2005-1-16
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English. I'm Steve
Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Faith Lapidus. Today we have the third and last part of
our series about writers and the immigrant experience.
VOICE ONE:
Last January we talked about Asian American writers. In December
it was writers with ties to Central and South America and the
Caribbean.
VOICE TWO:
Now, to complete our series, we look at four writers and the
influence of their ancestry in the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Elmaz Abinader was born to parents from Lebanon. The writer and
poet grew up in a small town in the eastern American state of
Pennsylvania.
Her family spoke mostly Arabic at home. She says her family was
very close, but at school other children insulted her for being
different. She looked for some connection between her two lives.
VOICE TWO:
Elmaz Abinader says everything
changed when she went to college. She took control of her identity.
She began to cook Middle Eastern foods and to listen to Arabic music
with her friends. She also began to write about her grandmother.
Miz Abinader studied writing in college. But she says most of the
American writers she studied had European roots. She felt that her
culture was not welcome in American writing. This was in the
nineteen seventies.
At some point, she read a book that, in her words, "made the
difference." The book was "The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood
Among Ghosts." It was written by the Chinese American writer Maxine
Hong Kingston. In it, she tells stories about her Chinese
grandmother, and about children considered too American for their
immigrant family.
This book led Elmaz Abinader to read works by others outside the
center of American culture, such as African American and Latino
writers. She found a community of people like her, learning to live
in two cultures.
VOICE ONE:
Miz Abinader went on to earn a doctorate in writing. She called
her first book, in nineteen ninety-one, "Children of the Roojme: A
Family's Journey from Lebanon." It is about her family's move over
the years to the United States.
She also writes poetry. And she writes and performs plays. Her
play "Country of Origin" is about the struggles of three Arab
American women. The play includes music that is a mix of old Middle
Eastern sounds and present-day jazz.
Elmaz Abinader says she began to understand years ago that as a
writer, she was also an activist. Today she is a professor of
creative writing at Mills College in Oakland, in Northern
California. She says a beautiful story or a good poem can affect a
reader more than any speech.
Her aim, she says, is to make the story of Arab Americans as
important as that of any other group in the United States.
(MUSIC BRIDGE)
VOICE TWO:
In September of two thousand four,
the writer Aleksandar Hemon received a MacArthur Foundation award.
These are known as "genius awards." They are given each year to
individuals who show great creativity in their work. MacArthur
Fellows are given five hundred thousand dollars over five years to
spend as they wish.
Aleksandar Hemon is the author of "The Question of Bruno" and
"Nowhere Man." Both books are about young men born in Sarajevo.
Their lives are changed by the war in the former Yugoslavia in the
early nineteen nineties.
Like the men in his books, Mister Hemon grew up in Sarajevo. He
became a reporter and writer. He came to the United States in
nineteen ninety-two as part of a cultural program. He was
twenty-seven years old. After the Bosnian war started, Mister Hemon
could not return home. He stayed in America and settled in Chicago.
VOICE ONE:
Book critics have praised his expert and beautiful use of the
English language. Yet Aleksandar Hemon spoke only a little English
when he arrived in the United States. He got low-paying work. He
improved his language skills very quickly by reading books in
English. Mister Hemon wrote his first book in English after only
three years in the United States.
He has said that one of the most difficult things for him as a
new immigrant was this: Recognizing the difference between what he
wanted to say and what he was really saying. He says this changed
the way he thought about the self. And it changed his writing. He
saw that a person was made up of many selves.
Aleksander Hemon also writes about displaced people who do not
feel part of any community. He says telling stories is one way to
record the old life that is lost, perhaps in war. He says stories
should be told about wars and genocide so that the official version
of history is not the only one that exists.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
Andrei Codrescu has published many books of poetry. He has also
written about his life and his travels. But he is best known for his
commentaries on American culture on National Public Radio. He lives
in New Orleans and is a professor of writing at Louisiana State
University. He also heads the literary magazine Exquisite Corpse,
now published on the Internet.
Andrei Codrescu was born in Sibu, Romania, in nineteen forty-six.
When he was nineteen years old, he left the country with his mother.
Mister Codrescu says Israel paid two thousand dollars each to buy
freedom for Jews in communist Romania. At that time, West Germany
did the same for ethnic Germans in Romania.
But instead of going to Israel, Mister Codrescu and his mother
came to the United States. He says he now feels more American than
anything else. He became an American citizen in nineteen eighty-one.
VOICE ONE:
Andrei Codrescu began to write
poetry when he was sixteen years old. He says Romanians have a
strong love for poetry, and a language that expresses images well.
He also says writing poetry was a rebellious act because the
communists banned a lot of writing.
Years later, as an American, Mister Codrescu recorded the end of
communist rule in Romania in nineteen eighty-nine. He wrote a book,
"The Hole in the Flag: A Romanian Exile's Story of Return and
Revolution."
Andrei Codrescu has also traveled around the United States and
observed life. His film "Road Scholar" describes unusual
communities. He wrote a book with the same name. He says he learned
that people with differences can live together.
VOICE TWO:
Many new immigrants in America are from Africa. Chimamanda Ngozi
Adichie is from Nigeria. She has published short stories and a book,
"Purple Hibiscus." It has been nominated for international prizes,
including the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Orange Prize.
"Purple Hibiscus" won the two thousand four Hurston/Wright Legacy
Award for a first work of fiction. These awards honor writers of
African ancestry.
Miz Adiche grew up in the university town of Nsukka. Her parents
were professors. She came to the United States in nineteen
ninety-six to go to college. She was nineteen years old.
She says Nigeria will always be her home. But she says she needs
distance to be able to write about that country better. In fact,
Chimamanda Adichie says that sometimes, when she is back in Nigeria,
she writes about Nigerians in America.
VOICE ONE:
"Purple Hibiscus" is set in Nigeria. It is about a young woman
growing up in a troubled family while the country faces political
unrest. There are some similarities to real-life events. Miz Adichie
says the stories of people who suffered must be told.
"Purple Hibiscus" also deals with the importance of modern
religion in Nigeria today. At the same time, Chimamanda Adichie
explores the clash between modern religion and African tradition.
(MUSIC) VOICE TWO:
Our three programs over the past year about writers and the
immigrant experience is online at WWW.testbig.com. VOICE ONE:
Our series was written by Doreen Baingana and produced by Caty
Weaver. I'm Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for THIS IS
AMERICA, in VOA Special English.