Not Quite Paradise: An American Sojourn in Sri Lanka by Adele Marie Barker, Paperback, 9780807001257 | Buy online at The Nile
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Not Quite Paradise: An American Sojourn in Sri Lanka

An American Sojourn in Sri Lanka

Author: Adele Marie Barker  

A chronicle of life on the resplendent island, combining the immediacy of memoir with the vividness of travelogue and reportage Missing neither the nuances of the peaceful Buddhist pace of life nor the explosive violence of its protracted civil war and the 2004 tsunami, Adele Barker offers an eye-opening account of the "pearl" of the Indian Ocean, inviting American readers to experience firsthand the vivid beauty and turmoil of a place few have ever visited.

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Summary

A chronicle of life on the resplendent island, combining the immediacy of memoir with the vividness of travelogue and reportage Missing neither the nuances of the peaceful Buddhist pace of life nor the explosive violence of its protracted civil war and the 2004 tsunami, Adele Barker offers an eye-opening account of the "pearl" of the Indian Ocean, inviting American readers to experience firsthand the vivid beauty and turmoil of a place few have ever visited.

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Description

A captivating memoir of the year and a half Adele Barker spent living and teaching in Sri Lanka, rich in cultural, political, and historical detail. Combining personal narrative, reportage, and travelogue, this book provides an in-depth look at the “resplendent isle” that hangs like a tear drop from the southern tip of India. Devastated by a thirty-year war between the government and the famous Tamil Tigers, and the 2004 tsunami, the Sri Lanka captured by Not Quite Paradise is a beautiful and deeply troubled place.

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Critic Reviews

 “Rich in the tales of Sri Lanka under colonial British rule as well as coverage of the current civil war, Barker’s memoir is an enlightening and captivating read.”—Kristine Huntley, Booklist
 
“Anyone going to Sri Lanka should consider Adele Barker’s Not Quite Paradise essential reading. Even travelers headed to other parts of the globe—or those going no farther than their own living room—will find this story of an American woman thoughtfully wending her way through the complexities of another country’s culture and history fascinating.”—Kristin Ohlson, author of Stalking the Divine and coauthor of Kabul Beauty School
 
“Adele Barker offers this memorable gift: the story of strangers from very different countries becoming cherished and enduring friends. Against the background of a most beautiful country and through the tragedies that have marred its recent history, her love of the land and for its people won a high place in this reader’s heart.”—Mary Oliver, Pulitzer Prize–winning poet

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About the Author

Adele Barker, who was awarded a Ucross Fellowship for her work on this book, is the author or editor of five books on Russian literature and cultural life. Most recently, she received a Fulbright Senior Scholar grant to teach and write in Sri Lanka.

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More on this Book

For many people step dance is associated with the Irish step-dance stage show, Riverdance, which assisted in both promoting the dance form and in placing Ireland globally. But the practice and contexts of step dance are much more complicated and fluid than this. Step dance may be performed informally by friends and neighbours or in formally structured classes; dancers may be young or old, male or female; and costumes range from highly elaborate stage dress to ordinary everyday wear. Catherine Foley tells the story of this dance from its roots in eighteenth-century Ireland to its modern global appeal. Focusing on one rural European community in North Kerry on the west coast of Ireland, she examines three step-dance: the rural Molyneaux step-dance practice, representing the end of a relatively long system of teaching by itinerant dancing masters in the region; the urbanized staged, competition orientated practice, cultivated by the cultural nationalist movement, the Gaelic League, from the end of the nineteenth century, and practised today both inside and outside of Ireland; and the stylized, commoditized, theatrical practice of Siamsa Tire, the National Folk Theatre of Ireland, established in North Kerry in the 1970s. The book provides a rich historical and ethnographic account of step dancing, step dancers, and cultural institutions in Ireland.

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Product Details

Publisher
Beacon Press (MA) | Beacon Press
Published
4th January 2011
Pages
303
ISBN
9780807001257

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