Category Archives: collaboration
Jane Austen’s Philadelphia, Toni Morrison’s Denver
January 30, 2013 2013 is the bicentennial of Pride and Prejudice, so I’ve been learning new things about Jane Austen — for instance, the fact that her aunt was named Philadelphia, Phila for short. Phila never saw Philadelphia; no, at … Continue reading
Shankar, Coltrane, Whitman: Within You, Without You
December 12, 2012 2012 is full of deaths at the year’s end. Dave Brubeck last week; this week, Ravi Shankar. Shankar was half an American musician (the fractions don’t have to add up to a zero-sum game). Since 1970 he … Continue reading
Ishmael Reed, Grateful Dead: Egypt
November 28, 2012 Ishmael Reed gets away with it. He is “a Cowboy in the Boat of Ra,” he says in the poem of that title. And he gets to do thisbecause Sonny Rollins has already set an example: Sonny … Continue reading
Sherman Alexie, Walt Whitman: Hoop Dreams
November 14, 2012 When Stephen Colbert pointed out with incredulity that he had come out with yet another book, Sherman Alexie said, “That’s what happens when you’re literate.” Yes, from reading to writing: it’s as easy as that, as inevitable. … Continue reading
Edward Weston, Walt Whitman: Grass
November 7, 2012 Whitman, poet of New Jersey and New York. Also poet of grass, the force of demographics, what comes up from the ground. He would have been unsurprised by Hurricane Sandy, or by the rising sea levels … Continue reading
Toni Morrison, Slade Morrison: More Children’s Books
September 12, 2012 Toni Morrison also had trouble with publishers. At least she managed to get it in print — The Big Box, the first of several coauthored with her son Slade, first appeared in Ms. Magazine in 1980 and, … Continue reading
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
Rene Marie and Thomas Pynchon: Dixie/Strange Fruit, Mason & Dixon
August 15, 2012 Thanks to Ron Fritts, I learn this week that Rene Marie also has a version of “Strange Fruit” – a mashup, joint with the Confederate anthem, “Dixie.” Is it meant to be ironic? Marie doesn’t think so. … Continue reading
Seamus Heaney: More Strange Fruit
August 8, 2012 This week I’ve been listening to many versions of “Strange Fruit”: Nina Simone, Jeff Buckley, Gil Evans and the Sting. I have to say: I still prefer Billie Holiday. But I had no idea Seamus Heaney also … Continue reading