Ms. Müller won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2009. The Swedish Academy awarded it because her writing is imbued “with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed.” Despite the spies, surveillance, and tyranny, the Romania she presents appears like a fairy tale. Continue reading Translation Tuesdays: The Fox Was Ever the Hunter, by Herta Muller @NYJB
“Abahn Sabana David” by Marguerite Duras is “a fable about ideological extremism under an avant-garde skin.” Continue reading Translation Tuesdays: Abahn Sabana David, by Marguerite Duras @ NYJB
“Ezra Pound: Poet: Volume III: The Tragic Years 1939–1972,” by A. David Moody chronicles Pound’s life from his Italian residency prior to the outbreak of World War II to his death. Continue reading Ezra Pound: Poet: Volume III: The Tragic Years 1939–1972, by A. David Moody @ NYJB
The saga of Xanther and her cat continue in “The Familiar, Volume 2: Into the Woods,” by Mark Z. Danielewski. But questions arise when her father Anwar takes them to the vet. The vet tells Xanther that her puff of white fur isn’t a cat at all, but a dog. It isn’t just born, but very old. It also belongs to someone else. Continue reading The Familiar, Volume 2: Into the Forest, by Mark Z. Danielewski @NYJB
This week I review Don Keefe’s “Pontiac Concept and Show Cars.” Gearheads and Midcentury Modern enthusiasts should check this out. Continue reading CCLaP Fridays: Pontiac Concept and Show Cars, by Don Keefe
Michèle Audin’s debut novel “One Hundred Twenty-One Days” is a story about mathematics and love. Continue reading Translation Tuesdays: One Hundred Twenty-One Days by Michele Audin
This week I review a specialist text on the interconnection between architecture, urban planning, religion, and politics. Continue reading CCLaP Fridays: The Subversive Utopia, by Yasir Sakr
Life in the Folds by Henri Michaux is “a masterpiece of concision and pain. . . . a literary achievement . . .” Continue reading Forgotten Classics: Life in the Folds, by Henri Michaux @ NYJB
Noted British philosopher explains how to be a conservative. Continue reading How To Be A Conservative, by Roger Scruton @ NYJB
The Argument David Bowie’s recent death has closed a page on music history. On a more personal level, Bowie has been a constant in my life for decades. Beyond mere 80s nostalgia (Labyrinth) or 90s nostalgia (Lost Highway, Outside, and Earthling), Bowie has been instrumental to me personally as a taste-maker. He led me down strange avenues and provided the raw material for discovery and aesthetic experimentation. Embryo My fascinating with David Bowie began early. I can still remember the first Bowie album I bought, sometime in the Nineties. It was a CD of Tonight (1984), an album even Bowie … Continue reading Critic’s Notebook: David Bowie and the Physiology of Taste
The Driftless Area Review 