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View Poll Results: Multiple Choice - Which region should we use for nominations this month? | |||
Sub-Saharan Africa |
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2 | 18.18% |
North Africa & The Middle East |
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1 | 9.09% |
Southeast Europe |
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3 | 27.27% |
Portugal, Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain & France |
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1 | 9.09% |
North & Central Europe |
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1 | 9.09% |
Ireland & The U.K. |
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1 | 9.09% |
Canada & The U.S.A. |
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9 | 81.82% |
The South Pacific |
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2 | 18.18% |
Southeast Asia |
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4 | 36.36% |
Japan |
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2 | 18.18% |
The Korean Peninsula, Mongolia & China |
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2 | 18.18% |
South Asia |
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2 | 18.18% |
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 11. You may not vote on this poll |
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#1 |
languorous autodidact ✦
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Region Nominations • February 2013
Help us select what the MR Literary Club will read for February 2013!
The category for this month is: Region Canada & the U.S.A., as chosen in the poll This month is a two-part process: The first part begins with a one-day poll to determine the region we will use. It is multiple choice and you may choose as many options as you like when voting. This voting is separate from your nominations. There are no nominations during the poll, only voting. I will not vote in the poll, and if there is a tie, I will break it. As soon as the poll is over and the region is determined, then the second part (nominations) starts and you can begin nominating like normal. This will run for three days until February 5. We no longer aim for a certain number of fully nominated works; rather, we now only aim for a certain length of time for nominations (three days). Nominations can be set in any region, but they should be written by an author from that region. Notes: -Regions are named in the poll and colour-coded on the map. Region names are generalities and not exact. -If a country or territory is too small to show regional colour on the map, it will be part of the region closest to it physically and culturally. If you are unsure, just ask. -I had help making the regions list that was much appreciated. -Previously chosen regions currently ineligible: Latin America Central Asia, East Europe & Russia Once the poll is over and nominations begin: In order for a work to be included in the poll it needs four nominations - the original nomination plus three supporting. Each participant has four nominations to use. You can nominate a new work for consideration or you can support (second, third or fourth) a work that has already been nominated by another person. To nominate a work just post a message with your nomination. If you are the first to nominate a work, it's always nice to provide an abstract to the work so others may consider their level of interest. What is literature for the purposes of this club? A superior work of lasting merit that enriches the mind. Often it is important, challenging, critically acclaimed. It may be from ancient times to today; it may be from anywhere in the world; it may be obscure or famous, short or long; it may be a story, a novel, a play, a poem, an essay or another written form. If you are unsure if a work would be considered literature, just ask! The floor is now open! * Nominations are now closed. Final results are: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - Fully nominated Spoiler:
Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich by Stephen Leacock - Fully nominated Spoiler:
Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington - Fully nominated Spoiler:
The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway - Fully nominated Spoiler:
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck - Fully nominated Spoiler:
Fifth Business by Robertson Davies - Fully nominated Spoiler:
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - Fully nominated Spoiler:
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller - 3 Spoiler:
The Colour Purple by Alice Walker - 1 Spoiler:
A Separate Peace by John Knowles - 3 Spoiler:
Rabbit, Run by John Updike - 2 Spoiler:
Finnie Walsh by Steven Galloway - 1 Spoiler:
Last edited by sun surfer; 02-05-2013 at 03:38 AM. |
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#2 |
Wizard
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I don't wanna influence anyone which region to choose, I just wanna mention that in this post
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...&postcount=163 in the February book voting-thread fantasyfan brought up the idea to propose "Lolita" for the next discussion in this club here if it fits the category. I personally find it a very good idea. In this case the region would be US/Canada as the alternative Russia is not available this time. |
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#3 | |
Nameless Being
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Quote:
Perhaps we need a ruling from Sun Surfer? |
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#4 |
o saeclum infacetum
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^^sun surfer's said that it's up to the members' judgment.
As I posted elsewhere, I think Lolita is clearly an American novel. Nabokov was a US citizen, the book was written in English and it's set in the USA. An American novel must perforce have been written by an American. I think sometimes you have to be squishy to get it right. |
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#5 | |
Wizard
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Quote:
He's an American version of Joseph Conrad. Conrad was born in Poland, spoke English with an accent, became a UK citizen and is regarded by everyone as the greatest English novelist post-Dickens. Conrad represents, contributed to and is from the English literary tradition--not the Polish. Nabokov is in a very similar position. Last edited by fantasyfan; 02-01-2013 at 09:32 AM. |
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#6 |
Nameless Being
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I am also comfortable with calling Nabokov an American, especially for Lolita. In no small part because may appetite has been whetted for reading and discussing Lolita here by some means.
