ROSENBERG, Robert 1970-

(Robert Alan Rosenberg)

PERSONAL: Born 1970, in Howell, NJ. Education: Columbia University, B.A.; Northern Arizona University, M.Ed.; University of Iowa Writer's Workshop, M.F.A.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Houghton Mifflin, 222 Berkeley St., Boston, MA 02116-3764. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Peace Corps volunteer in Kyrgyzstan, 1994–96; White Mountain Apache Reservation, AZ, teacher, 1996–98; taught in Istanbul, Turkey, 1999–2001.

AWARDS, HONORS: Maytag fellowship and teaching-writing fellowship, Iowa Writer's Workshop.

WRITINGS:

This Is Not Civilization, Houghton (Boston, MA), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS: Drawing on his own experiences, Robert Rosenberg's novel This Is Not Civilization tells the story of Jeff, an aimless, somewhat inept drifter who leaves his job running a teenage center on An Apache reservation in Arizona for a Peace Corps stint in Kyrgyzstan. He struggles to adapt while living with the Tashtanaliev family, who have problems of their own. The father, Anarbek, is managing a "cheeseless cheese factory" that barely survives on the meager handouts the new government channels to it. At the same time, Anarbek's daughter Nazira is struggling to avoid marriage to a local clod who demands her hand in the traditional Kyrgyz way, by kidnapping her. Eventually, Jeff moves to Istanbul to help resettle refugees, and Anarbek follows him there, to beg for money. Anarbek himself is followed by Nazira, and when Adam Dale, Jeff's Apache friend, shows up, the four find themselves dealing with each other's foibles and cultural differences in a land that is foreign to all of them. Then the 1999 earthquake hits.

For a Kirkus Reviews contributor, the result is "an absorbing, if top-heavy, tale of economic crisis and cultural incompatibility." At the same time, Booklist reviewer Ellen Lougran noted of This Is Not Civilization that "the basis bleakness of a book set in regions of poverty and hardship is leavened with humor rooted in cultural differences and the misunderstandings that arise from them."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, July, 2004, Ellen Loughran, review of This Is Not Civilization, p. 1820.

Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2004, review of This Is Not Civilization, p. 360.

Library Journal, April 1, 2004, Barbara Hoffert, review of This Is Not Civilization, p. 124.

ONLINE

Peace Corps Writers Web site, http://www.peacecorpswriters.org/ (April 14, 2005), John Coyne, interview with Robert Rosenberg.

Robert Rosenberg Home Page, http://www.rarcibecue.tripod.com (April 14, 2005).