filed under: Literature

First of all, it’s visually beautiful – entirely typewritten, with lots of mistakes that are X’d out. There’s one page for each day (each day in July, for this is a July diary, hence the title) – including a blank page (with only the date) for the 12th. (One becomes ceaselessly fascinated with that absence.) […]

I found this in front of a brownstone in Park Slope. It’s published by Dover, which is good karma, and the print is nice and big. I am finally ready (at the age of 62) for Samuel Taylor! He is so weird! He’s a clergyman; he’s a pagan; he’s a 14-year-old girl. These pieces are […]

I’m always searching for books that are readable not so well-wrought that I must compulsively reread every sentence six times. Let’s dip into this book at random: “Silly woman fell in, trying to rescue a cat, or some such idiocy. Serve her right.” This from the Bishop. As you can tell from the clipped sentences, […]

This is an early play, and lacks a visible theme. Richard II is indecisive, and Shakespeare is indecisive about him. By the end, nothing much has happened except that Bolingbrook is now king (thus becoming Henry IV), Richard’s dead, and there’s an air of mournful foreboding. Richard was a lousy king but should never have […]

1888PressRelease – A multicultural holiday tale from Dr. Jeff Geller shows that everyone can work together for a good cause. WESTFORD, Mass. – Reindeer have a very important job: bringing Santa all around the world so he can deliver his toys. Unfortunately, this means that Christian reindeer would not be able to celebrate Christmas with […]

One might call Phyllis Socratic, because she proceeds by questioning, but hers are not Socratic questions. They’re more like questions one asks oneself, while making split pea soup: “the fabric goes on a journey now held by two women” [from “Unfinished Work”] Come to think of it, the author’s name is a question – though […]