Archive - June 27, 2010

In January 2008 I received an email from Jane Albritton (India 1967-69) asking if I would get the word out about her books project.  I was happy to do so. Anything to help RPCV writers get published. Anything to help RPCVs tell their stories. Anything to fulfill the Third Goal of the Peace Corps. Jane’s plan was to publish four books of stories for the 50th anniversary. The four volumes-Africa and the Middle East; After the Cold War (focusing on Central Asia and Eastern Europe); Asia and the Pacific; Central America, South America and the Caribbean-would feature stories from past and present volunteers, staff and instructors. Even while I was ‘spreading the word’ I thought to myself: This is a crazy idea! Four books by RPCV writers? Where would she find the writers? Who would publish four books by Peace Corps writers? Well, once again Coyne is proven wrong! Travelers’ Tales/Solas House, Inc. will . . .

Myth and mythology Finally we come back to Gertrude Stein’s famous comment to Hemingway. “You are all a lost generation,” she told him. The truth is that Stein had heard her French garage owner speak of his young auto mechanics and their poor repair skills as “une génération perdue.”      All Gertrude Stein wanted was competent mechanics to repair her car but Hemingway, seizing the expression, as any good writer would, identified a literary movement and a new way of looking at the world.      Peace Corps writers do the same by bringing the world back home through their own writing. They have an understanding of parts of the world few Americans will ever know. And as PCVs they have a “way of looking at this world” that is new and fresh and insightful. Fulfilling the Third Goal of the Peace Corps means telling your tales at home.      So, see how far . . .