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In his article “Offshore Real Estate As Offshore Survival Retreat” Roger Gallo made a remark about people who never leave the place where they were born and raised. His remark went along the lines that they waste away in their little backyards, while others sit in a café at the Riviera planning their day. It is easy to imagine what people do who spend all their lives in their little backyards. They probably watch TV. They spend a bunch of time in front of the box. How boring. Even though it seems to have come recently a little out of fashion, an activity that is intellectually a lot more stimulating than sitting in front of the box is reading. Sitting in front of the box rather deserves to be called a passivity. Reading - on the other hand - deserves to be called in many respects an activity. Looking at it in hindsight, it appears to be rather amazing how many writers have contributed in the course of time to shaping my attitudes and horizon. It is even possible to link certain writers to certain countries or regions that I have graced with my presence  over the years. The purpose of this article is an attempt to link certain writers to certain countries. John Grisham Let us start with John Grisham. John Grisham does not really play in the literature league that English departments at universities tend to. However, his novels make entertaining reading. My interest in his writing developed during my stint in Miami. He is a lawyer by background. But he dropped out of practicing law because of his writing. That does make him appealing to me. Moreover, he is able to craft quite interesting characters. One example is Patrick Lannigan in the novel “The Partner”. In that novel Patrick Lannigan is a partner at a successful law firm in Biloxi, Mississippi. Sick and tired of his life for quite a few reasons, he embezzles an amount of money that is definitely not peanuts and toddles off to Brazil. At the end of the day, Patrick loses all the money but enjoys a new and simple life in Brazil on the border to Paraguay. Another John Grisham character who fits into that category is the main character in the novel “The Testament”. That chap is a high octane lawyer in Washington, D.C. He cannot handle the stress caused by his profession and ends up being an alcoholic. In the course of the novel, he finds deliverance from his addiction and a new purpose in life. His time in Corumba near the Pantanal in Brazil contributes to his recovery and his new purpose in life.

The Pantanal is a large, if not the largest in the world, wetland located in Central-West Brazil. The wetlands stretch for over 200,000 km2. Everyone knows of the Amazon, but few know about the Pantanal.

Nadine Gordimer

As pointed out in previous articles, I arrived in South Africa during the transition period from Apartheid to multi-racial democracy. It will not surprise anybody that South African literature has been tremendously influenced by its political context. Many South African writers have used literature to voice their opposition to Apartheid. That applies to both black and white writers.

In general, one of my character traits appears to be that I tend to side with minorities and try not to follow the lemmings jumping off the cliff. That trait may be a reason why  white South African writers have attracted more of my attention and interest than black South African writers. Perhaps not too surprisingly for those who are familiar with South African literature, I got hooked very fast on books written by Nadine Gordimer.

There is more than one reason why I got interested in her and her writing. Her parents were Jewish immigrants in South Africa. Thus she belongs to a tiny minority in the country. Even though a few of her books were banned in South Africa, she made the deliberate decision to remain in the country. She did not choose to go into exile. She had and still has the guts to swim against the tide, even though she belongs to a tiny minority. That is exactly the sort of person, who is my cup of tea. Under difficult circumstances, she showed backbone and stood her ground.
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The South African city of Johannesburg.

