Charles Degelman's Blog, page 2
November 21, 2014
Reflections on the Chinese Cultural Revolution via the Poet Wang Ping
I recently met the poet Wang Ping via twitter, a social medium that — at its best — can illuminate the time-space continuum and all its riches.
Wang Ping was a child during the Chinese Cultural Revolution and wrote a poem — “Flash of Selfish Consciousness” — about her experiences as an “excellent Red Guard of Chairman Mao.”
At a live reading, Wang dedicated her poem, "Flash of Selfish Consciousness" to the memory of the cultural revolution.
“I grew up there,” she said, “and for 10 years I had to write self criticism every day… Since I came here I never had to do it and sometimes I get kind of nostalgic.”
Wang Ping’s poem — complete with ironically understated Red Guard vignettes and whimsical snatches of rhetoric from Mao’s teachings — sparked recollections of our own cultural revolution here in America. Read more...
Wang Ping was a child during the Chinese Cultural Revolution and wrote a poem — “Flash of Selfish Consciousness” — about her experiences as an “excellent Red Guard of Chairman Mao.”
At a live reading, Wang dedicated her poem, "Flash of Selfish Consciousness" to the memory of the cultural revolution.
“I grew up there,” she said, “and for 10 years I had to write self criticism every day… Since I came here I never had to do it and sometimes I get kind of nostalgic.”
Wang Ping’s poem — complete with ironically understated Red Guard vignettes and whimsical snatches of rhetoric from Mao’s teachings — sparked recollections of our own cultural revolution here in America. Read more...
May 17, 2014
Fact to Fiction: the author discusses real-life origins of his '60s resistance novels
The Resistance Series
Reinhabitory Institute : The multiple protagonists in Gates of Eden are young people coming into adulthood in the 1960s. The novel captures this time of great changes and especially the political awakening of these characters who come from different backgrounds but who are all swept up in the turmoil and possibility of the times. Can you say something about how you came to create these different characters and why you tell the story this way?
Degelman: In order to set a context for our discussion, let me tell you about Gates of Eden and the characters who inhabit the novel. Gates of Eden follows a handful of young rebels who grow up crazed in the conformist claustrophobia of 1950s America. As they grew into awareness, they begin to notice the injustice and inequity in the society that loved to call itself “The American Dream.” They began to notice that the dream often resembled a nightmare, if not for themselves, then for others. Individually and in groups, they began to share their awareness and joined the trickles and torrents that flowed into the resistance, rebellion, and power of the civil rights and anti-war movements.
[Read more... ]
Reinhabitory Institute : The multiple protagonists in Gates of Eden are young people coming into adulthood in the 1960s. The novel captures this time of great changes and especially the political awakening of these characters who come from different backgrounds but who are all swept up in the turmoil and possibility of the times. Can you say something about how you came to create these different characters and why you tell the story this way?
Degelman: In order to set a context for our discussion, let me tell you about Gates of Eden and the characters who inhabit the novel. Gates of Eden follows a handful of young rebels who grow up crazed in the conformist claustrophobia of 1950s America. As they grew into awareness, they begin to notice the injustice and inequity in the society that loved to call itself “The American Dream.” They began to notice that the dream often resembled a nightmare, if not for themselves, then for others. Individually and in groups, they began to share their awareness and joined the trickles and torrents that flowed into the resistance, rebellion, and power of the civil rights and anti-war movements.
[Read more... ]
November 30, 2013
Gates of Eden Countdown
What was the difference between a hippie, a Digger, and a 60s politico? Between a commune and collective? It's all here...
Kindle readers... Download Gates of Eden, award-winning antiwar tale, @ 5-day 99¢ Kindle Countdown sale http://amzn.to/1eeeq9f
Kindle readers... Download Gates of Eden, award-winning antiwar tale, @ 5-day 99¢ Kindle Countdown sale http://amzn.to/1eeeq9f
November 22, 2013
November, 1963/A modest proposal
"Jack Kennedy’s refusal to support the Bay of Pigs invasion angered certain people.
