Category Archives: Comparative literature

Nonsecular: William Faulkner, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Toni Morrison

April 19, 2014 Toni Morrison says in a Paris Review interview: “I always get up and make a cup of coffee while it is still dark—it must be dark—and then I drink the coffee and watch the light come.”   … Continue reading

Posted in African-American literature, Americas, Comparative literature, Magical realism, Twentieth century literature | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

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

Posted in Black-Jewish alliances, Comparative literature, literary magazaines, Media | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Octavia Butler, Margaret Atwood: Martians and Others

February 27, 2013 ‘Moby-Dick’ is about the oil industry, and the Ship of American State…  The mates are the middle management. The harpooners, who are from races colonized by America one way or another, are supplying the expert tech labor. … Continue reading

Posted in African-American literature, Canada, Colonization, Comparative literature, Contemporary literature, print medium, Race, Science fiction, Twentieth century literature, Wars | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Global North: Alexander, Boo, Erdrich, Ferry

February 13, 2013 The blizzard this past weekend made me think of Argus, North Dakota.  Louise Erdrich’s country. Love Medicine opens with  a blizzard: “The snow feel deeper that Easter than it had for forty years, but June walked over … Continue reading

Posted in Cities, Comparative literature, Contemporary novel, contemporary poetry, India, Native-American literature, Translation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Toni Morrison, Maxine Hong Kingston, Leslie Silko: The Chinese Connection

February 6, 2012 In 1985 Toni Morrison, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Leslie Silko traveled together to China, going up the Li River in a boat. Kingston and Silko have now come out with new books — Kingston, I Love a … Continue reading

Posted in African-American literature, Afro-Asian alliances, Animals, Asia, Autobiography, China, Chinese art, collaboration, Comparative literature, Ethnicity, Native American language, Native-American literature, Twentieth century literature, Visual arts, world literature | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Frederick Douglass, H.D.: Egypt Again

Janurary 2, 2013 She never mentioned him and probably never read him.  Still, he anticipated her. Visiting Egypt in 1887, Douglass wrote: “I do not know of what color and features the ancient Egyptians were, but the great mass of … Continue reading

Posted in Africa, ancient Greece, Christianity, Classics, Comparative literature, Egypt, Gender, Global South, Islam, Modernist poetry, Poetry, Race, slavery, Translation, Twentieth century literature, Wars, world literature | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: “Re Dis Appearing”

October 24, 2012 I’m getting ready for the World Humanities Forum, held next week in Busan, South Korea.   So I’ve been thinking about Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, born in 1951 in Busan. She immigrated with her family to the … Continue reading

Posted in Arts communities, Asian-American literature, Autobiography, Cities, Comparative literature, Contemporary Art, Diaspora, digital humanities, digital platforms, Ethnicity, film medium, Gender, Genre, Interdisciplinarity, Media, print medium, Publishers, twentieth century art, Twentieth century literature, Universities, Visual arts, World religions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Jack Kerouac, Edwidge Danticat: Joual and Creole

October 10, 2012 The name on his birth certificate is Jean Louis Kirouac – that’s the most common spelling of the name in Quebec, which is where his parents were from.  His father, Léon-Alcide, continued to work as a printer … Continue reading

Posted in African-American literature, Americas, Atlantic, Autobiography, Canada, Caribbean literature, Cities, Comparative literature, Contemporary novel, Creole, Diaspora, Ethnicity, Gender, Global South, Latin America, Libraries, Media, mexico, peripheral networks, print medium, Publishers, Radio, Twentieth century literature, Vernacular dialects | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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

Posted in African-American literature, collaboration, Comparative literature, contemporary poetry, Diaspora, Gender, globe, Irish literature, lyric, Modernist poetry, Music, Race, Racial violence, Remediation, Rock music, slavery, Translation, twentieth century art, Twentieth century literature, World history, world literature, YouTube videos | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Gore Vidal (1925-2012): 2006 Letter on the Palestinian nation.

August 1, 2012 Gore Vidal’s passing is marked worldwide by a citational frenzy: all those quips, those acidic one-liners, from the past 86 years.  The New York Times, the Washington Post, the LA Times, all have their favorites; the Guardian … Continue reading

Posted in African-American literature, Afro-Asian alliances, Arabic, collaboration, Comparative literature, Ethnicity, globe, Islam, Letters, Middle East, Newspapers, Nobel Prize, peripheral networks, print medium, Racial violence, Twentieth century literature, World religions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments