Professor of English Michael Titlestad is not a man averse to giving stick – see his lambasting of Kgebetli Moele and Gerald Kraak earlier this year – so when he writes in praise of a book, it’s a carrot worth taking note of.
He’s particularly effusive in his praise of At Risk, a collection of essays edited by fellow academics Liz McGregor and Sarah Nuttall, which asks of its contributors – still more academics – that they turn the cameras on themselves, as it were, and dare to write in the first person, a practice eschewed in ivory towers worldwide.
Here, then, is a GM-sized carrot from an intellect largely averse to root vegetables:
At Risk is a brave and compelling collection of essays that seeks to explore the limits of living in South Africa, writes Michael Titlestad. There is a range of stories implicating aspects of race and sexuality not being told.
When, on his third voyage, Gulliver arrives at the Academy in Lagado, he discovers researchers involved in the most absurd projects. The oldest scholar, decrepit from his years of dedication to his single task, is still attempting to extract sunlight from cucumbers. Another is engaged in designing an intricate writing machine that can produce books that entail no initiating thought. Two linguists are attempting to devise a language that requires no words, only the presentation of objects to your interlocutor.
Book Details
Please register or log in to comment
» View comments as a forum thread and add tags in BOOK Chat
