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The importance of historicity in fiction
The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin marks the debut of a talented new American writer. A lovely review at Chalk the Sun inspired me to read the novel, and I encourage you to read it as well. Here, I want...
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Reading at Seattle Public Library
I will be reading from Under a False Flag at the Seattle Public Library (Central Library, Level 4, Room 2) on Saturday, December 1 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Here’s the flier: Reading from Under a False...
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Which of the best books did you read this year?
One of the scabrous satirical prints directed against Pope after his Dunciad of 1727. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Surveying this year’s “best books” lists to see which ones I’d read (none, it turns out),...
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Proustian promises
Marcel Proust in 1900 (Photo credit: Wikipedia) This year I’ve done what I hope is not a foolish thing: I have joined a Goodreads group called “The Year of Reading Proust.” There are some 800 of us led...
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Caution! Do not enter! Readers will be shot!
I love this picture which a friend shared on Facebook. Though it could be mistaken for my office, it’s actually a picture taken during the London blitz. Two things about it strike me. First, what...
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“Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face…”
(Photo credit: Wikipedia) Today, the world over, people are piping in the haggis in honor of Scottish poet Robert Burns, born on this day in 1759. How many poets are so well celebrated? Perhaps it’s...
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To invert is to subvert
Oscar Wilde was the master of the epigram, the biting riposte. Though best known for his plays and novels, Wilde’s essays demonstrate some of his sharpest zingers. “The Decay of Lying” is a perfect...
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Which poisonous yellow book?
Reblogged from From book to book: The secret of Raoul, Dorian and Oscar “'Zola,' said Mr Gorby thoughtfully, taking down a flimsy yellow book rather tattered. ‘I’ve heard of him; if his novels are as...
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Stick out your tongue
I had never heard of Ma Jian until I read his story, “The Woman and the Blue Sky,” in the Paris Review in 2005. As soon as I finished it, I ordered the book it came from, Stick Out Your Tongue. But,...
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The blank spaces on the map
Historical map of the world by Ortelius, 1570 A.D. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) WordPress is great at providing statistics. I can see how many visitors I’ve had today, last week, on any previous month, or...
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Is historical fiction intrinsically cheap?
Henry James wrote in a letter to Sarah Orne Jewett, “the ‘historic’ novel is, for me, condemned, even in cases of labor as delicate as yours, to a fatal cheapness…” (I am indebted to Samir Chopra’s...
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The disinterred
The past has a way of haunting us. We think we have moved on, but events from long ago keep echoing in our consciousness. Isn’t that what Faulkner so eloquently showed us? This year marks the fortieth...
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Tlatelolco and Bolaño’s debt to Poniatowska
On October 2, 1968, just ten days before the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Mexico City, soldiers opened fire on a demonstration of some 10,000 students at the Plaza of the Three Cultures...
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The trick of translation
In Jorge Luis Borges’ story “Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote,” a man spends his life laboring to write chapters of Don Quixote. The result is an exact duplicate of the original by Cervantes but...
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In “Stoner,” John Williams defies modern conventions to create a modern...
“Show, don’t tell,” say the pundits from creative writing workshops, conferences, how-to guides and “expert” magazine articles. Start with the inciting incident, they advise. Keep your plot moving. Add...
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Two rivers, two views of empire
Two well-written histories about Europe’s scramble for Africa provide a fascinating study of how perspectives change with time. Alan Moorehead was a renowned Australian journalist who began his career...
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How empires begin and end
It has always puzzled me how a small, technologically advantaged force can dominate vast multitudes in far reaches of the planet. It’s the story of empire: The Romans extending their rule across Europe...
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The coup in Chile, 40 years on
A dozen years ago, after 9/11, W.H. Auden’s haunting poem “September 1, 1939” circulated widely on the Internet. The poem, which described the “neutral air” of New York as war broke out in Europe,...
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With a bang, a whimper, or medium-rare with ketchup?
(MGM, 1959) I first read On the Beach, Nevil Shute’s end-of-the-world novel, as a freshman in high school. I’d already seen the movie, starring Gregory Peck as the U.S. submarine captain and Ava...
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A pot of tea and Malcolm Lowry
In Seattle the leaves are turning. The big-leaf maples blaze in fiery tones and the alders, parched from a long dry summer, blanch from the cooler nights. In the Cascades the huckleberries rage crimson...
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