Yo, Bookclub!

Here's a book list I happened to run into on the Net. (I love the focus on books -- we can get in English -- from other countries.)

Around the World in 80 Books
Summer Reading 2002

This summer, join us for a trip of the imagination with some of these books chosen for your enjoyment by the Wilton Library staff. Unless otherwise noted, books are shelved in fiction under the author's last name.

Europe
Camilleri, Andrea. The Shape of Water. (Sicily, Italy)
De Bernieres, Louis. [Captain] Corelli's Mandolin. (Greece)
Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. (London, England)
Durrell, Lawrence. The Greek Islands. (Greece) [914.958]
Fermor, Patrick Leigh. Between the Woods and the Water. (much of Europe) [914.7]
Gabaldon, Diana. Outlander. (Scotland)
Gainham, Sarah. Night Falls on the City. (Vienna, Austria)
Gill, Bartholomew. Death of a Joyce Scholar. (Ireland) [Mystery]
Hoeg, Peter. Smilla's Sense of Snow. (Denmark)
Isherwood, Christopher. Berlin Stories. (Berlin, Germany)
Leon, Donna. Acqua Alta. (Venice, Italy) [Mystery]
Llewellyn, Richard. How Green Was My Valley. (Wales)
Perez-Reverte, Arturo. Seville Communion. (Spain)
Rankin, Ian. Dead Souls. (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Sagan, Francoise. A Reluctant Hero. (France)
Sienkiewicz, Henryk. With Fire and Sword. (Poland)
Undset, Sigrid. Kristin Lavransdatter. (Norway)
Unsworth, Barry. Umbrian Music. (Italy)
Africa
Bowles, Paul. The Sheltering Sky. (Sahara Desert)
Dinesen, Isak. Out of Africa. (Kenya) [916.7]
Huxley, Elspeth. The Flame Trees of Thika. (Kenya) [916.762]
Keneally, Thomas. To Asmara. (Eritrea)
Kingsolver, Barbara. The Poisonwood Bible. (Congo)
Paton, Alan. Cry the Beloved Country. (South Africa)
Rush, Norman. Whites. (Botswana)
Rushby, Kevin. Eating the Flowers of Paradise. (Ethiopia) [916.3]
The Middle East
Kaplan, Robert. The Arabists: Romance of an American Elite. (Middle East) [327.73056]
King, Laurie R. O, Jerusalem. (Jerusalem) [Mystery]
Mahfouz, Nagib. Palace Walk. (Egypt)
Uris, Leon. Exodus. (Middle East, Europe)
Wallach, Janet. Desert Queen: the Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell. (Arabia) [B Bell]
Asia
Buck, Pearl. The Good Earth. (China)
Clavell, James. Tai-Pan. (Hong Kong)
DeMille, Nelson. Up Country. (Vietnam)
Fraser, George MacDonald. Flashman. (Afghanistan)
Gilman, Dorothy. Incident at Badamya. (Burma)
Godden, Rumer. The Peacock Spring. (India)
Golden, Arthur. Memoirs of a Geisha. (Japan)
Harrer, Heinrich. Seven Year in Tibet. (Tibet) [951.3]
Higginbotham, Jay. Fast Train Russia. (Russia) [914.7044853]
Lahiri, Jhumpa. Interpreter of Maladies. (India)
Mishima, Yukio. The Sound of Waves. (Japan)
Newby, Eric. Slowly Down the Ganges. (India) [915.41]
Pasternak, Boris. Doctor Zhivago. (Russia/Soviet Union)
Oceania/Antarctica
Bryson, Bill. In a Sunburned Country. (Australia) [919.4]
Conway, Jill Ker. The Road from Coorain. (Australia) [B Conway]
Franklin, Miles. My Brilliant Career. (Australia)
Hulme, Keri. The Bone People. (New Zealand)
Marriott, Edward. The Lost Tribe. (New Guinea) [919.53]
Melville, Herman. Typee. (Polynesia)
Shute, Nevil. A Town Like Alice. (Australia)
Wheeler, Sarah. Terra Incognita. (Antarctica) [919.89]
South America
Allende, Isabel. The House of the Spirits. (Chile)
Banks, Vic. The Pantanal. (Brazil) [918.172]
Chatwin, Bruce. In Patagonia. (Patagonia) [918.27]
France, Miranda. Bad Time in Buenos Aires. (Argentina) [918.211]
Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. The General in his Labyrinth. (Columbia)
Mueller, Marnie. Green Fires: Assault on Eden. (Ecuador)
Theroux, Paul. Mosquito Coast. (Belize)
Vargas Llosa, Mario. The War of the End of the World. (Brazil)
North America/Caribbean
Berendt, John. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. (Savannah, Georgia) [975.8724]
Burke, James Lee. Heaven's Prisoners. (New Orleans, Louisiana)
Davies, Pete. Storm Country: a Journey Through the Heart of America. (American Heartland) [917.8]
Esquivel, Laura. Like Water for Chocolate. (Mexico)
Evanovich, Janet. One for the Money. (New Jersey)
Guterson, David. Snow Falling on Cedars. (Washington)
Hamill, Pete. Snow in August. (Brooklyn, New York)
Hassler, John. North of Hope. (Minnesota)
Hillerman, Tony. The Fallen Man. (American Southwest) [Mystery]
Innes, Hammond. High Stand. (Klondike)
Jenkins, Peter. Looking for Alaska. (Alaska) [917.98]
Jewett, Sarah Orne. The Country of the Pointed Firs. (Maine)
Kincaid, Jamaica. Annie John. (Antigua)
Kinsella, WP. Box Socials. (Alberta)
Norman, Howard. The Bird Artist. (Newfoundland)
Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. (Jamaica)
Richler, Mordecai. Solomon Gursky Was Here. (Ontario)
Smith, Martin Cruz. Havana Bay. (Cuba)
Waller, Robert James. The Bridges of Madison County. (Iowa)
And finally...
Tyler, Anne. The Accidental Tourist. (Baltimore and beyond from the comfort of an armchair)

Note to Bishop-Elect Smith: We understand that at St.John the Divine back East, dogs receive communion. That even gives us animal lovers pause (no pun intended). Marlo

Hear our humble prayer, O God, for our friends the animals,
especially for animals who are suffering;
for animals that are overworked, underfed and cruelly treated;
for all wistful creatures in captivity that beat their wings against bars;
for any that are hunted or lost or deserted or frightened or hungry;
for all that must be put death.
We entreat for them all Thy mercy and pity,
and for those who deal with them we ask a heart of compassion
and gentle hands and kindly words.
Make us, ourselves, to be true friends to animals,
and so to share the blessings of the merciful.

-- Albert Schweitzer

Straight from Marlo:

The Encyclopedia Britannica says that John Calvin was born in France (and died in Switzerland).


Developments after Calvin: While Lutheranism was largely confined to parts of Germany and to SCANDINAVIA, Calvinism spread into ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, the English-speaking colonies in NORTH AMERICA, France, the Netherlands, much of Germany, and parts of central EUROPE.


No wonder it's confusing!


He was a RC who gradually became a Protestant. His book Institutes of the Christian Religion, his masterwork, became the single most important statement of Protestant belief.

Shall we add it to our book list? (Kidding.)

Note: during our discussion on The Artist by Jan de Hartog, a question came up regarding Calvinism, where Calvinism flourished, what influence it had on the Dutch, so on. Marlo followed up with the above from the Encyclopedia Brittanica.

Next will by The Moviegoer by Walker Percy. Again, if anyone has anything interesting about it, please post or send to me by email so I can post it for everyone's enjoyment.

We will be reading The Artist by Jan de Hartog. If anyone has anything interesting about it, please post or send it by email to me. Thanks!

Via email from Marlo (of course!):
From [Encyclopedia Britannica:2004; not in Encarta per se]:

de Hartog, Jan (born April 22, 1914, Haarlem, Netherlands; died September 22, 2002, Houston, Texas, U.S.), Dutch-American novelist and playwright who wrote adventure stories in both Dutch and English. [Encyclopedia Britannica:2004; not in Encarta per se]

De Hartog early was an adventurer, twice running away from home to work at sea. During World WAR II he joined the Dutch Resistance and in 1943 was forced into hiding. Later that year he fled to ENGLAND and eventually settled in the United States. His first major novel, Hollands glorie: roman van de zeesleepvaart (1947; Captain Jan: A Story of Ocean Tugboats), relates with humour the tale of a young boy's career in the merchant navy. De Hartog's later novels, written in English, are of mainly entertainment value. Among these are A Sailor's Life (1956), The Inspector (1960), The Peaceable Kingdom: An American Saga (1972), The Lamb's War (1980), The Trail of the Serpent (1983), and Star of Peace (1984). Many of the novels were adapted into films. Of his plays, the most popular is the comedy The Fourposter, first produced in 1951. [Encyclopedia Britannica:2004; not in Encarta per se]

From http://www.thelooniverse.com/books/jandehartog.html:

Jan de Hartog died in September 2002 at the age of 88. I miss him.

