Private v public memory/official v unofficial history

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Hey folks, I'm trying to put together an independent study curriculum based around the themes in the title. I'm thinking specifically about how writers can act in opposition to the state or official channels in terms of what a society remembers. Here are some books I'm currently considering:
Notes From Underground Dostoevsky
The Trial Kafka
The Stranger Camus
Trans-Atlantyk Gombrowicz
I, the Supreme Roa Bastos
Artificial Respiration Piglia
The Polish Complex Konwicki
Rings of Saturn Sebald
By Night in Chile Bolano
Palestine Sacco
Crabwalk Grass
Kindly suggest others. Thank you.

― wmlynch (wlynch), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 22:06 (nineteen years ago)

Vaclav Havel wrote a number of essays and plays that touch upon your subject. The one I'd recommend is "Politics and Conscience"; it's reprinted in his collection Open Letters: Selected Writings, 1965-1990.

― MarkK, Saturday, 15 April 2006 18:07 (nineteen years ago)

Steve Erickson - 'Arc D'X'.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Saturday, 15 April 2006 19:52 (nineteen years ago)

The Secret Integration?

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Sunday, 16 April 2006 00:56 (nineteen years ago)

Good suggestions. I've never heard of that Erickson before.
Also considering Didion's Salvador and looking for something Irish.

― wmlynch (wlynch), Thursday, 20 April 2006 16:07 (nineteen years ago)

History: A Novel by Elsa Morante. Amazon here

― remy (x Jeremy), Thursday, 20 April 2006 17:56 (nineteen years ago)

What about Midnight's Children by Rushdie?

― owenmeany (owenmeany), Saturday, 22 April 2006 22:12 (nineteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

Rousseau's Social Contract. Granted it is political theory, it was written when the monarchy in France was still in power. And during the French Revolution it became one of the most popular books to read.

― Alex Hughes, Wednesday, 17 May 2006 14:19 (nineteen years ago)

I read a great book in a class on this theme, called The Murmuring Coast, by Lidia Jorge. it's a Portuguese novel about Portuguese imperialism in Africa, and can be difficult to find in translation, but it's totally worth it. it formally dramatizes the official v. unofficial history split.

― horseshoe (horseshoe), Thursday, 18 May 2006 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

Jurgen Habermas - "The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere"

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 19 May 2006 19:25 (nineteen years ago)

Nancy Fraser - "Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy" (discussed here

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 19 May 2006 19:27 (nineteen years ago)

Bram Stoker - "Dracula"

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 19 May 2006 19:29 (nineteen years ago)

The book that the Nancy Fraser article is from is almost all great, actually, especially the Michael Warner essay, "Publics and Counterpublics," in which he quotes John Waters, as well as somebody - j.g. ballard? - fantasizing about sucking Reagan's cock.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0262531143/ref=ase_apophenia-20/002-8748494-5021662?s=books&v=glance&n=283155&tagActionCode=apophenia-20

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 19 May 2006 19:33 (nineteen years ago)

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