Mali RPCV Nicole Pezold reviews "On Beauty"



"For those of mixed heritage — who straddle more than one race, nationality, faith, class, or whatever else — uncovering a coherent identity can be a complicated emotional journey. There are multiple, potentially conflicting, avenues and models, and choosing one or melding several is difficult business. "

Mali RPCV Nicole Pezold reviews "On Beauty"

The beauty of difference

Zadie Smith’s latest novel, On Beauty, is many things. Chief among them: an homage to differences.

Written by Nicole Pezold / Brooklyn, New York
Published Monday, December 5, 2005


(The Penguin Press)

[Excerpt]

For those of mixed heritage — who straddle more than one race, nationality, faith, class, or whatever else — uncovering a coherent identity can be a complicated emotional journey. There are multiple, potentially conflicting, avenues and models, and choosing one or melding several is difficult business. This may be part of why Zadie Smith — herself the product of an English father and Jamaican mother — returns to this endlessly rich topic in her third novel, On Beauty, which was short-listed for the 2005 Man Booker Prize. As with her acclaimed debut novel, White Teeth, published when she was a mere 23 years old, and her less stunning second book, The Autograph Man, Smith ambitiously mines the cultural morass of mixed worlds. Now, with her latest work, she paints her most vivid portrait of the challenges and ecstasies of multiculturalism.

[Excerpt]

Ironically, the weakest and most tedious moments occur where Smith attempts to bend her characters, particularly Kiki and Mrs. Kipps, into Forster’s scenes. The too close adaptation of Forster’s dialogue between Margaret Schlegel and Ruth Wilcox seems out of step with Smith’s otherwise cleverly updated story. The book would likely have worked just as well without the overly obvious nods to Forster.

Smith is strongest when she orchestrates jarring social interactions: Howard’s sexual exchanges with a student or his meeting with his racist father, and the Belsey children’s slow awakening to the politics of suffering. Despite the creeping sadness and depravity of such scenes, Smith does not leave the reader with a completely bleak outlook on this jumbled landscape. There are no clear or tidy answers but, like Forster, she shows that as long as one deals with others in good faith, one can find unbounded beauty in differences.

When this story was posted in December 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:




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Top Stories: December 5, 2005 Joseph Opala's story of Priscilla in major NY exhibition 23 Nov Palau President creates Peace Corps Advisory Panel 3 Dec Cathy Skoula returns from Pakistan relief 1 Dec Matthew Patrick writes about Wind Power 1 Dec Bush recognizes Director Vasquez on World AIDS Day 1 Dec "The Ugly American" helped inspire Peace Corps 29 Nov Thirty-four Congressmen co-sponsor PC/Military bill 27 Nov The Nordins push Permaculture 27 Nov President Bush meets with PCVs in Mongolia 25 Nov John Smart says Vasquez "less than qualified" 25 Nov Peter McPherson promotes study abroad 25 Nov Harry Baltzer honored by peace center 24 Nov Chris Matthews' has controversial appearance in Toronto 24 Nov Harry Reid says Bush out to ruin Peace Corps 24 Nov David L. Dolinger was eyewitness to Gwangju Uprising 23 Nov Russia imposes more controls on NGO's 23 Nov Kinky Friedman is a tough Jew 23 Nov Murphy calls his pension planning 'bittersweet' 23 Nov Dodd says start bringing troops home soon 22 Nov Bill Moyers: The Texas Observer at 50 22 Nov The Best Year of My Life by Paul Theroux 14 Nov

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Military Option sparks concerns The U.S. military is allowing recruits to meet part of their reserve military obligations after active duty by serving in the Peace Corps. Read why there is opposition to the program among RPCVs. Director Vasquez says the agency has a long history of accepting qualified applicants who are in inactive military status. John Coyne says "Not only no, but hell no!" and RPCV Chris Matthews leads the debate on "Hardball." Avi Spiegel says Peace Corps is not the place for soldiers while Coleman McCarthy says to Welcome Soldiers to the Peace Corps. Read the results of our poll among RPCVs. Latest: Congressman John Kline introduces legislation to alter the program to remove the Peace Corps as an option for completing an individual’s military enlistment requirement.

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Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in danger When the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. Latest: Read the ongoing dialog on the subject.

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Top Stories: November 19, 2005 President Bush meets with PCVs in Panama 7 Nov PC Trainee Wyatt Ammon dies in accident in Zambia 18 Nov Congress appropriates $322 Million for Peace Corps 17 Nov James Walsh on the crisis in Nepal 9 Nov Pam Musk climbs Mount Kilimanjaro 6 Nov David Morsilli awed by havoc in Mississippi 6 Nov Tierney Davis in Tsunami Relief Work in Indonesia 1 Nov Julie Harrold says "Don't change the Peace Corps" 31 Oct Jacqueline Lyons shares her poems about Peace Corps 28 Oct Peace Corps returns to its roots in Michigan 28 Oct David Peterson serves in Katrina Response Team #1 25 Oct Director Vasquez Travels to Tonga and Fiji 24 Oct Laura Vanderkam says "Peace Corps needs makeover" 24 Oct Shriver Center and Maryland RPCVs host C. Payne Lucas 21 Oct Don Mosley to receive Pacem in Terris honor 17 Oct Mary Cameron Kilgour writes on abuse 16 Oct George Packer writes about Iraq for the New Yorker 16 Oct Richard Celeste says Colorado higher education faces peril 16 Oct Kevin Quigley says Keep Peace Corps, military separate 16 Oct Christie and Eric Nelson say no to cars 15 Oct Isaiah Zagar creates mosaic in Oakland 14 Oct

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PC establishes awards for top Volunteers Gaddi H. Vasquez has established the Kennedy Service Awards to honor the hard work and service of two current Peace Corps Volunteers, two returned Peace Corps Volunteers, and two Peace Corps staff members. The award to currently serving volunteers will be based on a demonstration of impact, sustainability, creativity, and catalytic effect. Submit your nominations by December 9.

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Robert F. Kennedy - 80th anniversary of his birth "Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change the world which yields most painfully to change."

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Peace Corps at highest Census in 30 years Congratulations to the Peace Corps for the highest number of volunteers in 30 years with 7,810 volunteers serving in 71 posts across the globe. Of course, the President's proposal to double the Peace Corps to 15,000 volunteers made in his State of the Union Address in 2002 is now a long forgotten dream. With deficits in federal spending stretching far off into the future, any substantive increase in the number of volunteers will have to wait for new approaches to funding and for a new administration. Choose your candidate and start working for him or her now.

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'Celebration of Service' a major success The Peace Corps Fund's 'Celebration of Service' on September 29 in New York City was a major success raising approximately $100,000 for third goal activities. In the photo are Maureen Orth (Colombia); John Coyne (Ethiopia) Co-founder of the Peace Corps Fund; Caroline Kennedy; Barbara Anne Ferris (Morocco) Co-founder; Former Senator Harris Wofford, member of the Advisory Board. Read the story here.

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PC apologizes for the "Kasama incident" The District Commissioner for the Kasama District in Zambia issued a statement banning Peace Corps activities for ‘grave’ social misconduct and unruly behavior for an incident that occurred on September 24 involving 13 PCVs. Peace Corps said that some of the information put out about the incident was "inflammatory and false." On October 12, Country Director Davy Morris met with community leaders and apologized for the incident. All PCVs involved have been reprimanded, three are returning home, and a ban in the district has since been lifted.

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The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today.

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Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong 170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community.

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