When, after WWII was over, Jan de Hartog returned to Holland and published Gods Geuzen, he discovered that the people there just wanted him to write Hollands Glorie over and over again. There was nothing left for him to do but start anew in another language. That's his story, at least. I'm not so sure—his later books were not exactly what you'd call flops in Dutch.

In an obituary, Dutch television had to say that "he made millions with his books and plays". This is of prime importance to the Dutch. (Jan de Hartog himself writes in The Hospital that everybody may think he's a rich author, but it just ain't so.) The same program tried to put him down by saying something like "he just wrote boy's books for grown-ups". Conveniently forgetting books like The Spiral Road, and lots more, where this does not apply to. Anyway, so did Stevenson, Forester and Mark Twain. They, too, wrote quite other stuff as well. What childish and seemingly willfully ignorant pettiness.

Below are listed the books and plays I know about, left, and their counterparts in English. Plus some comments you'll have to make do with. The funny thing here is that the Dutch never seem to have read the English versions, and, more understandably, vice versa. There are weird differences. Like Vladimir Nabokov, Ome Jan wrote in a foreign language. His Dutch versions get more and more anglicized as years go by; which doesn't matter too much as a lot of it is in Dutch-English sailor slang anyway. Some he never even bothered to translate to Dutch or were translated by others; some, like Mary, he just used as the basis for a really different book The Captain; still others never appeared in English. Correct chronology is very hard to come by, let alone dates of publication. With the gracious help of Marjorie de Hartog we have come pretty close, but I still do not feel these dates are really reliable. It's a mess for detectives, really.

From Shelley, more info. This is just a snippet. Click on the link for more.

The Quaker Liar

by Ann Sieber, originally published in the Houston Press,

Part One: Leaving Houston with a bang; a charity hospital worse than a
zoo; the country takes note or, a new view of astronauts; a quiet
return; the hooks of Houston; Dante's hospital; Zorba the Greek and the
baby in repose; the glory of herrings in the Nazi occupation; and being
given a baby.

34 years ago, Jan and Marjorie de Hartog were run out of Houston. After
enduring unpleasant phone calls, angry letters, even a paper bag full
of excrement flung at their front door, they decided the Lone Ranger
may just have had a good idea - upon the execution of good deeds,
sometimes it is best to make an energetic exit.

Neither Houston nor even U.S.-born, the de Hartogs brought Houston's
dirty laundry into the national spotlight at a time the Space City boom
town was flying high on a bigger-than-big bucking-
bronco-and-rocketship image. -Houston's motto seemed to be, 'Not
knowing it is impossible, we have done it," Jan wrote in The Hospital,
the book that all the fuss was about, the book that the Texas Observer
called -the biggest controversy to fill the front pages of both Houston
newspapers for many years,' that the Wall Street Journal said was
-journalistic muckraking in the best sense of the word,' that the Los
Angeles Times described as a -formidable power for betterment' and -the
book that changed a city.'

Jan and Marjorie de Hartog have led an exotic and crusading life. They
have lived the life many have dreamed of living - full of adventure and
full-flush living, yet turned in the cause of helping others. Although
to most Houstonians they are now just a piece of forgotten Houston
history, the de Hartogs are fiercely remembered by some long-time
Houstonians, as well as the medical, Dutch and Quaker communities.

What most don't know is that last year, more than a quarter century
after their diplomatic retreat, the de Hartogs moved back to Houston -
not exactly with a whimper, nor under cover of night, but perhaps in
what might be described as Quaker silence. They may be Houston's
least-well-known celebrities.

Prior to his sojourn in our hyperbolic city, Jan de Hartog (his first
name is pronounced yon) was already famous for his plays, novels and
sea tales. His two-person The Fourposter launched the genre of the
husband-and-wife play. It served as a vehicle for such famous acting
couples as Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronin, and Rex Harrison and Lilli
Palmer, and was later made into themusical I Do!, I Do! In his native
Holland, de Hartog has the stature of a Hemingway or Faulkner. In the
U.S., his novel The Captain has sold more than one million copies.
Several films have been made from his books, including The Spiral Road
with Rock Hudson and Gena Rowlands, and The Key with William Holden and
Sophia Loren. He has won a Tony, been made a knight, and even been
nominated for a Nobel Prize. But he was not known as a muckraker.

But, on October 27, 1964, Jan de Hartog published a book about his
experiences as a volunteer orderly at Houston's old charity hospital,
Jeff Davis (now Ben Taub). Even three decades later, The Hospital is
difficult reading. -The floors were slippery with blood and vomit,
littered with soiled linen, dropped instruments, discarded bottles of
Novocaine, torn gloves ' blood-soiled mattresses had been flipped over
and hastily covered with another sheet, as long as there were sheets.
After that ' each man lay in the blood of his predecessor. ' This was
not a hospital, this was a public utility to keep the dead and dying
off the streets.' The conditions described were worse than deplorable.
De Hartog lay the task of change at the feet of all Houstonians.

All hell promptly broke loose. The newspapers' front and editorial
pages lobbied volleys back and forth. -Criticism Mounts on Ben Taub, JD
Conditions,' read the Post. -Top Nurses Join Hospitals Blast,' read the
Chronicle. The Chronicle's vice president and former editor M.E. Walter
charged that de Hartog was just being emotional and didn't know what he
was talking about. The letters pages were filled for weeks, mostly
supportive of the book. Within two months in Houston, the first edition
was sold out. Channel 11 began its evening broadcast, -There are
mutterings in our town and county about 'that Dutchman."

Soon the national press followed suit. Life magazine did a three- page
spread on the playwright-crusader. The Hospital became a
Book-of-the-Month Club selection, the American Library Association
picked it as a notable book of 1964 - right above Ernest Hemingway's
The Movable Feast. There is a whole scrapbook of clippings just from
Jan's native Holland. (-Jan de Hartog's boek schokte Amerika.') The
book and its revelations about the charity hospital became for that
period the defining image of Houston. An otherwise unrelated, upbeat
NASA story in Newsweek closes with a sudden dark mention of Ben Taub.
Houston's boom-town image, our Astrodome, our astronauts, our oil
glamour, all suddenly became lit with an ironic and unflattering light.
We became the city that air- conditioned its zoo, but not its poor
black hospital.

From Marlo: here is the list.

THE TOP 100 BOOKS OF ALL TIME

Full list of the 100 best works of fiction, alphabetically by author, as determined from a vote by 100 noted writers from 54 countries. Don Quixote was named as the top book in history but otherwise no ranking was provided.

