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An Anthology
by Nadine Gordimer (ed.) (2004)

Nadine Gordimer asked twenty writers she admired if they would — without any fee or royalty — submit a story for a fundraising anthology, with all proceeds going to Treatment Action Campaign in aid of HIV/AIDS. While the premise is risky — and might involuntarily bring to cynical mind the cringe-worthy fiasco of Live 8, rest assured that the collection offers a worthy representation (and cause) for a literary endeavour. Although it won’t stop any nitpicking, admittedly it’s not that often that we get a one-stop collection of wide-ranging writers in a popular press.

by José Saramago (1991)

Here’s a gospel where Jesus is a very common human being without a priori divinity if confused, pessimistic and guilt-ridden, an unwilling “restive lamb that resists being taken to be sacrificed, becomes agitated and bleats in the most heart-rending manner” to his sealed destiny. In a manner of the Anti-Hero, he is unsure of himself, plagued with nightmares and guilt passed down by his deceased father, aghast at the power he chanelled and at the inescapable covenant with this power-hungry, indifferent God.