“My brother had to be seen through your hero’s eyes to become an ‘Arab’ and consequently die.” -Kamel Daoud, The Meursault Investigation. Albert Camus’s The Stranger gained an almost mythical reputation early on as a classic text highlighting the alienation and meaninglessness of human existence. Like most of his works, the novel takes place in French Algeria. InContinue reading “A Postcolonial Stranger: The Meursault Investigation“
Tag Archives: Racism
The Monster Under the Amusement Park: Arthur Miller’s Focus
In the opening of Arthur Miller’s Focus, Lawrence Newman awakens from a disturbing dream. “He was in some sort of amusement park. Before him stood a large carousel, strangely colored in green and purple patches. Somehow there were no people there. It was deserted for acres around him. And yet the carousel was moving. The brightlyContinue reading “The Monster Under the Amusement Park: Arthur Miller’s Focus“
Nihilism at the OK Corral: Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian
I grew up with The Story. We all know The Story, the Story of America. We might sum it up as follows. Fleeing from religious persecution, a band of hardy European colonists settled on the shores of the “New World” and eventually founded a great and noble nation. Because of their high ideals, the peopleContinue reading “Nihilism at the OK Corral: Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian“
Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera: A Review
Undocumented entry into the United States has been a hot-button political topic for the last few decades. In Signs Preceding the End of the World, novelist Yuri Herrera tells the tale of one such border crossing. However, he approaches this subject in a symbolic way that raises his story above the politics of the momentContinue reading “Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera: A Review”
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”
Worlds Imagined 