Chinua Achebe, Nigeria, (b. 1930), Things Fall Apart
Hans Christian Andersen, Denmark, (1805-1875), Fairy Tales and Stories
Jane Austen, England, (1775-1817), Pride and Prejudice
Honore de Balzac, France, (1799-1850), Old Goriot
Samuel Beckett, Ireland, (1906-1989), Trilogy: Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable
Giovanni Boccaccio, Italy, (1313-1375), Decameron
Jorge Luis Borges, Argentina, (1899-1986), Collected Fictions
Emily Bronte, England, (1818-1848), Wuthering Heights
Albert Camus, France, (1913-1960), The Stranger
Paul Celan, Romania/France, (1920-1970), Poems.
Louis-Ferdinand Celine, France, (1894-1961), Journey to the End of the Night
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Spain, (1547-1616), Don Quixote
Geoffrey Chaucer, England, (1340-1400), Canterbury Tales
Joseph Conrad, England,(1857-1924), Nostromo
Dante Alighieri, Italy, (1265-1321), The Divine Comedy
Charles Dickens, England, (1812-1870), Great Expectations
Denis Diderot, France, (1713-1784), Jacques the Fatalist and His Master
Alfred Doblin, Germany, (1878-1957), Berlin Alexanderplatz
Fyodor M Dostoyevsky, Russia, (1821-1881), Crime and Punishment; The Idiot; The Possessed; The Brothers Karamazov
George Eliot, England, (1819-1880), Middlemarch
Ralph Ellison, United States, (1914-1994), Invisible Man
Euripides, Greece, (c 480-406 BC), Medea
William Faulkner, United States, (1897-1962), Absalom, Absalom; The Sound and the Fury
Gustave Flaubert, France, (1821-1880), Madame Bovary; A Sentimental Education
Federico Garcia Lorca, Spain, (1898-1936), Gypsy Ballads
Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Colombia, (b. 1928), One Hundred Years of Solitude; Love in the Time of Cholera
Gilgamesh, Mesopotamia (c 1800 BC).
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Germany, (1749-1832), Faust
Nikolai Gogol, Russia, (1809-1852), Dead Souls
Gunter Grass, Germany, (b.1927), The Tin Drum
Joao Guimaraes Rosa, Brazil, (1880-1967), The Devil to Pay in the Backlands
Knut Hamsun, Norway, (1859-1952), Hunger.
Ernest Hemingway, United States, (1899-1961), The Old Man and the Sea
Homer, Greece, (c 700 BC), The Iliad and The Odyssey
Henrik Ibsen, Norway (1828-1906), A Doll's House
The Book of Job, Israel. (600-400 BC).
James Joyce, Ireland, (1882-1941), Ulysses
Franz Kafka, Bohemia, (1883-1924), The Complete Stories; The Trial; The Castle Bohemia
Kalidasa, India, (c. 400), The Recognition of Sakuntala
Yasunari Kawabata, Japan, (1899-1972), The Sound of the Mountain
Nikos Kazantzakis, Greece, (1883-1957), Zorba the Greek
DH Lawrence, England, (1885-1930), Sons and Lovers
Halldor K Laxness, Iceland, (1902-1998), Independent People
Giacomo Leopardi, Italy, (1798-1837), Complete Poems
Doris Lessing, England, (b.1919), The Golden Notebook
Astrid Lindgren, Sweden, (1907-2002), Pippi Longstocking
Lu Xun, China, (1881-1936), Diary of a Madman and Other Stories
Mahabharata, India, (c 500 BC). Naguib Mahfouz, Egypt, (b. 1911), Children of Gebelawi
Thomas Mann, Germany, (1875-1955), Buddenbrook; The Magic Mountain
Herman Melville, United States, (1819-1891), Moby Dick
Michel de Montaigne, France, (1533-1592), Essays. Elsa Morante, Italy, (1918-1985), History
Toni Morrison, United States, (b. 1931), Beloved
Shikibu Murasaki, Japan, (N/A), The Tale of Genji Genji
Robert Musil, Austria, (1880-1942), The Man Without Qualities
Vladimir Nabokov, Russia/United States, (1899-1977), Lolita
Njaals Saga, Iceland, (c 1300).
George Orwell, England, (1903-1950), 1984
Ovid, Italy, (c 43 BC), Metamorphoses
Fernando Pessoa, Portugal, (1888-1935), The Book of Disquiet
Edgar Allan Poe, United States, (1809-1849), The Complete Tales
Marcel Proust, France, (1871-1922), Remembrance of Things Past
Francois Rabelais, France, (1495-1553), Gargantua and Pantagruel
Juan Rulfo, Mexico, (1918-1986), Pedro Paramo
Jalal ad-din Rumi, Iran, (1207-1273), Mathnawi
Salman Rushdie, India/Britain, (b. 1947), Midnight's Children
Sheikh Musharrif ud-din Sadi, Iran, (c 1200-1292), The Orchard
Tayeb Salih, Sudan, (b. 1929), Season of Migration to the North
Jose Saramago, Portugal, (b. 1922), Blindness
William Shakespeare, England, (1564-1616), Hamlet; King Lear; Othello
Sophocles, Greece, (496-406 BC), Oedipus the King
Stendhal, France, (1783-1842), The Red and the Black
Laurence Sterne, Ireland, (1713-1768), The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy
Italo Svevo, Italy, (1861-1928), Confessions of Zeno
Jonathan Swift, Ireland, (1667-1745), Gulliver's Travels
Leo Tolstoy, Russia, (1828-1910), War and Peace; Anna Karenina; The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories
Anton P Chekhov, Russia, (1860-1904), Selected Stories
Thousand and One Nights, India/Iran/Iraq/Egypt, (700-1500).
Mark Twain, United States, (1835-1910), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Valmiki, India, (c 300 BC), Ramayana
Virgil, Italy, (70-19 BC), The Aeneid
Walt Whitman, United States, (1819-1892), Leaves of Grass
Virginia Woolf, England, (1882-1941), Mrs. Dalloway; To the Lighthouse
Marguerite Yourcenar, France, (1903-1987), Memoirs of Hadrian

Though is this the same list in the Observer? (see post below)

Follow the link to take the Book Quiz.

For February, we will cover "Henceforward", written by Alan Ayckbourn.

Marlo has been busy as always digging up goodies for us. Since she's got so many links, I'm just going to post them here without too much detail.

http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/aycka/hencef.htm
http://www.britannica.com/eb/print?eu=2800
http://www.alanayckbourn.net/ his website
http://www.sjt.uk.com/aa.htm
http://playwrites.net/playwrights/1999/f_june/AlanAyckbourn1.html two interviews
http://www.post-gazette.com/magazine/20000721hence6.asp stage review of his play
http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/aycka/hencef.htm review of the play

Our next book is Kabloona by de Poncins. Marlo has compiled a bunch of info related to our book.

Netsilik – N/F, however: In practice, descriptions of the people by anthropologists and historians have employed regional groupings. It is thus customary to speak of East Greenland Eskimo, West Greenland Eskimo, and Polar Eskimo, where only the last territorial division corresponded to a single self-contained, in-marrying (endogamous) group. In Canada, Labrador Eskimo and Eskimo of Quebec may be described as whole units, although each is divisible into a number of separate native groups or societies. Baffinland Eskimo are often included as Central Eskimo, a grouping that otherwise always includes the Caribou, Iglulik, Netsilik, and Copper Eskimo. The Mackenzie Eskimo are set apart from other Canadians as speakers of the western, or Inupiaq, dialect of the Inuit language. In Alaska the division for descriptive purposes tends to be along linguistic lines, including the Inupiat, who speak Inupiaq; the Bering Sea Eskimo, St. Lawrence Island Eskimo, and Pacific Eskimo, each speaking a separate form of Yupik; and, of course, the Aleuts. [EB: Arctic]

EB stands for Encyclopedia Brittanica online.

The Netsilik Annual Round

Winter (December-May) Main Seal Season

* People move from land onto the frozen sea surface and cooperate to hunt seals on the sea ice (it may take hours to catch a single seal).

* Winter camps were large, involving multiple extended families hunting collectively.

* Large ceremonial snow house allows all to assemble to watch drum dances and shamanic seances.

* People frequently move their winter camps slightly as they exhaust the seals of a small area.

* (Salmon trout spend the winter under the ice in inland lakes and are inaccessible.).

* Seals give birth above the ice in late March, where they are easily killed.

Spring (May-June) Late Seal Season

* Some families near or on the land areas begin to exploit lake trout (because weary of seal).

* Seals emerge from newly visible breathing holes to lie on the ice, making hunting easy for individual hunters assisted by family members so families disperse over the landscape.

* Most productive sealing season, and major period for renewing the supply of blubber oil.

* Caribou arrive from south beginning about mid- to late April, but very lean in this season and not in dense enough herds to hunt easily.

* By early May igloos begin to drip and become intolerably damp; families remove roofs and replace them with skins, producing the dark, dank spring karmaq houses..

* Water and soft surface of melting ice makes sledge travel slow.

* People abandon seal-hunting and move to land in May or June, camping on the coasts.

* Seagulls and eggs collected in some areas.

* Kayaks fetched from their caches and resuscitated and re-covered in preparation for caribou hunting.

Early Summer (July) Lake Trout Season

* In July sea ice melts enough to produce dangerous cracks; people rush to the land areas.

* Seal hunting ends.

* Melting streams produce ice blocks floating in rivers.

* Mosses and shrubs appear.

* Waterfowl appear.

* Lake trout concentrated under cracks in lake ice; catching them is the main subsistence activity in July.

* Salmon trout migrate to the sea in July, intercepted by Nstsilik stone weirs, but seldom in substantial numbers.

* Summer camps much smaller, only a few families; few festivities.

* People live in skin tents.

Late Summer (August) Salmon Trout And Caribou Season

* Small herds of caribou still found across wide regions.

* Salmon trout migrate back from the sea in August, intercepted by Netsilik stone weirs, in substantial numbers.

Early Autumn (September) Stored Food Season

* Large herds of caribou form and migrate south, providing occasion for great caribou hunts at river- and lake-crossing places, either with bow and arrow or from kayaks, but moving caribou largely out of range by late September.

* Strong northwesterly winds, and ice forming on water surfaces.

* Tundra begins to freeze enough to become hard.

* People largely dependent upon meat preserved from earlier hunts.

* Kayaks dismantled and cached near caribou hunting grounds.

Late Autumn (October-November) Stored Food & Casual Fishing Season

* Some ice fishing using lures dropped into holes in the ice.

* Some hunting of musk oxen (an endangered species), using dogs, in south; lake trout in north.

* People disperse into bands of minimal size because food is too scarce to sustain large population concentrations.

* Too cold for a seal-skin tent, but not deep enough snow to build an igloo, so autumn karmaq houses made with ice-slab walls and skin roofs.

* Vigorous sewing to prepare winter clothing at sites along the sea coast. (Hunting taboo during sewing work.).

