1. Author: Steven Galloway
Book Title: The Cellist of Sarajevo
2. What made you interested in this author?
I became interested in this author after I researched a bit of things about him. I learned that three of his novels have been published: "Finnie Walsh", "Ascension" and his most recent novel is "The Cellist of Sarajevo" and so far his novels have been translated into twenty different languages. Steven Galloway is also the creative writing professor at the University of British Columbia and after finding different reviews from "The National Post" and "The Globe and Mail" I knew that this book would be a good choice for my ISU.
3. Brief background on the author
Steven Galloway was born July 13th, 1975 in Vancouver, British Columbia. He attended the Thompson Rivers University and The University of British Columbia. He teaches creative writing at the University of British Columbia and currently resides in New Westminster British Columbia with his wife and 2 daughters.
4. Other published works and genres
Along with The Cellist of Sarajevo, Steven Galloway has published two other novels: Finnie Walsh and Ascension. Finnie Walsh is about two boys who love hockey and are able to bond and face many hardships that life puts them through. When this book was published in 2000, the book was nominated for an amazon.ca/books in Canada First Novel award which gives new authors a chance to win an award for their book and potentially gain publicity. Ascension however is about a 66 year old Romanian man whose life events lead up to him eventually tight rope walking between the twin towers. It turns what would be an old folk tale into a gripping story of a mans life.
5.Information on particular places, time periods, events of influence or
interest to your author
interest to your author
I was unable to find any specific information on what the author prefers, but after looking at the novels he has written I would say he enjoys a historical writing aspect. He enjoys old Soviet history because 2 of his novels include small countries that came from Russia. And his first novel is about what it was like to grow up in Canada in the 60's where every kid played hockey, but the kids in his novel specifically had to face different trials and obstacles.
6. Themes favored by the author (gleaned from survey reading).
The Cellist of Sarajevo is a little different with its themes. It has three main characters: Arrow, Kenaan and Dragan, all of which have different goals. This book shows the perspectives of three different characters in the novel and all of these characters were given different themes with them. Arrow has a reverse gender role theme like I explained in an earlier blog, Kenaan has a power theme because he has to control everyone in his life and Dragan has his family who fled Sarajevo and he is facing conflict with going to find them but worrying if he does then he will abandon Sarajevo. All of the conflict and themes in the book may have a person experience with the author I plan to research that the further I read into the novel.
I cannot compare Steven Galloway too any other author but I can relate the themes he talks about in this novel to a previous book I have read. After constant reading I found that a recurring theme is fear. Everyone in Sarajevo lives in fear and all of the main characters deal with fear in their own way. I also found fear as a major theme in the novel Lord of The Flies. All of the young boys on the island always lived in a constant state of fear because the island was divided in a power struggle, as well as the battle between Ralph and Jack. This could be the same for the war going on in the book. Bosnian and Serbia are at war so it could be the same concept applied in both novels.
8. Critical Articles (Secondary Sources)
Steven , Galloway. "About Steven Galloway." Steven Galloway. The Dunow, Carlson and Lerner Literary Agency, n.d. Web. 25 Feb 2011. <http://www.stevengalloway.com/ >
Charlene , Davis. "Steven Galloway." The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Dominion, n.d. Web. 25 Feb 2011. <http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com>
Andrew , Lawless. "Three Monkeys Online." The Larger Conversation - Steven Galloway talks about The Cellist of Sarajevo. Three onkeys Online, n.d. Web. 25 Feb 2011. <http://www.threemonkeysonline.com>
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