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Alphabetical Africa (New Directions Books)

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The principal expressive option here would be surrealism: the stories would be juxtaposed in unexpected and irrational ways with the language used to express them. Words alone don't suffice for any and all contemplation, words are a barrier to any and all expression. The content of our Privacy Notice has recently been updated to reflect recent legal changes (the General Data Protection Regulation). What struck me was how quickly, as the book opened up to using a wider vocabulary, the language felt natural.

In the first chapter, every word must begin with A (“Ages ago, Alex, Allen, and Alva arrived at Antibes, and Alva allowing all, allowing anyone, against Alex’s admonition, against Allen’s angry assertion: another African amusement. The first chapter ("A") contains only words beginning with the letter A, the second ("B") only words beginning with the letters A or B, all the way up to the 26th and 27th chapters (both "Z"), which can include words beginning with all letters of the alphabet.There are flashes of scenes, involving the three main characters (the hypersexualized and somewhat airheaded Alva, racist and sadistic Alex, and Alex’s partner in crime, Allen), with many many random characters popping up, sometimes just for that chapter. For reasons I don't quite understand, the most interesting chapters are the ones where he's more restricted, versus the ones where he gives himself more freedom. Beyond its linguistic experimentation, the first line of the novel hints at themes that may be explored in the story.

Alphabetical Africa archives this incredibly in transforming the narrative framework to overtly amend the reader’s expectations and perceptions. During the whole novel, we see the vocabulary and sentence structure moving from very restrained and artificial to more natural, and then back to the restricted formula of the first chapters. Although this was very clever, and surprisingly easily read once you add some B and C words, the tale was not the thing. While the "geoglyphic" African landscape forms and crumbles, it is, among other things, attacked by an army of driver ants, invaded by Zanzibar, painted orange by the transvestite Queen Quat of Tanzania, and becomes a hunting ground for a pair of murderous jewel thieves tracking down their nymphomaniac moll.I only ask because it seems books like this aren't very popular and I've had to dig around to find them. In fact, much of the story takes place in Zanzibar, though that island can only be named in chapters 26 and 27. As it turns out, Abish didn't quite live up to his self-imposed constraint -- see our list of Alphabetical Errata. It suggests a clash of cultures or individuals, as indicated by the "African amusement" and the subsequent description of an "African army" advancing against an "African anthill. Walter Abish has dovetailed his novel within a Procrustean scheme that has the terrifying and irrefutable logic of the alphabet.

An African Alphabet is a vibrant ABC book that introduces babies and toddlers to the unique variety of animals found in Africa. In Alphabetical Africa, for instance, the first chapter consists entirely of words beginning with the letter "A.Among the African countries, the biggest one is Algeria, occupying around 7% of the continent's territory. I found myself composing sentences in my sleep, and each word in the sentences began with an A, B, or a C.

A paperback edition was issued in New York by New Directions Publishing in 1974 with ISBN 0-8112-0533-9. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure. First story up for study is "Prima Belladonna" from 1956, a story originally collected in Vermillion Sands . This playfulness is a hallmark of the novel, as it continues to manipulate language and structure throughout the story. This structural device is a central element of the novel and is reflected in the title, "Alphabetical Africa," which hints at the book's linguistic playfulness.pushing fiction beyond heretofore preconceived limits to lofty new horizons in literature; of such visionary grandeur and excellence, blah blah blah," or some other blurbish bullshit like that denoting next to nothing; when in fact all the book has "accomplished" is come up with some cutesy, minutely original contrivance or gimmick to coverup the fact of its fated (and deserved) remainder-pile-mediocrity, the sole foci of its promoters having been its supposed "innovaton" because solid, compelling storytelling and writing, it completely lacks. This can be seen as a metaphor for the complexities and challenges of interactions between different cultures or individuals. Among other things, it is also about recording events -- where again the African experience -- history without a record -- is central. citation needed] One point of dispute is whether the failures to meet the constraint are intentional, and therefore potentially meaningful, or are simply editing mistakes. The second C-chapter contains an impermissible I near the end of the first paragraph : "After considering all alternatives, I capture a couple crocodiles.

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