* In lean years people move to sea ice by end of November to start catching seals; in flush years they move by end of February.

http://www.anthro.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/mmw03/balikciprintable.html

History of Netsilik

The Arctic climate

The inhospitable climate with its sunless winter, from December until January, contrasts with the 24 hour daylight in spring that lasts until June or July. The sea ice breaks up in summer and then begins to freeze again as early as late September. It is surprising that humans have successfully survived this harsh environment for generations.

Inuit

The Inuit were previously known as Eskimos, a Native American term thought to mean ‘eater of raw meat’. Although still widely used today, some people find the term Eskimo offensive and so Inuit, which means ‘the people’ or ‘real people’, is often used in its place.

The first Americans

The Inuit have lived in the Arctic for around 4,000 years and although there are no written accounts of life then, the Inuit have a rich oral history that explains their existence in the world. The questions of when the first people reached North America and their cultural origins have been much investigated over the years and the exact time is not clear. Archaeologists believe that there are two possible periods of colonisation - during the mid Wisconsin Interglacial about 40,000 years ago, or after the Late Wisconsin Glaciation around 18,000 years ago. This was thought to have been via the Bering Land Bridge between Siberia and Alaska known as Beringia. The route from East Asia is generally accepted today, however, intense debates continue about when and how this happened.

Explorations

It was a Greek named Pytheas who first wrote about the Arctic in 320 BC. However, it was not until the 15th and 16th centuries, when Europeans began making regular expeditions to the far north. This was in search of the Northwest Passage, the quick route into Asia, first proposed by John Cabot in the 1490s. The search for the Northwest Passage continued until the nineteenth century, which brought many Europeans into contact with previously unknown Inuit groups like the Netsilik.

The Netsilik Inuit and Taloyoak

Knud Rasmussen, a Danish ethnographer of the Fifth Thule Expedition, met the Netsilik in 1923. He spent eight months with them recording information about their subsistence techniques, migration and social organisation. Rasmussen spoke the Inuit language (Inuktitut) fluently and so never needed an interpreter on his travels. When he met the Netsilik they numbered 259 people in total and they were already in possession of fire arms, which were obtained in 1919 from the Aivilil Inuit.

In the 1930s, both Anglican and Roman Catholic missionaries arrived in the area and many Netsilik were converted to Christianity. The traders arrived around the same time and between 1934 and 1947, the Netsilik were shifted from place to place within the region of Kitikmeot, to trap foxes for the Hudson Bay Company. The company, which supplied goods to hunters, was forced to close its last trading post in Fort Ross in 1948 due to poor weather conditions, and many Netsilik settled in Taloyoak (formally Spence Bay). Taloyoak means ‘large caribou blind’, and refers to a stone caribou pen that was traditionally used to catch and harvest caribou.

During the 1950s and 1960s the government led acculturation programme was in full swing, thanks to a strong presence of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The Netsilik were moved into housed communities with government schools and nursing stations. Today, the Netsilik region covers three communities within Nunavut - Gjoa Haven on King William Island, Taloyoak (formally Spence Bay) and Kugaaruk on Pelly Bay. However, since winning the rights to their land in 1999, the Netsilik now live under their own public government. To read more about this click on the Today page.

Dr Asen Balikci

The anthropologist Dr Asen Balikci carried out an ethnographic study of the Netsilik during the 1960s, which his book The Netsilik Eskimo and ethnographic films are based on. His works attempt to document the traditional life of the Netsilik much as Rasmussen would have experienced when he first came across them eighty years ago. Although Balikci’s work is very much of its time, it is still widely used as the core material for anthropology courses around the world that focus on Native North Americans.
http://www.aboutnetsilik.com/history.htm

About Netsilik Today

The Inuit, like many indigenous peoples around the world, are still affected by the assimilation programmes of the 1960s, where they were forcibly moved from their land and nomadic way of life and made to live in housing blocks. They were assigned numbers in place of their names and their children were abducted and taken to boarding schools. Here they were beaten if they spoke in their own language, Inuktitut. The impact of such abrasive actions on the society is not surprising - depression, alcoholism, drug abuse and suicide. But the Inuit are survivors and in the early 1970s they began campaigning for land rights.

In April 1999, they finally won the largest land claim settlement in Canadian history. Nunavut, meaning ‘Our Land’ in Inuktitut, was born with its own public government serving both Inuit and non Inuit people. Canada’s newest territory is roughly eight times the size of the UK and nearly one-fifth the size of Canada. It has 28 settlements the capital of which is Iqaluit. The Netsilik live in three communities within Nunavut - Gjoa Haven on King William Island, Taloyoak (formally Spence Bay) and Kugaaruk on Pelly Bay. Various self help groups have been set up to help revive Netsilik culture, such as educational committees for alcohol and drug abuse and hunters and trappers organisations. Elders teach in the local schools and Inuktitut is once again being learnt and spoken by new generations. Contemporary Netsilik culture is a real mix of the old and new ways of life.

http://www.aboutnetsilik.com/today.htm

The Ghost People

The Netsilik Eskimos tell this story in Alaska and N.Canada.

WHEN YOU WALK across the wide sheets of ice and into the hard snow, sometimes you see someone else's tracks, even when you know there is no one else around. You kneel down and look at these footprints, but you do not recognize them. These are the tracks of the Ghost People, invisible people who move about us all the time, like our shadows on a clear, starlit night.

The Ghost People have bodies just like ours and use the same kind of curved-bladed ulut knife that we do, but they cannot be seen. Sometimes you can even pass an igloo they have built, but you will never see the invisible people themselves until they die. Then, they become visible to us.

Once a ghost person saw a beautiful woman of the Netsilikmiut, the Netsilik Eskimo people. He could not resist the temptation and touched her to get her attention. They fell in love even though she could only hear the sound of his voice. They were married and lived happily for many years. The invisible man was a good husband to the Netsilik woman. He hunted and brought them food and used his ulut to cut snow blocks and build them a good igloo to live in.

As time went by, the woman could not bear not knowing what her husband looked like. Finally, she took the ulut while he was sleeping and cut where she knew he was lying. Slowly the dead man became visible. He was young, strong, and handsome, everything a woman might want her man to look like. But he was also dead and the woman realized how foolish she had been. She knelt beside the body and began to weep.

The invisible people knew that one of their people had been killed and came out of their faraway igloos to the igloo of the weeping widow. Their bows and arrows moved in the air as they traveled like tufts of light fur floating on the wind. The bowstrings stretched back as the invisible people notched their arrows to shoot the woman. Some of her family were nearby, and they came to the sound of her weeping.

The Netsilik men stood with their harpoons raised, looking into the empty air where the invisible people drew their bows. The arrows were aimed at the woman and her brothers and cousins, but the Netsilik did not throw their harpoons. Slowly, the invisible people lowered their bows and relaxed their bowstrings.

The leader of the invisible people spoke with the oldest of the Netsilik men. They made an agreement: the Ghost People would never again have direct contact with the Netsilik people. Should their paths cross, they would not touch or speak.

The arrows disappeared back into the invisible people's clothing, and the bows floated away as they walked back across the snowpack. There was no battle and everyone returned to their everyday lives. The invisible people went back to their igloos, and the Netsilik went to bury the dead man.

Now, as you walk alone, or just before you fall asleep, you may hear a sound like distant voices. If you call out to see who is there, these night voices will not answer. They are the Ghost People, and they will no longer speak to us.

http://www.spav.com/sa/sakids/coolstuff/stories/theghostpeople/default.html

Patterns of Subsistence: Food Foragers and Pastoralists
Faces of Culture - "Patterns of Subsistence: Food Foragers and Pastoralists"

Narr: In the beginning we took directly from nature what we needed to survive. We didn't plow, plant or herd domesticated animals. We didn't need to. We were few in number, and the earth was bountiful.

For some two million years we were foragers. Women gathered nuts, fruit, berries and roots, providing for some 85% of the group's diet.

These !Kung women of Africa's Kalahari Desert can tell by a few leaves sticking above the dry ground how to find tubers that contain both life-giving water and nutrients necessary to survive in this harsh climate.

Men provided meat. These Mbuti Pygmies of Zaire's rainforest are hunting much as they did a thousand years ago.

Long ago foragers inhabited the lush places of the earth. Today they are relegated to the marginal areas, like here, the Arctic Circle, NW of Hudson Bay.

These are the Netsilik, "people of the seal." Here, any kind of agriculture is impossible.

The lives of the Netsilik, like those of all foragers, represent an exquisite adaptation to their environment. In winter the Netsilik hunt and kill seals, the richest source of food during those frozen months.

The ice is seven feet thick here, expect where a seal has made a breathing hole. A seal will make many such holes in a given area. It can be killed only when it appears at one of them to breathe.

Since no one can predict which hole it will actually use, men must cooperate on the hunt. Each finding his own hole to maximize the group's chances of making a kill. Each hole must be found by smell, by the faint scent the seal leaves behind.

