“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
“Harsh Times by Mario Vargas Llosa recounts a disastrous event in the past, but it is also highly relevant in this era of disinformation, extremism, and violence.” Continue reading Translation Tuesdays: Harsh Times by Mario Vargas Llosa @ nyjb
Set in the criminal shadow world behind luxury hotels, Eve Out of Her Ruins by Ananda Devi follows four friends in their attempt to transcend the poverty and violence of their surroundings. Continue reading Translation Tuesdays: Eve Out of Her Ruins, by Ananda Devi @NYJB
Upcoming plans for the blog. Continue reading LATE SEPTEMBER UPDATE
Guiseppi Lampedusa perspective on “Measure for Measure” by Shakespeare. Continue reading Commonplace Book: Literary Wives and Mistresses
“Vaseline Buddha” is a brilliant example of contemporary South Korean literature. Continue reading Translation Tuesdays: Vaseline Buddha, by Jung Young Moon @ 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
Fouad Laroui casts his eye on Morocco’s dour political legacy with the scalpel-like precision of a social satirist. Continue reading Translation Tuesdays: The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers, by Fouad Laroui @ NYJB
Compelling passages, notable quotables, bon mots, disjecta, ephemera, and miscellany. I admire those very broad people who through the decades become broader and broader yet do not give in. But the unyieldingly narrow are horrible. [1957 – 1959] A ceremonial beast, assembled from tiaras. [1960] That the behavior of dictators is perfidious is no longer surprising. But that mankind still craves authoritarianism, despite their appalling record of failure, is incomprehensible. With these monstrous examples right before our eyes, how are we so stupid, and how it is possible, faced with all that has happened, for us to lie to ourselves … Continue reading Commonplace Book/Translation Tuesdays: Elias Canetti on minds and monsters
Venice, renown the world over for its beauty and riches, becomes the setting for Gabrielle Wittkop’s Murder Most Serene. The slim novella opens in the latter days of the Serene Republic of Venice, in 1796. Corruption, both moral and physical, run rampant, creating a fetid atmosphere of gorgeous decay and depravity. Continue reading Translation Tuesdays: Murder Most Serene, by Gabrielle Wittkop @ NYJB
The Driftless Area Review 