A ruthless merchant kidnaps a beautiful young woman and takes her on board his ship. But as they make their way toward his home, a freak storm blows them off course. The terrified sailors helplessly fight against the wind and waves as their craft is drawn ever northward to the pole. One by one, theContinue reading “The Blazing World of Margaret Cavendish”
Tag Archives: Fiction
Born to Be Eternal: Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolf
At the dawn of the twentieth century, new technologies seemed to burst into existence like morning glories opening to the sun. The airplane and automobile shrank the globe while telephone and radio connected its inhabitants in unforeseen ways. Along with these innovations, fresh perspectives in the arts seemed to ripen on every intellectual tree andContinue reading “Born to Be Eternal: Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolf“
Becoming Visible: Ralph Ellison’s Classic in the era of Black Lives Matter
“Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?” – Henry David Thoreau. I used to believe that racism was a thing of the past, a relic of a bygone era. Like polio or child labor, it had vanished into the pages of history. I imaginedContinue reading “Becoming Visible: Ralph Ellison’s Classic in the era of Black Lives Matter”
How to Talk to Cats: Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore
Searching for a way to describe a new style of painting in the 1920s, Franz Roh invented the term “magic realism.” However, like the fictions that would later bear this name, the designation showed little regard for neat distinctions between the various arts. With a wink, it quickly slipped away the frames of pictures andContinue reading “How to Talk to Cats: Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore“
The Uses of Ambiguity: The Good Soldier Schweik
Ever since the time of Juvenal, and probably before, satirists have been hard at work deflating the pretensions of their societies and speaking truth to power with a wink and an air of feigned sincerity. Some, like Swift and Voltaire, channel their “savage indignation” into creating a better world. Others, like Pope, gently mock theContinue reading “The Uses of Ambiguity: The Good Soldier Schweik“
The Scraps of the Books: The Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith
“The story is simple. There was a boy who bought the planet earth. We know that, to our cost. It only happened once, and we have taken pains that it will never happen again.” These words begin one of the most surreal science fiction novels of all time, Norstillia by Cordwainer Smith. Along with TheContinue reading “The Scraps of the Books: The Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith”
The Mirror that Exploded: Don DeLillo’s Cosmopolis
Stendahl once remarked that a novel is a mirror walking along a road. 1 This quote offers an apt metaphor since, of all the forms of literature, the novel often most closely reflects the society and movements of the times in which it is written. But in Don DeLillo’s Cosmopolis, either the mirror or theContinue reading “The Mirror that Exploded: Don DeLillo’s Cosmopolis“
The Hammer and the Wing: A Meditation on Moby Dick
Of all the works of American writers, I love none so much as Moby Dick. There is a strangeness and a wildness to Melville’s great novel. Its gorgeous sentences roll over us like the vast ocean on which it is set, and its tragedy echoes in our hearts long after its narrative ceases to tollContinue reading “The Hammer and the Wing: A Meditation on Moby Dick“
Ancient Greek Pop Culture
Carl Sagan once remarked that to read a book is to voyage back in time and listen to the voices of the past. No sooner have we opened its pages than we may journey with the Okies or stand on the deck of a tall ship. For me, there has always been a peculiar fascinationContinue reading “Ancient Greek Pop Culture”
The Endless Labyrinth of Jorge Luis Borges
You begin to read this essay of the work of Jorge Luis Borges with the best intentions. You see that he was an Argentine writer born in 1899. You note with some wry amusement that he once published a review of a book that did not exist. But as you progress through the article’s openingContinue reading “The Endless Labyrinth of Jorge Luis Borges”
Worlds Imagined 