Everything the Netsilik uses is carefully crafted by hand. This delicately curved breathing hole searcher will tell the hunter the exact angle at which he must thrust for the kill. And this indicator is made from a hard piece of caribou antler, artfully split. A bit of down is attached to it by a sinew thread.

When the seal comes up for air, it's breath will gently flutter the down. Then the hunter will strike.

Now begins the long wait. Infinitely patient, he will endure here for hours.

In spring, the season of the most intensive and rewarding seal hunting, women and children, armed with sticks station themselves at breathing holes the men cannot cover.

(Wind howling.)

(Man grunting.)

Narr: At the beginning of time according to their belief, a group of Netsilik set out in their only kayak to find food, but there wasn't room for all.

A young girl clung to the boat, but she had no relatives to protect her, so the others cut off her fingers and she fell to the bottom of the sea.

Her fingers became seals and the girl became the Sea Goddess, Mistress of Sea and Land, the source of all the animals that human beings need to survive.

Eating the liver of the freshly killed seal has religious significance. It is a ritual, a way of appeasing or paying tribute to the Seal Goddess.

It affirms the inter-connectedness between human beings and all animals.

(Netsilik men talking.)

Narr: Because they must constantly be on the move to find food, the Netsilik live in small bands and they can own only what they can carry.

The impossibility of accumulating wealth in the form of possessions leads to equality of social position and the absence of formal government.

Because the labor of every individual is important for survival, there is little specialization.

Every man can do what every other man can do. Every woman can do what every other woman can do. This, too, helps make for a society of relative equals.

(Netsilik children laughing.)

Narr: The Netsilik use virtually every part of the seal. The skins are used for various purposes, from clothing to wall hangings. The blubber is converted into oil for lamps. The Netsilik drink the seal's blood and eat its meat.

The hunter's wife divides the seal into 14 pieces, each named with precision. The pieces are distributed among relatives and hunting partners.

Each member of the band knows that no one will go hungry. Each knows which part of the seal he or she will receive.

(Netsilik children and adults talking.)

(Drum and singing.)

Narr: Egalitarianism, the concept of community, a profound respect for nature and a sexual division of labor, are part of the legacy we have inherited from our foraging forebears.

(Netsilik singing.)

Narr: About 10,000 years ago a new mode of subsistence began to emerge--food production.

In various parts of the world the environment made certain forms of food production more likely than others.

In semi-arid land, with little water for crops, pastoralism provided an ingenious adaptation for the needs of food production.

Instead of hunting prey, we collected animals in herds. Instead of following them, we led them where they needed to go, protected them.

(Nuer man singing.)

Narr: With song this Nuer tribesman in Africa's Sudan remembers his battles, his friends, and the beauty of his cattle.

(Nuer man singing.)

"We have always had cows, ever since God gave them to us. They give us everything. They are our happiness. When we need help from God, we take an ox and sacrifice to Him. You can sacrifice an ox to the God of Grass or to the God of Sky. You can sacrifice to thank God just for giving you life."

Narr: A Nuer man takes his social identity, his name from his cattle.

The Nuer eat the flesh of their cattle, drink their milk and their blood. They wash their hands in their urine, clean their teeth and cover their bodies with ash from their burnt dung.

(Nuer boys singing.)

Narr: The Nuer move their animals from one grazing field to another following a seasonal cycle that allows them to make maximum use of the land available to them. Cattle provide a dependable source of food, making it possible for people to live together in larger groups.

Their greater numbers and the necessity of protecting their animals requires pastoralists to develop specialized social roles not required of foragers.

Herd animals can be killed and eaten by predators. They can be stolen by human marauders. And herders must defend their right to move freely through territory they may not hold exclusive title to. The Nuer value warriors who protect their cattle from outsiders and add to their herds through raids.

(Nuer man chants.)

Narr: Pastoralists in the temperate forest of Nepal combine herding with other economic activities, farming, trading and wage labor. But like other pastoralists, the success of these Nepali Sherpas depends on sophisticated knowledge of both their environment and their animals.

The Sherpas practice a form of selective breeding producing hybrid animals suitable for their mountain environment. They mate yaks with cows to combine the ability of the yak to survive at high altitudes with the productivity of the milk cow. The result is the zomo, an animal that give rich milk and thrives at high altitudes.

The zomo has the disagreeable temperment of the yak, making it more difficult to milk than cows. Women must learn the preferences of each animal in order to milk it.

One valued product is butter. Milk is collected for several days in a large tub and then churned into butter which is consumed by the family in the form of butter tea. It may also be sold or bartered with neighbors.

(Sherpa men talking.)

Narr: Butter has religious as well as nutritional significance. For the annual Nara Festival the Sherpas color the butter and form it into intricate designs on dough figures or torma which are temporary abodes for visiting deities.

(Music of bells and singing.)

Narr: And ceremonial breads are deep fried in vats of clarified butter.

(Sherpa men talking and laughing.)

Narr: Sherpas also herd sheep which produce yarn for weaving into clothing.

These mountain pastoralists must be flexible in their adaptation making use of different animals and several means of livelihood to exploit an environment in which the climate varies dramatically at different altitudes.

In the mountains of Iran live other pastoralists, the Basseri. Sheep and goats provide the Basseri with both food and money.

In the spring the valleys are dry and barren. So the Basseri move their herds into the mountains where it is wet and fertile. When the valleys bloom again, they return.

A pattern of cyclical migration often characteristic of pastoralists.

It is an incredible journey from low lands to high lands, dangerous and grueling. The Basseri cover 16,000 square miles and climb 6,000 feet straight up.

(Basseri woman chanting.)

Narr: The wealth of the tribe, its herds, is controlled by men which leads to a male dominated society. Only men serve as chieftains.

Family descent and inheritance are patrilineal, that is, determined through the male line. Women are important for bearing children to continue the line, but the social role of men is emphasized.

The hazardous environment calls for a willingness to take chances and a readiness to act.

(River raging)

(Ringing of many small bells on the animals.)

(Wind howling)

Narr: The government of Iran wants to build roads through these passes. But the Basseri resist such encroachments. They cherish their independence. They demand the right to herd their animals along traditional migration routes.

The pastoral way of life still resonates in our religious metaphors. In the Gospel of John, Christ is called "the Good Shepherd" and "the Lamb of God."

Luke calls the prodigal son, the "Lost Sheep."

And though U.S. society is based on intensive agriculture, it continues to rely heavily on herd animals. But it is a form of herding much altered by a market economy.

These people selecting meat in the supermarket are far removed from the animals that produced it. You buy "beef" which bears little resemblance to a cow and "bacon" which we no longer associate with a pig.

Foraging, too, continues in modern cities.

"There was a time when I used to have a lot of money, but the cocaine took away most of the money.

I had a truck and I tried Hawaii for a little while, for about a year, and that didn't work too well. I came back, got my truck and decided to come back East where I was originally from.So, I drove around New England for a little while. And I had a nice truck, but I had altered my plates to make it look like they said '86.

While in Newport, Rhode Island, they took away the plates and in Bristol, Rhode Island, they took away the truck--ha, ha, ha. So I took my last $20 and I wound up in Boston and the first thing I ever heard about was, you know, scalping."

Narr: Peter began collecting "cast off" items when he realized he could probably make as much money going through trash as he could at a regular job.

"Six traditional coasters. Here's the part to the tea thing, I think. Plugs. Aha! Sterling silver, right there! That's how you find it!"

Narr: Peter's foraging also has been shaped by a market economy. He does not use the items he has gathered. Rather, he sells them at a swap meet.

"Lady, give me only five or ten minutes to at least let me peruse my own products."

"Peruse, peruse!"

Narr: The results of Peter's labors produce cash which he can use to buy goods. Peter is saving to buy a truck to replace the one he lost to New England authorities.

(Ladies laughing.)

"OK, these are my best, I wouldn't take less than $3 even."

"The thimble."

"The thimble, where's it at?"

"Right there."

"Oh, my big thimble, just the thimble."

"Yes, just the thimble."

"That's cute!"

"OK, I told you, Man, I get this stuff from the garbage, and as far as I'm personally concerned, I want to have fun in my life, people will go.."

"What do you want for these two?"

"What would you say?"

"Ten apiece, maybe."

"No way, five bucks for the set."

"For both?"

"Yeah."

"Um."

Narr: Other foragers also hover at the edge of the market economy. Kwakiutl living in Alert Bay on the west coast of Canada continue to make their living by fishing, even though their activities have been drastically changed by the introduction of technology.

But modern Kwakiutl conform to the demands of a market economy in a stratified system of government. Many feel their traditional fishing rights are threatened by regulations imposed by the Canadian government in an effort to promote conservation.

"Still, in many ways Alert Bay is a modern town, although the government has placed strict limitations on our fishing rights. Most of us continue to make our living from the sea."

"You can call us more like the salmon people in this area. This is all we ever lived on from time, and we still depend on the fishery and the sea."

