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Tonight, by Sea
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From: Julie K Kline <cla>
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 1996 09:34:19 -0500 (CDT)
I've really been appreciating the discussion of Frances Temple's work, particularly in light of an upcoming event.
Frances Temple's book, Tonight, by Sea, will be honored at the Americas Book Award presentation, scheduled for July 19 at the Library of Congress.
(Her husband will accept the award in her name.) The Americas review committee selected her book as the 1995 award recipient for many of the same reasons shared by other readers. From the very first lines, the reader is completely drawn into another place, other lives. The characterizations are so complete and the story so enveloping, that it is not an "other" world. This was not an outsider looking in. It is obvious that Temple talked with people, really listened to them and learned. I find myself wondering who the real voices were that she heard as she wrote. Her use of language, even beyond dialogue (use of proverbs, the use of Haitian Creole, translated or not), is striking, as is the attention to detail (such as the description of the tire repair shop and its "broken clothes iron, a hammer, a pry bar, a glass jar of precious kerosene. Here and there, stuck in the palm-thatch roof, there were bits of foil from cigarette or gum packs, and scrap rubber.") In Tonight, by Sea she gave a very real sense of individual strength and community and, above all, about living with dignity.
Julie Kline Center for Latin Americas UW-Milwaukee Americas Book Award Chair
Received on Fri 28 Jun 1996 09:34:19 AM CDT
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 1996 09:34:19 -0500 (CDT)
I've really been appreciating the discussion of Frances Temple's work, particularly in light of an upcoming event.
Frances Temple's book, Tonight, by Sea, will be honored at the Americas Book Award presentation, scheduled for July 19 at the Library of Congress.
(Her husband will accept the award in her name.) The Americas review committee selected her book as the 1995 award recipient for many of the same reasons shared by other readers. From the very first lines, the reader is completely drawn into another place, other lives. The characterizations are so complete and the story so enveloping, that it is not an "other" world. This was not an outsider looking in. It is obvious that Temple talked with people, really listened to them and learned. I find myself wondering who the real voices were that she heard as she wrote. Her use of language, even beyond dialogue (use of proverbs, the use of Haitian Creole, translated or not), is striking, as is the attention to detail (such as the description of the tire repair shop and its "broken clothes iron, a hammer, a pry bar, a glass jar of precious kerosene. Here and there, stuck in the palm-thatch roof, there were bits of foil from cigarette or gum packs, and scrap rubber.") In Tonight, by Sea she gave a very real sense of individual strength and community and, above all, about living with dignity.
Julie Kline Center for Latin Americas UW-Milwaukee Americas Book Award Chair
Received on Fri 28 Jun 1996 09:34:19 AM CDT
