Just finished it, quinnsong, it's a masterpiece. I noticed an interesting passage: "Oh, my God!" Ignatius slobbered. "The minx has been raped by a Mao-Mao." "What's that?" Mrs. Reilly asked suspiciously. mau-mau /ˈmaʊˌmaʊ/ Show Spelled[mou-mou] Show IPA –verb (used with object) Slang . to terrorize, intimidate, or threaten. Now check this out from presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee: But then if you think about it, his [Obama's] perspective as growing up in Kenya with a Kenyan father and grandfather, their view of the Mau Mau Revolution in Kenya is very different than ours because he probably grew up hearing that the British were a bunch of imperialists who persecuted his grandfather. He's basically calling the president a violent terrorist in an underhanded way.
Not quite: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mau_Mau_Uprising Mau mau as a noun isn't the same as mau mau as a verb (although the verb may well have originated from the actions/ methods of the Kikuyu group in that conflict).
Yes, there is a slight difference. They were violent revolutionaries, but the term can be used to evoke some radical "other". The character Ignatius had a rather innocent bias but Huckabee does not. Huckabee is obviously using the term as a roundabout way to call the president the N word. I should probably start a thread about it. The book "A Confederacy of Dunces" takes place in the south, and Ignatius' use of the term made me think that southern white people would probably recognize it and associate it with primitive African culture and vaguely threatening.
I picked up a copy of this recently at a local used book sale. Sounds as though it'll make a good change of mood after I'm through with Let History Judge - The Origins and Consequences of Stalinism by Roy A. Medvedev.
Lol yes you will need A Confederacy of Dunces after reading about Stalin! Please post again while reading A Confederacy, I do love to talk about this novel. In fact I am constantly having to restock it, because I keep giving it out to spread the laughs.
Incoming! Incoming from Barnes & Noble: Shipping Tuesday: • Steven Brust, Tiassa • Salman Rushdie, Luka and the Fire of Life Shipping Unknown: • H. P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature • Jeffrey Burton Russell, Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity • Jack Cady, The Rules of '48 Two separate orders. Maybe they'll just ship together on Tuesday, when Tiassa is released. That would make sense. It's also the difference between shopping online and, er, um ... never mind. Anyway ... presently reading (again) Iorich, by Brust, in anticipation of the next installment.
The Frontiersman by Allan W. Eckert An interesting narrative about living in the early days of America and what the people then faced to survive.
"Mau Mau", the verb, is a fairly well known term in the public discussions of the black power movement in the US and black people acting in a threatening manner - Tom Wolfe did not invent the term, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_Chic_&_Mau-Mauing_the_Flak_Catchers. Huckabee's comment is one of a piece with the dog whistle rhetoric of the Confederate right - the bigot vote is one of the biggest blocs in the US.
Variable Star by Robert Heinlein and Spider Robinson. I'm about halfway through. Difficult to tell which parts are Heinlein and which are Robinson, but an excellent book so far.
Good choice RAW. Currently reading Peter F. Hamilton's final volume in his Void trilogy; The Evolutionary Void. After a two-year wait I accidentally came across the sole copy (in paperback - hardbacks cost more and take up more shelf space) in my local W. H. Smith, paid for it and started reading on the walk home. Another 800-page delight that'll keep me occupied for a day or two, and then I'll be left feeling deflated because I haven't got any more to look forward to. This man reinvented space opera and made it glorious.
The current docket Just finished reading Tiassa, by Steven Brust. On deck: The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity, by Jeffrey Burton Russell. Also, I'm resuming my interrupted reading of The Dragon Keeper, by Robin Hobb.
Finished Homer & Langley by E.L. Doctorow today on my way to work, and immediately began reading American Studies by Louis Menand.
