Whites
Norman RushDriven half-mad by the barking of his neighbour's dogs, Carl dips timidly into native witchcraft — only to jump back out at the worst possible moment. Ione briskly pursues a career as a "seducer" ("A seductress was merely someone who was seductive and who might or might not be awarded a victory. But a seducer was a professional"), while her dentist husband fends off the generous advances of an African cook. Funny, sad, and deeply knowing, polished throughout to a diamond glitter, Whites is a magnificent collection of stories.
"The ''new'' Africa Mr. Rush reveals in his stories is full of contradictions. It is a cross-cultural hybrid that grew out of African independence and ancient tribalism, but also out of hundreds of years of white colonialism and apartheid both official and unofficial. But many of the cultural elements Europeans shoved down African throats have lost their charm for whites." - Leslie Marmon Silko, The New York Times
Norman Rush is an American novelist whose introspective novels and short stories are set in Botswana in the 1980s. He was the recipient of the 1991 National Book Award and the 1992 Irish Times/Aer Lingus International Fiction Prize for his novel Mating. His Botswana experience was also used in his first novel, Mating, which won a National Book Award for fiction in 1991, and in his second novel, Mortals.