tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4163876234969175446.post4762378258535253034..comments2024-03-22T10:56:23.359+02:00Comments on Land and People: Smiley is hilariousRami Zuraykhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14644937988631864952noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4163876234969175446.post-1536066966751492342007-12-11T01:33:00.000+02:002007-12-11T01:33:00.000+02:00Jane Smiley, with a Ph.D. in English and a working...Jane Smiley, with a Ph.D. in English and a working knowledge of Icelandic and Old English, plus many bestselling novels under her belt, is also deeply concerned with farming and the destruction of the family farm in America's middle west. I have not read her novels on these topics, only her discussion of same, but it seems that several of her early books deal with the corruption and the corporate skulduggery that have turned Iowa into what she calls a wasteland in my lifetime.<BR/><BR/>She's furthermore a real leftist firebrand critic of the Republicans. You ought to read her regularly.<BR/><BR/>Last spring she appeared at a local bookstore to promote her latest novel (a boccaccio-like romance about Hollywood); at the beginning of her talk she opened her prim overblouse to show a tee-shirt that said F*** Cheney (no asterisks). It was the day they convicted Scooter LIbby, I think. I was so delighted with this display that I shouted from the back of the room "Next year in the Hague!" Dr. Smiley liked that so much, she led the whole audience in a cheer - three times: Next year in the Hague! etc. etc.<BR/><BR/>I think she does see herself as a Charles Dickens (female natch) of our time. I am determined to read Thousand Acres and the other book she mentioned that deals wiht this farming issue.Leila Abu-Sabahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14161833022292457787noreply@blogger.com