Hello Everyone,
Many have wondered what it is about literature that makes people like the TU English Enthusiasts so passionate. Burn This Book, edited by Toni Morrison, is a collection of short essays about the power of words. Contributors to the collection include Paul Auster, Russell Banks, Nadine Gordimer, Pico Iyer, Francine Prose, Salman Rushdie, John Updike, Orhan Pamuk, David Grossman, Ed Park, and Toni Morrison. All of the contributors are a part of an organization called PEN, which supports various divisions focusing on literature, free speech, and human rights.
One PEN president, Arthur Miller, said, “PEN is the voice of cultures truthfully addressing one another rather than governments or armies in confrontation. The object is not to win something, but to illuminate something.”
Morrison points out, in her introduction of BURN THIS BOOK, that words are so powerful that leaders have made all efforts to silence those who threaten their authority through writing. She wrote that “A writer’s life and work are not a gift to mankind; they are its necessity.”
Iyer recounted a story of a man in Burma whose persistence against all the odds represents millions of people facing an oppressive government. He said, “Without us [writers]- the stories we take to him, the stories we bring back from him- there wouldn’t be anything, except years and years of further struggle, and then nothing at all.”
The other contributer bring to light other significant ways literature is important to society.
BURN THIS BOOK is inspiration for those who wish to contribute to the world through words. It also makes literature lover’s, like the TU English Enthusiasts, appreciate the art even more.
To learn more about PEN visit www.pen.org
