Black Sun Black Sun
Inferno happened when Dante explained to us how he functions sexually. Before then, it did not exist. And Petrarch. Who like a green dog on four wet, dark-green legs sniffs Vaucluse and touches his clothes. He thinks about the books his father burnt, not about Laura. It has to do with the race. Who is faster. God with his sand or we with our tongue. Sand is the tongue of fire. Tongue is the fire of sand. Fire is the sand of God. I'm falling. I fall like an oak doomed to die, and also women want to be more than metaphor. With their moist, round, soft skin, with their drunken scent of warm mushrooms they drive me insane. Walls of hell, why do you stagger. I miss the smell of burnt flesh. Nature makes me tired. It tires me so terribly that I sink in a cave. Stars move apart. I am the Sun. With no air. Fake fire falls upon the children's black hair, advancing into their hearts so they burst like buckles. Their mouths yawn open as if they were mummies. They rave in benediction, they gargle my name as I get dressed. When I adjust my collar in front of him--the mirror-- everything is already late. (Translated from the Slovenian by Peter Richards and Ana Jelnikar)
Jan 14, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Tomaž Šalamun
Jesse Jackson ’88: Realizing the Promise Jesse Jackson ’88: Realizing the Promise
Jesse Jackson's campaign formed the basis for a new political coalition that helped elect Barack Obama America's first black president.
Jan 14, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Brett Story
The Shining The Shining
If you stay at the Overlook Hotel, best avoid Room 237.
Jan 14, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Robert Hatch
The Year China Jumped the Gun The Year China Jumped the Gun
China is a country that takes anniversaries seriously. But reaction to significant historical events to be commemorated this year has already taken place.
Jan 12, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Jeffrey Wasserstrom
Historians in Handcuffs Historians in Handcuffs
The Bush administration has systematically blocked historians' access to government archives. Does Obama hold the key to set information free?
Jan 12, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Jeff Kisseloff
Vertigo Vertigo
Jimmy Stewart suffers from high anxiety in what some consider to be Alfred Hitchcock's greatest film.
Jan 11, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Robert Hatch
The Best Years of Our Lives The Best Years of Our Lives
Three World War II veterans return home to their families to recover from the worst years of their lives.
Jan 11, 2009 / Books & the Arts / James Agee
Schindler’s List Schindler’s List
From a book by Thomas Keneally, who was convinced by the shopkeeper to look at some old documents he kept in the back of his store. The man was one of the 12,000 people saved by Os...
Jan 10, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Wild Strawberries Wild Strawberries
Selecting Bergman's greatest masterpiece is like trying to pick the best pistachio nut in a bowl. Although this tale of a doctor looking back on his life is as good a choice as an...
Jan 10, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Robert Hatch
The Killing Fields The Killing Fields
Dr. Haing S. Ngor won an Academy Award for his portrayal of the journalist Dith Pran in this account of the Cambodian genocide in the 1970s.
Jan 10, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Andrew Kopkind