The gusanos in Miami were angry because Kennedy stood by while their children died on the beaches.
The CIA was angry because the President had castrated their battle plans.
The Mafia was angry because they had thrown their support behind Kennedy at election time. In exchange, they had expected to recoup their Havana hotels, brothels, and casinos after the invasion. Now, there would be no invasion, no overthrow, and little Bobby Kennedy was hauling them into Congressional hearings.
Jack Ruby curried favor with them all." — Gates of Eden http://bit.ly/YHTlcM : a story of resistance, rebellion, and love
The gusanos in Miami were angry because Kennedy stood by while their children died on the beaches.
The CIA was angry because the President had castrated their battle plans.
The Mafia was angry because they had thrown their support behind Kennedy at election time. In exchange, they had expected to recoup their Havana hotels, brothels, and casinos after the invasion. Now, there would be no invasion, no overthrow, and little Bobby Kennedy was hauling them into Congressional hearings.
Jack Ruby curried favor with them all." — Gates of Eden http://bit.ly/YHTlcM : a story of resistance, rebellion, and love
April 14, 2013
That was then... This is now...
CF Degelman's "Gates of Eden" and Robert Redford's "The Company You Keep"... One novel, one film, each offering its own crystal-clear window onto a real American dreamscape.
Set back then, Gates of Eden captures the spirit of the people who were enraged by what they saw happening to the people in Vietnam and their own nation and set out to create the most powerful antiwar movement in history.
Set now, "The Company You Keep" focuses on those who had the courage to risk their freedom, even then lives to stop the war machine and the system driving it.
If you are between 18 and 30 and you are reading this? You would have been a part of that movement...
Gates of Eden http://t.co/n5xvOoBEJ5
Company You Keep > http://t.co/DNtbmMRoNW
Set back then, Gates of Eden captures the spirit of the people who were enraged by what they saw happening to the people in Vietnam and their own nation and set out to create the most powerful antiwar movement in history.
Set now, "The Company You Keep" focuses on those who had the courage to risk their freedom, even then lives to stop the war machine and the system driving it.
If you are between 18 and 30 and you are reading this? You would have been a part of that movement...
Gates of Eden http://t.co/n5xvOoBEJ5
Company You Keep > http://t.co/DNtbmMRoNW
April 8, 2013
Gates of Eden: Fact or fiction? History or Literature?
How do we remember those who protested the Vietnam War? Were they hippies, revolutionaries, or terrorists?
Millions of baby boomers came of age during the 1960s, each bearing his or her differing — often conflicting — impressions. Generation X missed out but many are curious about the rebellion and counterculture that preceded them.
And what about today’s young people? What do they understand about the Vietnam War and the resistance movement that rose up on the same campuses many of them attend today?
Enter Gates of Eden, a new novel that may provide educators with a unique resource to help students explore an often-obscured era. [More...]
Millions of baby boomers came of age during the 1960s, each bearing his or her differing — often conflicting — impressions. Generation X missed out but many are curious about the rebellion and counterculture that preceded them.
And what about today’s young people? What do they understand about the Vietnam War and the resistance movement that rose up on the same campuses many of them attend today?
Enter Gates of Eden, a new novel that may provide educators with a unique resource to help students explore an often-obscured era. [More...]
December 29, 2012
Liberate this book! Gates of Eden,
Here's the latest on my award-winning novel, Gates of Eden, a tale of resistance, rebellion, and love...
In the spirit of the 1960s, LIBERATE GATES OF EDEN
Giveaway! January 8, 9 10 @
http://www.amazon.com/Gates-of-Eden-e...
In the spirit of the 1960s, LIBERATE GATES OF EDEN
Giveaway! January 8, 9 10 @
http://www.amazon.com/Gates-of-Eden-e...
