Book review by Betty Harris, University of Oklahoma

1. world literature in review
Obama-McCain election, another dedicated to his lucid prose, eye for
moment of potential renovation. detail, and unerring curiosity.
Mindful of tensions afoot, driving George Evans
through the heart of the country, he San Francisco
gets a crash course in Balkanized
American politics and an irritated Nyla Ali Khan. Islam, Women, and Vio-
public inflamed by talk radio. lence in Kashmir: Between India and
Steinbeck had his famous Roci- Pakistan. New York. Palgrave Macmil-
nante—a custom-made Wolverine lan. 2010. 234 pages, ill. $85. ISBN 978-
camper shell fixed to the bed of a 0-230-10764-9
three-quarter-ton pickup—but Bar-
ich made his trip in a humble Ford Kashmir manifests many of the geo-
Focus rental. Steinbeck had French political tensions in South Asia—
poodle Charley as a companion; between Pakistan and India, Islam
Barich traveled alone. His trip is and Hinduism, nuclear war and dis-
less relaxed than Steinbeck’s, and armament, British colonialism and
he packs his time with encounters postcolonialism, women’s empow-
and side trips, constantly taking the erment and women’s repression,
pulse of a country he clearly loves, incorporation and independence.
easily engaging with people from Nyla Ali Khan, deftly combining plebiscite for Kashmiris in Pakistan
all backgrounds (a hallmark of his ethnographic, ethnohistoric, and and India to decide whether they
work in general), sensing that per- literary analyses, dramatizes these wanted to pursue an autonomous
haps something fundamental has geopolitical tensions in the every- existence, but the plebiscite never
changed during his absence, but day lives of the people of Kash- occurred. The author’s grandfather,
hesitating to criticize too harshly mir (or the former princely state Abdullah Mohammad, as the first
before getting the whole story. of Jammu and Kashmir [“J & K]”). prime minister (1948–53), played an
In the end, Barich seems bet- Early in the book, she discusses Lal- important role in efforts to create an
ter equipped for cultural shocks la-Ded’s fourteenth-century poetic autonomous Kashmir and to address
and changes than Steinbeck—per- representations of the beautiful its socioeconomic needs. This fact
haps his adaptability is what dis- Himalayan valleys where Kashmiri gives Khan’s book a strong autobio-
tinguishes their generational dif- people dwell. Although Kashmir graphical component. Through land
ferences. has a Muslim majority, its popula- redistribution to the peasantry dur-
He reaches San Francisco, tion includes substantial numbers ing Mohammad’s rule of the J & K,
heart of his California roots (he first of Buddhists and Hindus. In state feudalism ended in Indian Kashmir,
arrived there during the east-west formation, the Jammu and Kashmir but it continues in Pakistan, creating
hippie migration of the 1960s), just National Congress adopted a more a situation in which there is uneven
in time to witness Barack Obama’s secular nationalist approach that development.
election victory. He’s rejuvenated was later challenged by the forces The status of women has
by the trip (Steinbeck seemed worn of “religious fundamentalism and been inextricably tied to the vaga-
down by his), glad to be back, and exclusionary nationalism.” Various ries of Kashmiri postcolonial his-
ready for the next phase. Casting transfers of power, mostly undemo- tory. Women, whom Khan suggests
a savvy eye on reality, he tethers cratic, have occurred in the colonial had greater empowerment during
his expectations to what he knows and postcolonial periods, result- Mohammad’s reign, have experi-
about human failings and limita- ing in Kashmir being a setting for enced the brunt of repression from
tions rather than idealism (remain- political factionalism, Indian Union the Indian army and Pakistani insur-
ing hopeful and open-minded manipulation and domination, and gents since violence started to esca-
nonetheless). Long Way Home will Pakistani designs on the area. late in the early 1990s. Through the
no doubt fulfill the expectations of In 1948 the United Nations colonial period, women’s differen-
Barich’s many fans and admirers, Security Council voted to have a tial status with men was steadfastly
76 ı World Literature Today

2. Nota Bene
maintained. Women had limited literary tradition. More than 450
educational and professional oppor- years of writing by some two hun-
tunities; husbands had control of dred writers is organized in five
the material resources of the family; principal sections: Colonization:
women were expected to bear chil- 1537–1810, Annexations: 1811–1898,
dren, consent to polygynous fam- Acculturation: 1899–1945, Upheav-
ily arrangements, and be shunned al: 1946–1979, and Into the Main-
and replaced if they could not bear stream: 1980–Present. In chronologi-
children. cal order—beginning with Hispanic
The recent anarchy initiated by colonial writers (Las Casas, Cabeza
“government-sponsored militants de Vaca, El Inca Garcilaso, and elev-
and foreign mercenaries” has mili- en others) and ending with the most
tarized male youth culture and, in contemporary writers (such as Junot
turn, negatively impacted women’s Díaz and Mariposa)—are the essen-
status. Women have experienced tial works of Latino literature in all
the brunt of human rights viola- genres. (About one-fourth of the Velma Pollard
tions, including rapes, “custodial material is translated from the origi- Considering Woman I & II
disappearances” and murders, and nal Spanish, although hybrid Span- Peepal Tree
brutal interrogations. Thus, a class ish-English texts are unaltered.) A Pollard has published numerous novels and
of women has been created who are sixth section, Popular Dimensions, collections of poetry throughout her career.
victims of these violations. introduces some folk and popu- This special collection of short stories
I highly recommend Islam, lar genres. The general introduc- brings together more than twenty years
Women, and Violence in Kashmir. tion (“The Search for Wholeness”), of writing in order to form a rich dialogue
Nyla Khan has written a very section and author introductions, through the passage of time.
vivid, engaging, and insightful endpaper maps showing explora-
book analyzing the development tion and immigration patterns,
of the Kashmiri crisis through lit- and three appendixes underscore
erature, history, and ethnography issues of history, identity, and liter-
while foregrounding the status of ary history that inform both Latino
women. She leads the reader to a expression and the creation of the
deeper understanding of this com- anthology. (The appended mate-
plex, continually unfolding crisis rial is a chronology of literature and
and clarifies issues that will need to history, 1492–2010; a selection of
be addressed as Kashmir moves on treaties, acts, and propositions; and
its future path. translations of “influential essays”
Betty Harris by Rodó, Vasconcelos, Paz, and
University of Oklahoma Fernández Retamar.)
Here we find foundational
The Norton Anthology of Latino Lit- texts and other works of Chicano,
erature. Ilan Stavans, ed. New York. Puerto Rican, Cuban American, and
W. W. Norton. 2011. lxxi + 2,489 pages Dominican American literature,
+ A1 A177. $59.95. ISBN 978-0-393- along with a few contemporary writ- Ralph Salisbury
08007-0 ers from different backgrounds (Isa- Light from a Bullet Hole
bel Allende, Ariel Dorfman, Jaime Silverfish Review Press
This long-anticipated volume aptly Manrique, Francisco Goldman, Dan- These poems stretch across Salisbury’s
represents the extraordinary scope iel Alarcón, and Felipe Alfau). Other lifetime and emphasize his Cherokee
of scholarship and aesthetics that interesting authors and selections heritage and culture. Each poem serves as
one expects both from a Norton are Arthur Schomburg, William a “lens through which we may view anew
anthology and from the Latino Carlos Williams, a scholarly essay the story of our American nation” (Joseph
Bruchac).
March – April 2011 ı 77