Commonplace Book: 3 Random Passages from Richard Makin Novels
Bendy words heaped into bulwarks. Continue reading Commonplace Book: 3 Random Passages from Richard Makin Novels
Bendy words heaped into bulwarks. Continue reading Commonplace Book: 3 Random Passages from Richard Makin Novels
A series dedicated to literature in translation whether classic or contemporary. Originally published in Czech as Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka za světové války (1921 – 1923). Translated from the Czech by Cecil Parrott. Original illustrations by Josef Lada Published by … Continue reading Translation Tuesdays: The Good Soldier Švejk, by Jaroslav Hašek
Pop culture, politics, science fiction, and everyday surrealism combine into tiny literary confections. Continue reading Espresso Shots: Roses are Red, Violets are stealing loose change from my pockets while I sleep, by David S. Atkinson
The Freaks of Mayfair offers pleasant distraction with humane portraits of freaks, faddists, climbers, and fakers. Continue reading Forgotten Classics: The Freaks of Mayfair (1916) by E.F. Benson
Beckett exists in a kind of Irish Modernist Mount Rushmore beside other iconic writers like Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats, and James Joyce. Continue reading Translation Tuesdays: Samuel Beckett: The Complete Short Prose, 1929 – 1989, edited and with an Introduction and Notes by S. E. Gontarski
Jack Burton: I don’t get this at all. I thought Lo Pan— David Lo Pan: Shut up, Mr. Burton! You were not brought upon this world to “get it!” Big Trouble in Little China (John Carpenter, 1986) Earlier in my life, I read Dubliners, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Ulysses, all by James Joyce. This year I decided to read Finnegans Wake, a novel notorious for its inaccessibility. Like The Cantos by Ezra Pound, it is a text many know, few read, and less understand. While the Wake is difficult, this shouldn’t be seen as a … Continue reading Critic’s Notebook: The Wake without training wheels
“Does not the sheer splendubious celebretacity of this most merrilous time warm the Gaelic cockles of your potato eating heart?” Continue reading TOP THREE: Finnegans Wake vs Pop Culture: NUMBER ONE: Don King on Late Night with Conan O’Brien
“EXtrinsicly! EXtrinsicly! EXtrinsicly!” Continue reading TOP THREE: Finnegans Wake vs Pop Culture: NUMBER TWO: On Language, by Fry and Laurie
“I’m an alpha male on beta blockers.” Continue reading TOP THREE: Finnegans Wake vs Pop Culture: NUMBER THREE: George Carlin is a Modern Man
“Recommended reading for those looking for a more lighthearted take on a region riven by suffering and war. Voroshilovgrad is yet another example of Ukraine’s cultural uniqueness and its post-Soviet literary scene.” Continue reading Translation Tuesdays: Voroshilovgrad, by Serhiy Zhadan @ nyjb