GIANT TALK: An Anthology of Third World Writings

Troupe and Schulte, the editors of two little magazines specializing in Third Word literature, have put together the best and fattest anthology of writers from Africa, the Caribbean and the Americas we've seen yet. In their introduction, they lay down their aims for the collection: to establish a broader definition of the Third World spokesman which transcends class and color, give a more geographically and stylistically comprehensive representation, and to place their work within a developmental and/or ideological scheme. The structure they've arrived at has seven parts and is much too complex to explain here but suffice it to say that it facilitates an interpretative reading of these writers of oppression and protest. Poetry, prose and novel excerpts are all included. A sampling of contributors includes Baldwin, Vallejo, Claude McKay, Thomas Sanchez, Fuentes, Asturias, Dalton Trevisan, Alice Walker, Alejo Carpentier, Chester Himes, Ralph Ellison, Gwendolyn Brooks, Imamu Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, Ishmael Reed, Gayl Jones, Aime Cesaire, Neruda, Donoso, Nicanor Parra, Larry Neal, Garcia Marquez, Octavio Paz, Toni Morrison, Cortazar, Lezama Lima; and many, many of the selections are as good as anything in the Western tradition. If these writers aren't already represented in your library, you owe it to yourself to acquire this anthology and begin broadening your horizon.