"Our people have always fished where, when and how they wanted. We can no longer do that. There's a moratorium on black cod, halibut, next thing you know it will be clams and everything like this."

"The ocean is our life, it's our whole lifeline. I think you cut off the lifeline, like salmon, the fishing is like taking the dirt away from the farmers. We no longer would exist."

"We're now looking at hours in fishing where we used to look at days!"

"I think we've got to tell them, this is it!

We're not going to be pushed any more!"

"We're can't be pushed any more because we're right to the bottom now!"

"I believe what he was saying."

(Pygmy man chanting.)

Narr: Though foragers and pastoralists have been pushed to the margins of modern society, these forms of subsistence are remarkably durable. Modern technology and a global market economy have changed these traditional ways of life forever.

(Music and singing of many cultures.)

http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/~rob/Anth200Menu/DOCS/4/anth9-5.htm

Jarich G Oosten

Cornelius H. W Remie

Summary: Angakkut and reproduction: social aspects and symbolic systems of the Netsilik shamanism

It is generally allowed that there is not any relation between the shamanism and the female infanticide in the companies inuit. However, of the data collected by the Father Van de Velde O.M.I. during its stay 27 years in the Netsilik area suggest that such a relation existed. In this article, the authors explore the relation between the female infanticide and the shamanism at Netsilingmiut, while comparing the data of Van de Velde with those of Rasmussen and with other work on the infanticide. They propose that the female infanticide cannot be reduced exclusively with ecological factors, demographic or social but that this habit is deeply enracinée in the complex chamanic Netsilik.

Abstract: Angakkut and reproduction: Social and symbolic aspects of Netsilik shamanism

It is generally accepted that No relationship exists between shamanism and female infanticide in Inuit societies. However, year analysis of dated collected by Father Franz Van de Velde O.M.I. during his 27 years residence in the Netsilik area, does suggest that such has relationship did exist. In this paper the authors explores the link between female infanticide and shamanism among the Netsilingmiut, by comparing Van de Velde' S dated with those of Rasmussen and with various studies of female infanticide. They wire-drawer that female infanticide edge not Be reduced to environmental, demographic and social factors only, goal that it is also firmly rooted in the Netsilik shamanistic complex.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl;=fr&u;=http://www.fss.ulaval.ca/etudes-inuit-studies/v21te03.HTML&prev;=/search%3Fq%3DNetsilik%2B%26start%3D30%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3Dutf-8%26sa%3DN

Inuit or Eskimo: Heterochronic Patterns

"The predominance of the right hand over the left was also reported by Dennis even among Egyptian art forms 3,500 to 4,500 years old, where the ratio of left- to right-handers was 9:111 and 5:100, respectively. However, going further back, Parello, using the "Draw-a-Man Test," found that ancient paleolithic man, from 1,750,000 to 8,000 years B.C., was probably either more ambidextrous or that there was a greater proportion of left-handers than there are now. This is an extremely interesting finding, which fits in very well with evidence from Hole, that the main paleolithic substence economy to 8,000 B.C. was hunting, while agriculture began shortly thereafter. Thus evidence will be presented to show that among the present traditional hunting-fishing population such as the Eskimo, Barry also found a lower degree of conformity on the Asch Conformity Test and more independent values. Hence a higher number of left-handers was predicted for the Eskimo, while observed incidence is 11.3 percent. Conversely, the majority of the agriculturalists of the world since 8,000 B.C., such as the Hong Kong Chinese Hakka, have harsher socialization with very few left-handers (an observed incidence of 1.5 percent). (Dawson, John L. (1977) An anthropological perspective on the evolution and lateralization of the brain. Annals of the New York Academy of Science 299: pp. 426)

Discusses taurodontism, a tooth condition, as evidencing itself often in57% of Down's sydrome subjects, often is Eskimo, and showing up in Neanderthal remains. Text continues..."If regular occurrence of taurodontism in the family Pongidae can be confirmedm then taurodontism must have been present in an ancestor common to modern man and the Pongidae. Thus, taurodontism probably is a true atavism." (Opitz, John M. & Gilbert-Barness, Enid F. (1990) Reflections on the pathogenesis of Down syndrome. American Journal of Medical Genetics 7: pp. 42)

"Balikci (1967: 623) has discussed the various cultural strategies, including child betrothal, adaption, and importation of wives, that were employed to ensure satisfactory recruitment of females into the adult population. Interestingly, such practices existed alongside female infanticide, the very practice that contributed above all others to the shortage of women!"( Freeman, Milton M. R. (1971) A social and ecological analysis of systematic female infancide among the Netsilik Eskimo. American Anthropologist 73, 5: pp. 1013)

"The Chinese Hakka, Katanganese, Temne agriculturalists and Hong Kong Chinese University students have, as expected, not only more conforming Asch scores, stricter discipline, but also the expected lower incidence of "left-handedness" (3.4%, 1.5%, 0.59% and 0.83%, respectively). In contrast, the more independent Australian Arunta hunters, Chinese Boat-People, and Alaskan Eskimo have left-hand percentages of 10.5%, 9.4%, and 11.3%, respectively, thus confirming Hy. II. The sex differences in left-handedness also supported Hy. III, with the Hakka, Temne, Katanga and Chinese agricultural males being, respectively, 3.8%, 2.5%, 0.79%, and 2.7% left-handed, while the female incidence for these societies is, 0% of a total of 330 Ss." (Dawson, J.L.M. (1974) Ecology, cultural pressures towards conformity and left-handedness: a bio-social approach. in J.L.M. Dawson , W.J. Lonner (eds.) Readings in Cross-cultural Psychology. Hong Kong: Hong Kong U. Press. p. 136)

"There is reason to believe, however, that these explanations are post facto rationalizations, consequences of, rather than contributory to, female infanticide. For example, Rasmussen himself reports :the Netsilik never think of reasoning with themselves" about their beliefs, "but simply react to what some event or other may force upon their notice" (Ibid:206); and again, "It is said that it is so, and therefore it is so" (Ibid.: 207). A similar conclusion is reached by Steenhoven, who writes, with regard to the delay in conceiving while nursing: "But the Eskimo do not usually rationalize along these lines; they have just accepted the practice of infanticide as a custom" (Steenhoven 1962: 50). (Freeman, Milton M. R. (1971) A social and ecological analysis of systematic female infancide among the Netsilik Eskimo. American Anthropologist 73, 5: pp. 1014)

"Briefly, my thesis is that due to the mutual dependence and complementarity of male and female work roles, there is a need for explicit demonstration of male dominance. The statements of Netsilik informants themselves richly illuminate the dominance of male over female. Moreover, the literature also suggests the potential threat to such dominance, through Netsilik female assertiveness, indispensibilty, and various spheres of domestic autonomy (Rasmussen 1931: 190ff). (Freeman, Milton M. R. (1971) A social and ecological analysis of systematic female infancide among the Netsilik Eskimo. American Anthropologist 73, 5: pp. 1015)

"Regarding the adaptive features of generalized infanticide, I suggest that an important consequence is an increase in the proportion of older individuals in the population." (Freeman, Milton M. R. (1971) A social and ecological analysis of systematic female infancide among the Netsilik Eskimo. American Anthropologist 73, 5: pp. 1016)

"Dawson (1972, 1974) has pointed out that hunting and fishing cultures, such as Eskimo and Australian Aborigine peoples, tend to show higher rates of left-handedness than agricultural communities, such as the Temne and the Chinese Hakka, and he suggested that this may be accounted for by the emphasis on independent values and the relatively low degree of conformity found in nomadic groups." (Bishop, D.V.M. (1990) Handedness and Developmental Disorder. MacKeith, Manchester pp. 13)

"A great many peoples used to think---and some think it to this day---that the moon, in the form of a man, or a serpent, copulates with their women. That is why, among Eskimo's for instance, unmarried girls will not look at the moon for fear of becoming pregnant. " (Eliade, Mircea (1958) Patterns in Comparative Religion: Univ. of Nebraska Press, Lincoln p. 1650

"Amongst the various Amerindian populations (Figs 91 and 92) there is a wide variation in height means. North American Indians are taller and heavier than South American and Central American Indians. The Blackfeet means are well up in the European range, as are the means for British Columbian Indians (Birkbeck, Lee, Meyers & Alfred, 1971; Lee et al., 1971; not plotted). The Apache Indian and Alaskan Eskimo children are also considerably taller at all ages than the South and Central Americans. Even though they do have many traits in common, North American and South American Indians differ considerably in physique and craniofacial structure." (Eveleth, P.B. & Tanner, J.M. (1976) Worldwide Variation in Human Growth: Cambridge Univ. Press, London p. 127)

"The height of the Eskimos is below that of Europeans, while their weight is equal. Thus, the Eskimo have a high weight-for-height (see Figs. 105-7, below); they are short and stocky as children as well as when they are adult (Fig.108, below). " (Eveleth, P.B. & Tanner, J.M. (1976) Worldwide Variation in Human Growth: Cambridge Univ. Press, London p. 128-9)

