selections in the book are grouped by geographic region into 5 sections, each containing 5 stories. The regions represented are Africa, China, India, Japan, and Latin America. In her introduction, Solomon notes that all of the stories are written by major authors who had published fiction after World War II.The group of 25 authors is full of noteworthy names: Chinua Achebe, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Jorge Luis Borges, and more. The themes in the anthology include love, marriage, parenthood, oppressive governments, art, religion, economic struggle, ideological conflict, and cultural dislocation. The modes range from fantasy to stark reality--there is violence and serenity, beauty and grotesqueness, sorrow and humor.I especially loved the Chinese stories, which give a vivid portrayal of life under the Communist regime--it's like a real life dystopia. Other strong selections include Yukio Mishima's "Acts of Worship," about a professor's pilgrimage; Isabel Allende's "Clarisa," a colorful character study; and R.K. Narayan's "A Horse and Two Goats," a story of cross-cultural miscommunication. Overall, I would recommend this book both as a classroom text and for individual reading. Recommended companion text: "Caribbean New Wave," a short story anthology edited by Stewart Brown.

Wonderful collection for all, who like reading short stories

This is a pocket-size book, that contains short stories from the best international authors. Each story is a good one. Each one is different from the next. So, this book is good not only for college classes, but anyone who enjoys reading short stories from Asian, Latin, and African authors.

Valuable for students & Delightful to read for anyone...

This collection is valuable to the teachers in humanities classes, because it opens up their students' minds (hopefully) to the new and often previously completely unknown world of different cultures. Many best authors are chosen from each culture. All stories, without exception will bring something new to you as a reader, and the reading itself will be nothing but a sheer delight!!!! All stories will also make you think about your own culture and its values. Some stories will make you laugh, yet others will make you cry...

Read this book

This is a valuable book for the simple fact that it brings together excellent stories from around the world that need to be preserved and read and passed along, in a manner that is professional and organized. I am grateful to the editor and publisher for this book, and hope it remains in print for a very long time so I can use it in classes I teach on International Short Stories.