Her stance may be explained with her definition of who an African is. According to Nadine Gordimer, an African is “someone who - of whatever skin colour - has been shaped, mentally and spiritually, by Africa rather than anywhere else in the world”. There is no doubt that Nadine Gordimer is a true African. She could not go to Europe into exile. Many of her stories explore the place of white people in Africa. They also revolve around responses and resistance to the old regime. While I feel drawn primarily to a few characters in the books by John Grisham, in Nadine Gordimer’s case it is rather her personality that got me hooked. You may wonder whether I completely missed the other side to the coin - the black perspective - while being in South Africa. No worries. I did not. My exposure to the black perspective came through personal contacts. While living and working in Johannesburg, black friends of mine took me a few times to Soweto. Soweto is the largest black township in the country, located about half an hour by car southwest of Jo’burg. The name Soweto may sound African. But it is just an abreviation for southwestern township. When I told white South African friends of mine later on about my visits to Soweto, some of them figured that I had completely lost the plot. They reckoned that visiting Soweto is a bunch too dangerous for white people. My personal impression then was that - when accompanied by friends who know their way around - Soweto is probably safer than downtown Johannesburg. Let me repeat my sermon once more - Do not think and act like everybody else. Do not march to the same drum. Deviate a little from Harry up the road. Ben Okri Even though I may terribly disappoint Australians and New Zealanders, Australasian literature has so far not attracted my interest. Of course I am not saying that there is no literature worth reading down under. The literature just did not get me hooked. Instead, during my stint in Auckland all of a sudden I felt drawn to black African literature. However, the grand old guard of Africa in literature - e.g. Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Ken Saro - Wiwa - have never really been my cup of tea. I rather identify with a younger African writer, Ben Okri. Ben Okri was born and raised in Nigeria and is more or less in my age bracket. He now lives in London. He went to London at the age of nineteen because London was for him the home of literature. Who dares disagree with him when he says “literature doesn’t have a country. Shakespeare is an African writer….Dickens’ characters are Nigerians….literature may come from a specific place but it always lives in its own unique kingdom”.

Mario Vargas Llosa

It is hardly possible to live in Latin America without getting exposed to contemporary Latin American literature. Of course it is possible to ignore Latin American literature while living there. But that is a little like wasting away in your backyard instead of planning your day in a café at the Riviera. However, I must admit to my disgrace that I read Latin American literature in English, not in Spanish. My current Spanish language skills are good enough for soccer games. But they are definitely not enough to read novels written in Spanish. Just because you can say in Spanish “niemadres cabron” , you cannot necessarily understand novels written in Spanish as well.

There are at least a handful of Latin American novelists who have managed to attract worldwide attention. They range from Gabriel Garcia Marquez to Isabel Allende to Octavio Paz and Carlos Fuentes. We can definitely also include Mario Vargas Llosa. 
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After upsetting Aussies and Kiwis, I am now going to upset my Mexican contemporaries. Neither the Mexican writers Octavio Paz or Carlos Fuentes nor Juan Rulfo are my favourites, but the Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa. Similar to some artists in the Renaissance, he is some sort of jack -of-all-traits, as far as writing is concerned. He can be characterised as a novelist, playwright, film, art and literature critic as well as an essayist.  He even ran for the presidency in Peru but failed because he was too honest. Mario Vargas Llosa chooses these words “During my presidential campaign, I didn’t lie. I would tell exactly what I was going to do. It was very unpolitical. It made me vulnerable”.  He has sorn to never run for political office again. Who wants to be a politician anyway? Just look at some of them and listen to them for a few minutes. But only for a few minutes. Mario Vargas Llosa often repeats his philosophical belief that literature should enhance and amplify life. It is something that literature and an international lifestyle have in common. Among other things, an international lifestyle can truly enhance and amplify your life including your quality of life. Final Thoughts Anthony Burgess once defined literature as “the aesthetic exploration of the world”. While exploring the world, I have come across various writers I identify with. I identify with them for different reasons. Sometimes because of the characters they create. Sometimes because of their attitudes and personalities. Sometimes because of…. As people go through various phases in life, they also identify with various writers from various countries. It goes without saying that the writers mentioned here do not form a complete list. They just serve as examples.  Coming back to where we started this little tour d’horizon - Do not end up wasting away in your backyard. Do not end up in front of the box. Rather sit in a café at the Riviera and plan your day. Literature saves you from provincialism and helps you explore the world - in books and in reality.

The Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa.

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To read Jurgen's two previous articles Click Hereand Click Here. Jurgen Klemann can be contacted at the following: jhklemann@gmx.net

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