Norman Spinrad and the latest kerfluffle about international SF, with positive remedies

Norman Spinrad seems to have put his foot in his mouth, at least that would be the cursory take on his April 2010 article appearing in Asimov's.  In his On Books column, Spinrad attempts to tackle non-Euro-American SF and pretty much comes off sounding in turns rambling, misguided, and perhaps worst of all (besides the racial undertones that many detected), clueless as to the breadth and depth (and the intricate similarities and differences) of national SFs outside the so-called "First World."

As is usual, there have been swift and numerous responses.  SF Signal has collected some of them.  I'll refer people to what Nick Mamatas wrote and to Jeff VanderMeer's comment inside Jason Sanford's post, as those two cover much the ground that I would have, likely with greater eloquence and a lesser propensity to say "what the fuck was that dumbass on when he wrote that?"

But since this post is meant not just to castigate someone for poor choice of words, but rather to be helpful for those who are left thinking, "No, really...what 'international SF' is out there that I can sample?"

Well, Charles Tan covered this in passing in a related post found in the SF Signal link above, but for those wanting to know more about Filipino SF, do read the Philippine Speculative Fiction Sampler series.  I've read vol. 4 and it was uniformly excellent.

Lavie Tidhar's The Apex Book of World SF is often bandied about in similar discussions as being a good look at what is available in English and English translation from SF writers across the globe.  It is a good anthology, but some of the stories are stronger than others.  Always meant to review that one.  Perhaps when I re-read it in a few months.

Nnedi Okorafor is often mentioned when it comes to Nigerian(-American) fantasy/SF.  She is an outstanding writer and be sure to read her guest blog on the Nebula site on African SF.  Ben Okri is another African writer who touches upon some SF motifs in his writing.  Do I need to tell people (again) just how awesome The Famished Road is?

Naguib Mahfouz, the late Egyptian Nobel Prize winner, often included elements of the supernatural in his fiction.  Children of the Alley is an allegorical tale that still resonates (too deeply, for some!) with those caught up in the politico-religious-social clashes occurring in much of the so-called Middle East.  But he is far from the only Arab writing that includes elements of SF.  Problem is, most of it is not available in English translation.  Closest would be the French translations (or originals) of several Lebanese writers.

China has a huge SF market, but it's very unknown to Anglo-Americans in particular because of translation issues.  Chang Hsi-Kuo's The City Trilogy is the only work written in Chinese characters (the author is Taiwanese) that I have read and it is an interesting meld of Chinese philosophical traditions with Western-SF style riffs on the Other.  Thanks to the Haikasoru imprint, there is a greater sampling of non-manga/anime Japanese SF out there, some of which I've reviewed here on this blog in the past year.

And of course I'm leaving out the Latin American region, or more precisely, the Southern Cone, Brazil, Colombian, Cuban, and Mexican scenes (which are but the largest of several others).  I've already reviewed the Brazilian Steampunk anthology here (and discovered that it generated a ton more discussions on Brazilian Twitter accounts, blogs, and Orkut forums than virtually anything I've ever said or reviewed in English has anywhere in the Anglophone SF discussion fields).  Lots of good stuff coming out of there.  Just view the non-English links in my Blogroll.  Several of those are to Portuguese-language blogs.  A friend of mine, Jacques Barcia, will have his story from the Brazilian Steampunk anthology translated into English and posted online as a supplement to the Steampunk Reloaded anthology that Ann and Jeff VanderMeer are releasing in October.  I could say a lot more, but then I'd have a blog entry of over 10K words devoted solely to Spanish-language SF and SFnal works, ranging from Bolaño to César Aira to Edmundo Paz Soldán to Juan Filloy to...you get the point, right?

All of this is a roundabout way of saying in turns that yes, there is a ton of non-European/North American SF out there.  Too much to keep track of.  It's easy to understand how Spinrad may have rambled and stumbled and made a fool of himself to many by his ignorant comments.  Ignorance is not bliss.  Nor is it something that should be castigated without something else transpiring.  The best solution to ignorance is to educate oneself and to be willing to be corrected when an honest mistake is made.  So...for those of you who were shaking your heads over what Spinrad said, how willing are you to go out there and to read up (some more?) on the various national literatures, especially genre ones?