Want to dig a bit deeper, stretch a bit wider, discover unique insights in your reading? So do I! That's why we literary nomads explore beyond the comfortable beach read. Subscribe for podcasts and video, fiction and poetry, essays and online courses, unexpected freebies, and ways to lever your literacy into activism! For students of all ages, educators of all kinds, and just plain out litterateurs!
On Tranquility, Banality, and Toppling My Language Comfort
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30 Nov 2025 Stripping Away Our ConfidenceReader, So I've been reading like a mad fool in preparation for my next book, and occasionally I come across concepts that catch my attention. This past week, it was the problem of post-colonial literatures, that writers from the Global South are perpetually challenged to present their stories (and the local meanings from them) into a package we call English--that is, if they expect them to find an audience. Chinua Achebe a long time ago talked about the problem as an English griot, one accepting of the responsibility of authentic storyteller--and one whose audience was outside his village--but who had to "make do" with the language of the colonizer. But new writers are, more and more, doing more than "make do." Thinking transculturally, they see English as no longer "belonging" to any single nation or culture. They can turn it to their own devices, bend or revise its rules. When writing (and not always "writing back" anymore, which implies the post-colonial relationship), they are "tactically stripping linguistic confidence from even the most fluent reader" (Bhabha), and that means US/UK readers. Who owns English? No one at all; it's a tool for any, prescriptible by none. And I don't know about you, but I love the idea of being linguistically imbalanced in my reading, of having someone teach me something new with it. So this isn't about writers like Rushdie or Joyce who actively/politically undermine the language in acts of resistance or sabotage. It's about writers like Tawada or Ishiguro or Arundhati Roy or Adichie or Hemon who make it their own to tell stories which work on their terms, not mine. And let's notice how powerfully this concept works against our approach to teaching "formal" or "proper" English, about our efforts to control how meaning operates, whether in education or in politics--of even our efforts to create a reading list we dare call "world literature." Yes, there are issues and questions to be addressed in such an approach, but underneath them is a basic shift: English is no longer seen as an obstacle (demanding resistance or compliance to) but as a challenge like any other in writing. And does it make my own reading less comfortable? More uncertain? Absolutely. Lean into it. Literary Nomads: When Literature Meets HistoryI finished our short series on Poe and horror with a deeper-cut examination of philosophy and horror, of cultural values and totalitarian evil. What is this trend we see of the senseless and sociopathic in the horror genre? Are we better off if our violence is without rational motive (Poe, Bataille) or if it depends, at last, on a genuine abdication of the one value we should preserve, the "necessity of care" (Cavarero, Le Guin)? It's an ugly choice, one that hinges on the utilitarianism---the concept of exchange---which attaches itself to our morality. But Hannah Arendt (of course she fits here, too) reminds us that the act of irrational and arbitrary violence is exactly the point of governance which at last recognizes the futility of capitalism and empire and chooses rule by terror. It is the "banality of evil" which is named in Le Guin's story. Next week, back to some "lighter" topics as we explore our methods for building utopias, what we call in our moment of splendor, "The Great Societies." Episodes ahead:
Have a question or comment about what we're talking about? Use that mailbag and let me know!
Calendar: Tranquility & EnlightenmentReflecting on peace and reconciliation (and a few cookies):
Book Review:Pet by Akwaeke Emezi (2019) Part Afrofuturism, part YA trauma awareness novel, Nigeria's Emezi creates a disturbing vision of a culture that has consciously repressed its painful histories and written healthier languages and behaviors across its surface; but when a supernatural monster, "Pet," arrives to push non-binary teen Jam to action against a dangerous local predator, no adult believes her. An impressive handling of several sensitive personal and social issues here for younger YA readers, all while finding a language to speak honesty in every space.
Read Palestine WeekThis year's Read Palestine week (Nov. 29 - Dec. 5) features a number of writers in all genres (from children's lit and cookbooks to history and poetry), available as eBooks for free download! I've already downloaded several, of course, but if you're looking to prioritize some choices as you broaden your reading lists, here are a few I recommend:
There's even a Palestinian-Filipino cookbook!
Designing my 2026 reading lists! Have a recommendation? Let me know! Need a recommendation? Let me know!
Steve What's Still Ahead?
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Waywords Studio
Want to dig a bit deeper, stretch a bit wider, discover unique insights in your reading? So do I! That's why we literary nomads explore beyond the comfortable beach read. Subscribe for podcasts and video, fiction and poetry, essays and online courses, unexpected freebies, and ways to lever your literacy into activism! For students of all ages, educators of all kinds, and just plain out litterateurs!