My concern is where it might lead once the criteria is made squishy. Is Out of Africa by a author from North & Central Europe or by an author from Sub-Saharan Africa? Is Kim by an author from Ireland & The U.K. or South Asia? Then my main concern with getting squishy is opening the scope of what are, at least culturally and from a point of view, American, Canadian, and United Kingdom authors, to the entire world. Really the opposite of any contention over Nabokov. ![]() So I've voted so as to cover all the bases for what I would like to see next. Ideally Lolita, and if not . . . |
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#7 |
Grand Sorcerer
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I think I'd vote Nabokov as American, but then someone like Rohinton Mistry is definitely Indian, despite living in Canada.
Why am I the only one interested in SouthEast Europe? ![]() I disagree with Lolita as the next choice, but that's me. The part of me that hopes Lolita wins is so that it can be removed from further book nomination discussions. Last edited by HomeInMyShoes; 02-01-2013 at 10:36 AM. |
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#8 |
Lunatic
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I'm on board the Lolita train.
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#9 |
The Dank Side of the Moon
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Hey! What about the Arctic and the Great White North???
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#10 |
Grand Sorcerer
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^Canada is the Great White North you hoser.
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#11 |
Wizard
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it won't be me stopping the Lolita train - only, I fear my copy may still be in a box (from the last removal four years ago!), and i wouldn't want to buy a second copy for a reread.. but I am jumping gun here
![]() I've also selected something that feels more exotic to read, though it would be very nice to have a good, adult discussion on Lolita. |
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#12 |
languorous autodidact ✦
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I'll give some background info on coming up with this category -
I basically had two choices on region guidelines - either that a book be mostly set in that region, or the author be from that region. I chose the latter to prevent a region's nominations being filled up with foreigners writing fiction about a region, especially that every region may then have many U.S./U.K. author nominations since those countries have such huge and well-known literary traditions. That would defeat the purpose of sampling a region's literature, so I felt the more authentic approach was defining it by where the author comes from. After that, I could've said an author should be from the region and the book should be set in that region, but I didn't want to automatically eliminate so many books from fitting in any region, since many are set in places that the author is not from, and aside from other countries, there are even locations such as books set on the ocean, unknown or unnamed locations or science-fiction books set not on the earth, etc. That said, I still knew there would be some books that would be sticky to categorise and still may not fit in any region, and this could include some ancient authors whose ancient regions were different from current ones (which, for example, is one reason I put Turkey in the same region as Greece instead of its current more closely culturally aligned neighbours in the Middle East) and authors who moved, especially ones who became citizens of another country. I figured this probably wouldn't be much of a problem but that we'd just take any questions on a case by case basis. I was deliberate in my guideline wording. I purposely left out "originally" before "from" to leave a little wiggle room for authors such as Kazuo Ishiguro who moved at a young age. But in general, my intent in the wording was an author who grew up in and therefore was culturally aligned with a region, despite where they may be while writing a book. Ironically enough, I specifically thought of Nabokov and Lolita while writing the guidelines for the category as a sort most extreme example I could think of that could challenge the guidelines (and since he was mentioned, I'll note that I also thought of Conrad too). My conclusion was that some few books just may not fit any region really under the spirit of the guidelines and would be better nominated in some other month. Having thought of Lolita while writing the guidelines, I’m really amazed it's now come up not only as a possible nomination but one that people want to push through to a win before the nominations even start and are using it to choose a region. Reading some of your posts now, I feel ambivalent on the issue. Though I feel that perhaps technically Nabokov could be considered "from" the U.S. after a certain point, I still think that Lolita as a nomination for the U.S. wouldn't really fit the spirit of the category, and, as Hamlet53 pointed out, a concern is also where things might lead once the criteria is made so squishy, as he put it. Also, I'm not particularly enthused about a particular region winning in a landslide based on the prospect of nominating one particular book, even if that book definitely fit that region. It just feels a bit like trying to choose your chick before the hen's even laid the eggs. All that said, I'm happy with Canada & the U.S. (presumably) winning and am looking forward to whatever the nominations may bring once the poll's over. ![]() And to be clear, as issybird mentioned above, it’s up to the group to decide on this one through nominations and voting. |
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#13 | |
Nameless Being
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#14 |
Indie Advocate
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I actually didn't vote for US/Can despite my happiness to read Lolita. I thought I'd go for Sub-Saharan Africa because I'd be very interested to read Nigerian author Nnedi Okorafor, South Asia because I'd like to read India's Arundhati Roy and South Pacific because I'm patriotic.
![]() I'm swimming upstream here - but I must just be in the mood for a bit of David vs Goliath. |
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#15 |
Snoozing in the sun
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I voted for Canada/US, Ireland and the UK, and North and Central Europe, the last two mainly because they were looking unloved.
![]() I think part of the push to get "Lolita" up is indignation that a book considered by most serious readers as one of the great works of the 20th century could be traduced by being described as in praise of paedophilia, and a book which should be banned from MR as not being "family friendly". It certainly made me feel that the barbarians were at the gates and that I needed to take a stand on behalf of artistic freedom from censorship. Last edited by Bookpossum; 02-01-2013 at 10:14 PM. |
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