Toad Skin? Fernando del Paso’s News From the Empire Toad Skin? Fernando del Paso’s News From the Empire
News From the Empire hacks out a sinuous, branching path that connects fantasy with fact and allegory with analysis.
May 20, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Lorna Scott Fox
Puttin’ on the Glitz: José Manuel Prieto’s Rex Puttin’ on the Glitz: José Manuel Prieto’s Rex
Set in the glossiest of sanctuaries, Rex is a complicated and dazzling indictment of contemporary fiction.
May 20, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Natasha Wimmer
The Kundera Conundrum: Kundera, Respekt and Contempt The Kundera Conundrum: Kundera, Respekt and Contempt
How did Milan Kundera's antipathy toward the media become as curdled as the Czechs' allergy to his success?
May 20, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Jana Prikryl
Quarto Quarto
1. Call me Sebastian, arrows sticking all over The map of my battlefields. Marathon. Wounded Knee. Vicksburg. Jericho. Battle of the Overpass. Victories turned inside out But no surrender Cemeteries of remorse The beaten champion sobbing Ghosts move in to shield his tears 2. No one writes lyric on a battlefield On a map stuck with arrows But I think I can do it if I just lurk In my tent pretending to Refeather my arrows I'll be right there! I yell When they come with their crossbows and white phosphorus To recruit me Crouching over my drafts lest they find me out and shoot me 3. Press your cheek against my medals, listen through them to my heart Doctor, can you see me if I'm naked? Spent longer in this place than in the war No one comes but rarely and I don't know what for Went to that desert as many did before Farewell and believing and hope not to die Hope not to die and what was the life Did we think was awaiting after Lay down your stethoscope back off on your skills Doctor can you see me when I'm naked? 4. I'll tell you about the mermaid Sheds swimmable tail Gets legs for dancing Sings like the sea with a choked throat Knives straight up her spine Lancing every step There is a price There is a price For every gift And all advice
May 20, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Adrienne Rich
Poem Poem
at 82 I find everything erotic-- that's the stomping ground of all intelligence-- the intellect picks it up from the ground and gives language as a kind of music to dance around
May 20, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Robin Blaser
Who Needs Yesterday’s Papers? Who Needs Yesterday’s Papers?
Weep not for the death of the old Fourth Estate: at almost every critical hour, in every decade, it failed us.
May 13, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Alexander Cockburn
Dirt Dogs and Jinegar: Baseball’s Slang Dirt Dogs and Jinegar: Baseball’s Slang
The richness of baseball's old, weird vernacular is pure, pointless creativity.
May 13, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Nick Stillman
Last Man Standing: On Clint Eastwood Last Man Standing: On Clint Eastwood
A callous vigilante and sentimental old fogy, Clint Eastwood has become indivisible from his myth.
May 13, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Akiva Gottlieb
A Million Little Pictures: The Pictures Generation Revisited A Million Little Pictures: The Pictures Generation Revisited
Do images understand us, the Pictures generation asked, more than we understand them?
May 13, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
Into the Wardrobe: C.S. Lewis’s Narnia Into the Wardrobe: C.S. Lewis’s Narnia
Laura Miller's study of C.S. Lewis falls short of providing a coherent theory of Narnia's magic.
May 6, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Jordan Davis