Archive | July 2009
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The Endless Question: Is There to Much Theory In The Universities
The Chronicle of Higher Eduction has a good piece, by which I mean I agree with it, about over production of stuff in literary studies, often at the expense of teaching. Mark Bauerlein the author raises several good points about the over emphasis on publishing, which comes at the expense of teaching. Since the pursuit [...]
More on Amazon and Orwell
The Millions has another good write up of the Kindle fiasco at Amazon by M Rayn Calo.
Amazon Removes Books from Customer’s Kindles
The Millions pointed me to this post at the NY Times. Apparently Amazon removed some copies of books from their customer’s Kindles without asking them. While they had legitimate reason to stop sales of the book, taking the book away from those who already paid for it is beginning to move into the realm of [...]
La Semana De Colores, by Elena Garro – A Review
Elena Garro is not well known in the English speaking world, or if known, she is unfortunately known as the wife of Octavio Paz. She has been called the most important Mexican woman writer after Sor Juana, but for the most part her importance has dimmed over time so that only two books are in [...]
Whatever Works – A Review
I like Larry David and have long found Curb Your Enthusiasm quite funny if painfully acerbic; I used to like Woody Allen’s films and wait for the new mix of comedy and ideas. And there in lies the problem: this is neither Curb Your Enthusiasm nor one of Allen’s sharper comedies from the past. Instead, [...]
Leila Abouzeid and Autobiography in Arabic
Geoff Wisner has an interesting post at Words Without borders about Leila Abouzeid’s new book. He quotes her reasons for while autobiography isn’t as common in Arabic. What she talks about is interesting in how culture is reflected in the use of language. In addition, autobiography has the pejorative connotation in Arabic of madihu nafsihi [...]
War’s End – A Review
Joe Sacco is a writer whose work has always seemed to show the great power of the Graphic Novel. His comic journalism (not a disparaging description) is some of the best work I’ve seen in the field (and thankfully avoids the self obsessed woe is me story of other graphic novels). His artistry is in [...]
There I Fixed It
This isn’t literary at all, but it is funny and I am always amazed at what will devote a website and, more importantly, their time to. The pictures speak for themselves. It is a site full of photos of home made fixes to everything. Kind of like the Red Green Show gone global. There I [...]
Manuel Sánchez Wins 6.000 Euros for 1 Sudden Fiction
El País reports that Manuel Sánchez has won the 2nd SER Sudden Fiction Contest (edición del concurso de microrrelatos de la SER). Here it is in its entirety: I recognized the look in the photo. It was the same pig from the alley. The cop nodded his head and gave the photo to the other [...]
Alberto Fuguet: from Film to Literature, the Hybrid Case of a Writer
La Jornada has an interview with the Chilean Author Alberto Fuguet is a younger author who as a proponent of Mc Hondo has looked to turn away from the over saturated magical realism that came to define Latin American Literature. His book Shorts is available in English and is a mix of story telling methods, [...]
Updated Translation Database at Three Percent
Three Percent has updated their invaluable Translation Database. If you are interested in foreign fiction in English it is an invaluable resource. (You will need Excel or Open Office to open it. ) As always, these spreadsheets contain info on never-before-translated works of fiction and poetry distributed in the U.S. (I left off anything that’s [...]
Vasily Aksyonov – RIP
The Russian author Vasily Aksyonov passed away on Monday the July 6th. I have yet to get around to reading Generations of Winter even though I’ve had it for sometime. He was one of those finds along with Platonov that I was quite happy to find when I decided to make it my mission to [...]
The Ugly American An Appreciation in the NY Times
MICHAEL MEYER in the NY Times has a very good appreciation of the Ugly American. It is one of those mid fifties books that were held so much cache in there day, but not seem lost in to a different time as literary styles change. Yet there is a salience in reading them. Despite its [...]
Captain Abu Raed – A Review
Abu Raed is a janitor at the Aman airport who lives a quiet life of a widower but is a respected man in his neighborhood. Behind his humble job and quiet life is a man whose life has not gone as he wanted, beyond the death of his wife and son, it is not clear what [...]
José Emilio Pacheco and Elena Poniatowska in La Jornada
There is an excellent, if writterly, appreciation of José Emilio Pacheco in this Sunday’s cultural supplement in La Jornada. It is certainly worth a read if you have an interest and know Spanish. Pacheco is the author of Las batellas en el desierto (The Battles in the Desert) which I reviewed sometime ago and remains [...]
Departures – A Review
Departures is a movie for crying if the tears streaming down the faces of several women in the audience is any indication. While the movie is about undertakers, it is really about family and the search for the healing when a family falls apart. The film follows Daigo a cellist who is laid off from [...]
Emilio, los chistes y la muerte, By Fabio Morábito in Letras Libres
Letras Libres reviewed Emilio, los chistes y la muerte, By Fabio Morábito recently and for those who like to read fiction as much for the style as the story it looks like an interesting book. If you read Spanish the review is worth a look. The style of this novel is that of his stories [...]
July Edition of Words Without Borders Available
The July edition of Words Without Borders is available now. As always it has some interesting stuff and this month’s theme is memory.
Season of Migration to the North – A Review
Season of Migration to the North is a difficult book to forget, one that posses difficult questions in the relations between the developed world and those from outside of it. A brief book, the economy and mystery create a view of the developed world that is troubling at best and hopeless at worst. Season follows [...]