"Studies of skinfold thickness in Eskimo adults have given means below those of Euro-Americans (Elsner, 1963; Shephard, Hatcher & Rose, 1973; Shephard, 1974) except in Wainwright (Jamison & Zegura, 1970). These latter results show that skinfolds of adult males are comparable to US males, but that those of females are considerably greater. The authors state that while the adult males in Wainwright remained lean and muscular, the women became quite fat. During childhood, however, the subcutaneous fat in famales was not great. In only increased around 12 years at about the time of adolescence (see Figs. 118-21). Reports of small skinfolds caused considerable surprise because it had been expected that Eskimos would have a high percentage of body fat as protection against the cold (Newman, 1956), and as a result of their extremely high fat diet (Ho et al., 1972). The possibility that body fat could have a different distribution in Eskimos than in Europeans and total fat not be closely related to subcutaneous fat as measured by skinfolds, has been examined in Igloolik Eskimos by determination of total body water. Higher percentages of body fat were indeed shown than would be predicted from using the European regression of body fat on skinfold (Shephard et al., 1973). Even so the levels were no higher than those of many American college students." (Eveleth, P.B. & Tanner, J.M. (1976) Worldwide Variation in Human Growth: Cambridge Univ. Press, London p. 268-9)

"Recent recall data [Eskimos] indicate an earlier menarche (13.8 years; Milan, 1970) than was reported formerly (14.2 years; Levine, 1953). Skeletal development is similar to that of European children (Pawson, 1974a)." (Eveleth, P.B. & Tanner, J.M. (1976) Worldwide Variation in Human Growth: Cambridge Univ. Press, London p. 269)

http://www.humanevolution.net/a/inuiteskimo.html

Bookslut points out this excellent post by Kieran Healy on books he didn't read this year.

NY Times' December reading group pick is Eugene Onegin. Anybody would like to share their expertise by discussing it online? Please check it out. Here is their site.

Update: NY Times requires registration in order to see their stuff. It's free. To post messages on their online discussion, merely update your account by clicking on the 'subscribe' button. No money out of your pocket needed for these procedures, fortunately, unlike the LA Times (grrrrrrr).

...is our December selection.

Update: Found this Jared Diamond essay written 1987 "The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race" here.

Here are comments about Guns, Germs, and Steel in response to a review by Bradford Delong, an economist.

At Cornell, I found a page with links to comments about Diamond's book. The first, about Yali, is worth reading.

Here is a page with a bit of criticism.

The NY Times reviews this book.

My quick comment on this book: It seemed as though reading this amazing book was like peeling an onion, especially towads the end. I enjoyed reading this book about the 'big picture'. But, correct me if I'm wrong, it seemed as though he didn't cover a few areas about humans that I really think are important, such as the role of religion and the role of world view and how that affects conquest. The questions I pose are these: do you think he adequately answered Yali's question in his book? Why did he leave the areas of worldview and religion out of this book?

The New York Times reviews two books relevant to our bookclub: one is a new Don Quixote translation and the second is a review of a new Pushkin biography.

This blog is a gem: wood s lot

We'll be tackling Eugene Onegin by Pushkin.
Update:
Following are a whole slew of Pushkin-related links, thanks to Marlo. Note: I only posted the links from the email to save space.

From the Penguin Classics edition of Alexander Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin, translated by Charles Johnston [which as copious notes on pages 203-262].

Footnote XXIX-XXX to Chapter 6 that Judy read to us at the meeting of Nov.13, 2003: "The conditions discussed by the seconds in XXVII (which ought properly to have been set in writing the previous day) are not made explicit; but the general rules according to which this duel is conducted are as follows. At the outset, the opponents face each other at a specified distance, agreed by the seconds. Each stands the same number of paces back from a barrier – a stretch of no man’s land marked out between them, typically ten or twelve paces in length, into which neither party may cross. On the seconds’ instruction to begin (Zaretsky’s ‘Now march’; XXX.r), both approach the barrier, and each may fire his one shot at will. If the first to shoot does not entirely disable his opponent, the latter returns fire: depending upon the severity of the prearranged conditions, either with both combatants remaining where they were when the first shot was fired, or after moving right up to the barrier, to which he may also ‘call’ his adversary. The fundamental tactical decision was therefore whether to risk shooting first, at a moving target from a greater relative distance, or to brave the opponent'’ shot and so have the chance to fire at a static target from the minimum distance. Experienced duellists almost invariably preferred the latter. This sometimes meant that both would reach the barrier before firing – the circumstance most liable to produce a double fatality.
Onegin and Lensky begin at a distance of thirty-two paces (measured out by Zaretsky). Each is therefore ten or eleven paces back from the barrier presumably set at twelve or ten paces – though the unspecified interval, determined by Zaretsky, could conceivably have been less, and more potentially lethal. After four paces each begins to aim, and five paces later (i.e. at a distance of thirty-two minus eighteen or fourteen paces, still moving, and probably a couple of paces from the barrier) Onegin fires first, apparently only marginally forestalling Lensky. Contrary to the opinion of some commentators, everything noted here suggests that this is not the action of a calm, cold-blooded murderer (XXX.I, 3). Onegin’s shot is more likely the result of a loss of self-control, whether from fear or anger at the sight of his opponent’s barrel, and seems indicative of an uncalculated haste, an unsteady hand to an absurd but dangerous situation.
The most noble course for Onegin would have been to allow Lensky, as the injured party, to take his shot, and not return fire. There was, however, not guarantee that Lensky and his second would deem honour satisfied without insisting that Onegin make a serious shot.

Puskin's final duel (This article claims that Pushkin's wife was faithful, a notion that is elsewhere controverted.)
For more data, go to http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/dueling/3.html
Poems by Pushkin are here.

A CONFESSION
To Alexandra Ivanovna Osipova
I love you - love you, even as I
Rage at myself for this obsession,
And as I make my shamed confession,
Despairing at your feet I lie.
I know, I know - it ill becomes
I am too old, time to be wise...
But how?.. This love - it overcomes me,
A sickness this in passion's guise.
When you are near I'm filled with sadness,
When far, I yawn, for life's a bore.
I must pour out this love, this madness,
There's nothing that I long for more!
When your skirts rustle, when, my angel,
Your girlish voice I hear, when your
Light step sounds in the parlor - strangely,
I turn confused, perturbed, unsure.
You frown - and I'm in pain, I languish;
You smile - and joy defeats distress;
My one reward for a day's anguish
Comes when your pale hand, love, I kiss.
When you sit bent over your sewing,
Your eyes cast down and fine curls blowing
About your face, with tenderness
I childlike watch, my heart o'erflowing
With love, in my gaze a caress.
Shall I my jealousy and yearning
Describe, my bitterness and woe
When by yourself on some bleak morning
Off on a distant walk you go,
Or with another spend the evening
And, with him near, the piano play,
Or for Opochka leave, or, grieving,
Weep and in silence pass the day?..
Alina! Pray relent, have mercy!
I dare not ask for love - with all
My many sins, both great and small,
I am perhaps of love unworthy!..
But if you feigned love, if you would
Pretend, you'd easily deceive me,
For happily would I, believe me,
Deceive myself if but I could!
1826

From Reviews of Alexander Pushkin

Pushkin is to Russian speakers what Shakespeare is to English speakers. His influence on the prose and poetry of the language is second to no one and writing influences Russian literature to this day. Amazingly Pushkin only lived until the age of 38. Even now you can visit his gravesite (as I did) and still see teenage girls weeping and putting flowers on his grave.

From http://www.cybcity.com/barkov/

New literary theory suggests the multi-plot inner structure of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin is identical to that of Shakespeare's Hamlet. In both, a hidden Narrator is the principal composition element.

We now have our very own battle cry...

What Is Your Battle Cry?

Stalking across the tundra, brandishing an oversized scalpel, cometh Yo Bookclub! And she gives a vengeful cry: "I'm going to pulverize you beyond mortal comprehension!!"

Find out! Enter username: Are you a girl, or a guy ?

created by beatings : powered by monkeys

For your very own, enter your name or anyone else's in the 'Enter username:' space.

This time it's: Which Dr. Seuss character are you?

From the Observer, we get their 100 greatest novels of all time. So what do you think?

This month's book is Quarantine by Jim Crace. (We are finally catching up).Here's your chance to put in your questions and comments.

Confessions of Zeno was last month's book. Any second, third, fourth or fifth thoughts?

Comments are now up on a trial basis.

Here is Crace himself commenting on his book Quarantine.

And here is a book review. I'm sure there are more out there. Oh Marlo, what have you found?

Daedalus Children's Books has an online sale site. Check it out if you're interested in amazingly low prices on new children's books. Sale ends 12/31/03.

