Reading Journal

  • Reading Journal

Reading well an excerpt from Cynthia Ozick’s novel “Trust”

An excerpted passage from the 1966 novel "Trust" by Cynthia Ozick, dripping with the poetry and squalor of Rimbaud.

3 years ago
  • Reading Journal

Cynthia Ozick’s “Trust”: Exegesis | Tom Hanks on Jimmy Kimmel Live

Ruminations on Cynthia Ozick's knotty, profound prose counterposed to some armchair commentary on Tom Hanks' eminently forgettable appearance on the…

3 years ago
  • On Literature, Books

Satire or Misanthropy? “Solar,” by Ian McEwan

Ian McEwan's 2010 novel "Solar" is a misanthropic retelling of ten years in the life of erstwhile Nobel Prize recipient…

3 years ago
  • On Literature, Books

Affecting Song and W.E.B. Du Bois’ “Souls of Black Folk”

Each chapter of W.E.B. Du Bois' "The Souls of Black Folk" begins with an excerpt of verse and a few…

4 years ago
  • Reading Journal

Harriet Jacobs’ “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl”

Harriet Jacobs' "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" tells of her life in and escape from the 'Demon…

4 years ago
  • Reading Journal

“Up From Slavery”: Booker T. Washington’s words

Booker T. Washington's "Up From Slavery" promotes a vocational training for blacks imbued with Christian virtue. Is W.E.B. Du Bois'…

4 years ago
  • Reading Journal

Coming to Booker T. Washington’s “Up From Slavery”

The circumstances of my purchase and knowledge of "Up From Slavery," Booker T. Washington's most famous autobiography

4 years ago
  • Reading Journal

Reading Journal: Assembling Dinosaurs, “War and Peace”

A glorious night when I just wanted to keep reading: first, 25 pages of Lukas Rieppel's "Assembling the Dinosaur"; then…

4 years ago
  • On Literature, Books

Anna Seghers’ “Transit”: Profound Unknowing

In Anna Seghers' novel "Transit," no one really knows who the other is. The reader is never certain of who…

4 years ago
  • Reading Journal

George Saunders’ “CivilWarLand in Bad Decline”

George Saunders' short story collection, CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, was born in a minimum security prison in central Pennysylvania

4 years ago