An early, fascinating view of Goan writing, brought together by Peter Nazareth. First published in the 1980s, but only now available for the first time in Goa. It contains extracts from novels, essays, poems, short-stories (from ‘the outside’, and ‘local’ settings), stories of return, essays on home and exile, a one-act play, and bibliography and notes on contributors. Till now, this volume has been very rare and difficult to find in Goa, coming from far (Oakland University in Michigan). The single-most important volume that could help one understand the writing of 20th century Goa (and some earlier phases) in a nutshell. Prof. Nazareth’s anthology was the first to present an amazing range of Goan and diaspora writing.
Peter Nazareth (born 1940) was born in Uganda of Goan and Malaysian ancestry, and was educated at Makerere University (Uganda) and at the universities of London and Leeds in England. While residing in Africa, he simultaneously served as senior finance officer in Idi Amin’s finance ministry until 1973, when he accepted a fellowship at Yale University (United States) and emigrated from Uganda.
He is currently professor of English and African-American World Studies at the University of Iowa (United States), where he is also a consultant to the International Writing Program. Nazareth attracted major media attention for teaching that university’s popular course “Elvis as Anthology,” which explores the deep mythological roots of Elvis Presley’s roles in popular culture. His literary criticisms have been enriched by his trenchant observations of the fate of diverse global economic and academic migrants, spanning the Asian, African and black American cultural histories. This includes specifically, the Goan diaspora settled in Western countries, the post Idi Amin Asian emigration from Eastern Africa and of the cultural superstitions of the pre Obama presidency of American politics.
