Category Archives: Black-Jewish alliances

Black Philip Roth

March 28, 2014 Not biologically black, of course (though what an “African-American biology” might mean is not entirely clear either). Still, Philip Roth might be said to be partly black — through mediation, association, and, perhaps most of all, contention — … Continue reading

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Adrienne Rich’s ghazals

February 27, 2014 Her earliest ghazals are in Leaflets, at the very end of the volume, which I must have looked at.   But I’m reading them seriously only now — because of Agha Shahid Ali and Call Me Ishmael Tonight, … Continue reading

Posted in Arabic, Black-Jewish alliances, Caribbean literature, Contemporary novel, Indian Ocean, Middle East, Near Eastern poetry, Poetry, Twentieth century literature | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Housemates: Ralph Ellison, Saul Bellow, John Hersey

September 11, 2013 I can’t find pictures of them together, just houses that they shared. 713 Windsor Lane, a modest cottage in a writer’s compound in Key West, shared by John Hersey, his wife, and Ralph Ellison, whose Invisible Man … Continue reading

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Robert Pinsky, Ginza Samba

July 24, 2013 For years I hadn’t gone much beyond his translation of the Inferno.  I’d noticed a couple of things I didn’t like (might even have gone looking for them), and just stopped there, his own poetry getting all … Continue reading

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Michelle Cliff, Adrienne Rich: Animal Sound

April 3, 2013 It’s surprisingly difficult to find a photo of the two of them.   In fact I found only one.   Yet they’ve been together since 1976, a companionship of almost 40 years. Maybe photos aren’t the point? … Continue reading

Posted in Africa, African languages, Animals, Auditory field, Black-Jewish alliances, Caribbean literature, Contemporary literature, Diaspora, Ethnicity, Media, Music, peripheral networks | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Adrienne Rich, June Jordan: bracketing war

March 27,  2013 Adrienne Rich wrote the intro to the collected poems, June Jordan’s, talking mostly about meter, sound patterns, vernacular riffs. Of “March Song,” she writes: “Here she breaks what is actually a dactylic metrical line so that the … Continue reading

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Samuel Delany, Marilyn Hacker?

March 20,  2013 He met her on the first day, Bronx High School of Science, September 1956.   They got married five years later (in Detroit — Michigan was one of the two states where interracial marriage was not illegal). … Continue reading

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Ishmael Reed’s Canada: black, Jewish, indigenous

February 20, 2013 Ishmael Reed isn’t into tragedy, so Flight to Canada is funny about the African-American presence up North. Raven Quickskill is there of course, having flown in “non-stop/ Jumbo jet this A.M.  Had Champagne/ Compliments of the Cap’n/ … Continue reading

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Children’s Books, Children’s Songs: Gertrude Stein, Paul Robeson

September 5, 2012 Last year Yale University Press brought out Gertrude Stein’s To Do: A Book for Alphabets and Birthdays, never published in her lifetime. Stein had written it as a follow-up to her first children’s book, The World is … Continue reading

Posted in African-American music, Afro-Asian alliances, Asia, Atlantic, Black-Jewish alliances, Children's literature, China, literary magazaines, Music, Paris, print medium, Publishers, Twentieth century literature, YouTube videos | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Atlantic Sound: Caryl Phillips, Thomas Pynchon, Richard and Mimi Fariña

August 22, 2012 At the end of  The Atlantic Sound, Caryl Phillips is in Israel, visiting a community of Black Hebrews, almost 2000 of them, African-Americans who emigrated from the United States. They have given up their U.S. citizenship, but … Continue reading

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