The Unmaking of An American

By Roger Pulvers

Published by Balestier Press

 

The Unmaking of an American is Roger Pulvers’ cross-cultural memoir spanning decades of history on four continents. He explores the nature of memory through connections created from people and places, both past and present.

Roger, born into a Jewish American family in New York, journeyed outside the US for the first time in 1964, when he visited the Soviet Union, returning there the following year and heading to Poland in 1966. In 1967, he moved to Japan, forming a tie to that country that has lasted more than half a century. He became an Australian citizen in 1976 and has chronicled life—political, social and cultural—in those countries in hundreds of articles and essays, as well as works of fiction.

In this book launch, Roger talked about the changes he has seen over the past half-century in Japan, Britain, the United States and Russia. He will discuss questions that include: what is ‘national character’ and does such a thing exist? Is it is possible for a writer who is neither born in a country nor a citizen to speak for that country? How does a culture like Japan’s, so intimately linked with a specific region or era, produce art with universal values? And what does it mean to be a foreigner in Japan or, indeed, in any country?

After the talk, four books were on sale. They were:The Unmaking of an American—A Memoir of Life in the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia at £12 (RRP £13.99); The Dream of Lafcadio Hearn: a novel, with an introduction (The Life of Lafcadio Hearn) at £12 (RRP £13.99); LIV at £8; and Star Sand at £8.

A video of the talk can be found here:

About the contributors