From Bookslut, we hear about an interview with Jim Crace in the Independent(UK). He's got a new book out called Genesis.

I didn't find much on the WWW in the way of reader's guides or discussion questions for Svevo's book. However, for those who have time, I found an interesting, although insidious, article at
http://www.vladivostok.com/Speaking_In_Tongues/glazova34eng.htm

Speaking In Tongues: Guided by Voices -- Joyce, Svevo and Weininger

by Anna Glazova.

She discusses two themes in Svevo's work: anti-Semitism and misogyny

Thinking of Mars recently having been so close to Earth, our rector included this poem in his weekly church letter. Love, M

"As If to Demonstrate an Eclipse" by Billy Collins

I pick an orange from a wicker basket
and place it on the table
to represent the sun.
Then down at the other end
a blue and white marble
becomes the earth
and nearby I lay the little moon of an aspirin.
I get a glass from a cabinet,
open a bottle of wine,
then I sit in a ladder-back chair,
a benevolent god presiding
over a miniature creation myth,
and I begin to sing
a homemade canticle of thanks
for this perfect little arrangement,
for not making the earth too hot or cold
not making it spin too fast or slow
so that the grove of orange trees
and the owl become possible,
not to mention the rolling wave,
the play of clouds, geese in flight,
and the Z of lightning on a dark lake.
Then I fill my glass again
and give thanks for the trout,
the oak, and the yellow feather,
singing the room full of shadows,
as sun and earth and moon
circle one another in their impeccable orbit
and I get more and more cockeyed with gratitude.

Update: Billy Collins is the US Poet Laureate. This poem can be found in his book called Nine Horses. Here is a review.

So, which Jane Austen character are you? Click here to find out.
Note: Think more along the lines of a Cosmopolitan quiz. The quizzes on this site are just for fun and have no validity whatsoever.

presents a whole slew of book related events called ALOUD at the Central Library, including book readings by the following authors: Jeffrey Eugenides (September 16th), Maxine Hong Kingston (September 17th), Paul Krugman (October 7th) and Scott Turow (October 16th). Since there are many other happenings in addition to the above, please check their website at http://www.lapl.org/events and make your reservations now.

Thanks to Book Blog for this link.

are hard to find. Here are two: BookBlog and Zuly's Reading Room. Email me if you find any.
Oops! Spoke too soon: found this link to other bookclub blogs at Book Blog.

is an extremely large online poetry archive. Thanks to Booksurfer (a wonderful book blog--see our sidebar under Book Blogs) for this link.

to the Los Angeles Times. To gain access to their book reviews online, you now need to be a subscriber.

....guess what? The one and only The Leopard by di Lampedusa. Check it out here. Do we have any brave adventurers from our group to post on their forum?We did have a wonderful discussion the other night....

Addendum: Crime and Punishment, our last months book, was a September 2001 selection.

Check out the movie Whale Rider for tears and inspiration. Thanks for this awesome resource Sally and all.

Woo hoo! Welcome, Judy! And your post was fine. We may one day have a comments section but at this point in time, HTML still looks like techno-Greek to me. I'm not up to speed on that yet.

REMINDER: I forgot to mention this. After you are finished writing your post, click on the "Post" or "Post and Publish" icons on the top bar. If you still see the yellow-orangish PUBLISH button on the right side of the middle toolbar, you will need to click on that to get the post officially published on the blog.

Later in the evening: A double woo hoo! Welcome, Jeannie!

Hi Sally and Marlo -- and anyone else who figured this out! I wish I had the time to visit all those sites and read all those books. Some other life time...

I was able to order Confessions of Zeno with ease at "abebooks" - thanks for that! I also ordered the new Jim Crace novel while I was at it. I used a new and different account name, so I will track for us all what spam that contact may have generated (if any).

Now, is this an inappropriate use of a blog site?
Judy

For Woody Guthrie fans, here is a sweet tribute to Woody, written by Steve Earle.
Addendum: This is in reference to the September 2001 bookclub selection: Bound For Glory written by Woody Guthrie.

A Chaser From Marlo

THE BOOK: Confessions of Zeno, by Itelo Svevo

www.abebooks.com has about 70 copies. Yes, some are expensive; but you can sort them by "lowest price." Sally mentioned another website for books, which I didn't catch but which is listed on the BLOG site.

Sep.4 we will have a demonstration re BLOGGING. Oh, boy!

Here's a Russian poem that may serve as a "chaser" following our discussion this evening of CRIME AND PUNISHMENT:

"Forever You, the Unwashed Russia!"

by Mikhail Lermontov

Forever you, the unwashed Russia!

The land of slaves the land of lords:

And you, the blue-uniformed ushers,

And people who worship them as gods.

I hope, from your tyrannic hounds

To save me with Caucasian wall:

From their eye, that sees through ground,

From their ears, that hear all.

© Copyright, 1996 Translated from Russian by Yevgeny Bonver, 1990

Here is an interesting Dostoevsky lecture from the UC Davis Philosophy Department.

To get us in the mood for next week's meeting, visit the Crime and Punishment Museum.

Book Review: Sewing Circles of Herat by Christina Lamb

Here is an interesting book review in Alternet (a wonderful source of alternative progressive news, by the way). A memoir written by a foreign journalist in Afghanistan, this book chronicles her experiences through two wars.

Note: Other favorite progressive news sites online: Common Dreams and Tom Paine

Note on:The Laws of Evening. Here is a brief review in the NYTimes(registration but no subscription required).

A Book and Some Haikus: The Laws of Evening

From Linda:

From Marlo about The Leopard

If you are one of those who couldn't/didn't finish THE LEOPARD, try to pick it up toward the end. The "Death of a Prince" is very nicely done (or is it just me?), and the last chapter "Relics" gives you a sense of how deep Catholicism was in Sicily and Italy. I remember being overwhelmed in Rome, seeing Catholic art everywhere, even on the facade of buildings -- and churches in which statues of the reigning pope are many times larger than statues of the saints or Jesus himself. (!) Ah, we should have planned this meeting to be held in Sicily. When, oh when, will be develop into a book and travel group. Think about it. M

More From Marlo About Crime and Punishment...

There are tons, I mean tons, of websites for Crime and Punishment. I'm overwhelmed.

Heads up from Marlo!

Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Take steps to get your copy for reading in June.
NOTICE: A couple of translators are listed for this book:
Constance Garnett for Bantam Classics (amazon.com's BEST SELLER) and Dover Thrift editions.
Richard Pevear (Translator), Larissa Volokhonsky (Translator), for Everyman's Library/Knopf.
W.W. Norton's translator is someone else (amazon.com's 2nd BEST SELLER and my choice).


Meanwhile, the book is available everywhere -- including online and on audio cassettes. You can find reading guides via google.com or whatever you like.
This is a great book to BLOG! If I knew how to do it now, you could already consider yourself BLOGGED.
Meanwhile, ADVISE RE TRANSLATOR if you can and ENJOY READING!

REMEMBER: You can get good used copies of books via amazon.com, abebooks.com, etc.

what is a blog?

A few irreverent definitions are listed in the Urban Dictionary. Check it out.

Just an example

The templates can be changed. The name of the weblog can be changed. (How about something sillier, sexier, more imaginative, more creative, more sophisticated....e.g., Wild Book Goddesses of LA, Too Many Books and Not Enough Time).
I began this as an example. We can all work together on this. In the end, we will all be able to post to this site.

We can also share recipes

Here is the recipe for the carrot quinoa I brought once.

We can even link to book reviews: The Leopard

For example, a brief review of The Leopard can be viewed here.

Jonathan Jones in UK's The Guardian provides a more historical perspective.

A biography of Guiseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa by David Gilmour, called The Last Leopard, was published by Pantheon Books in 1988. Although now out of print, this book may be available through public libraries. I haven't checked LAPL yet. Here is a brief review in Amazon.com.

Does anyone know anything about British politics? Julian Critchely who is a Conservative MP rates The Leopard as his number one best all time favorite book in this article in The Guardian.

It seems as though The Leopard is big in England, at least amongst the Guardian book editors. It's on their list of the first 50 essential books. This list might be worth looking at for future books. On their booktalk site, a reaction to their list by Guga provides more books.

Privacy Concerns?

When you sign up, try using a unique username and password. These should be identifiers that you haven't used on other accounts. Then, on the profile form which asks for first name and last name, you could use a nickname, favorite nom de plume, or an abbreviation (I used Sally K). I'm sure you would know this already, but it would be wise to avoid posting private info such as addresses and phone numbers.

Shall We Blog?

The easiest way to begin: first open a new account at blogger.com.

After you've opened your new account (i.e., picked a unique username and password), then go to your team invite in your email.

Click on the link in the email which links back to blogger.com. It should list this blog site on the form. Then proceed to accept the invite (click yes).

Your personal account should now list this blog.

Commence posting!

Confusing?Call me if you have questions.