Category Archives: macro politics

Reflections on the Conference

Posted on May 10, 2013 by wcd2

It’s now just shy of three weeks past April 19 and I’m still lingering on the papers presented and conversations had at the first American Literature in the World graduate student conference. “Linger” seems appropriate to my mode of contemplation … Continue reading →

Posted in Educational institutions, Europe, macro politics, museums, Native-American literature, Nineteenth-century literature, World history | Tagged "Conjectures on World Literature", "Spiritual Marshall Plan for Europe", Ahab, Ben Bascom, Franco Moretti, Hadji Bakara, Herman Melville, Ishmael, John Ames Mitchell, Las Meninas, Moby-Dick, Native Americans, New Left Review, Oliver Baker, Red Army Faktion, Robert M. Hutchins, The Last American, Weatherman, Wynema | 1 Comment

Guns in Connecticut: Wallace Stevens

Posted on December 19, 2012 by wcd2

December 19, 2012 No, he only worked for insurance companies, but Hartford does have an exceptionally high concentration of gun manufacturers. Colt, founded in 1845, has its headquarters here. The U.S. Firearms Manufacturing Co., the Connecticut Shotgun Manufacturing Co., Savage … Continue reading →

Posted in macro politics, Poetry, Twentieth century literature, WAr | Tagged "A Woman Sings a Song for a Soldier Come Home";, "Repetitions for a Young Captain", Colt, Connecticut Shotgun Manufacturing Co., Ferdinand Auberjonois, Inc., NDZ Performance, Partisan Review, Samuel French Morse, Sandy Hook, Savage Arms, Smith & Wesson, U.S. Firearms Manufacturing Co., Wallace Stevens, World War I, World War II | Leave a comment

Richard Wright, Count Basie, Paul Robeson: Collaboration that Happened and Collaboration that Didn’t

Posted on July 18, 2012 by wcd2

July 18, 2012 Richard Wright had always liked boxing, but what intrigued him most of all was probably the personality of Joe Louis – “King Joe” – the world heavyweight boxing champion for more than 11 years, defending his title … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, African-American literature, Afro-Asian alliances, Asia, Cities, collaboration, Ethnicity, Global South, Interdisciplinarity, jazz, lyric, macro politics, Media, Music, Newspapers, peripheral networks, planet, Sports, Twentieth century literature, world literature | Tagged " FDR, "King Joe, Adam Clayton Powerll, Bandung Conference, boxing, Count Basie, Daily Worker, Ganges, Hitler, Joe Louis, Max Baer, Max Schmeling, Nazism, Niger, Nile, Okeh Records, Paul Robeson, Richard Wright, State Department, Yangtze, Yankee Stadium | 2 Comments

All Saints Bookstore, Beijing

Posted on June 13, 2012 by wcd2

June 13, 2012 We were in Hong Kong on June 4, the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. A candlelight vigil had been held in Victoria Park for the past 23 years. This year, 180,000 people showed up. There … Continue reading →

Posted in Asia, Boostores, China, Cities, collaboration, Comparative literature, Contemporary novel, Diaspora, Dissidents, Educational institutions, literary magazaines, macro politics, Media, Nobel Prize, print medium, public universities, Publishers, Translation, Twentieth century literature, Universities, world literature | Tagged All Saints Bookstore, Beijing, Beloved, candlelight vigil, Cormac McCarthy, Ernest Hemingway, Hong Kong, Liu Suli, Liu Zaiobo, Mark Twain, Nobel Prize, Peking University, Richard Powers, Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Steve Jobs, Strand, The Echo Maker, The Road, Thinkers Cafe, Tiananmen Square crackdown, Toni Morrison, Tsinghua University, Wansheng Bookstore, World Literature Institute, Zhao Baisheng, Zora Neale Hurston | 9 Comments

Cristina Garcia’s Cuba

Posted on April 11, 2012 by wcd2

April 11, 2012 We had to move the book up from the initial lineup — several people wanted to write about it in their final papers. How did they hear about it? But I should have guessed something like this … Continue reading →

Posted in Caribbean literature, Contemporary novel, Creole, Ethnicity, Gender, Global South, Latin America, macro politics, Mayan mythology, mixed races, peripheral networks, Spanglish, Translation, Twentieth century literature, world literature | Tagged baseball, Bay of Pigs, Castro, ceiba tree, Celia del Pino, Cuba, El Líder, NIkolai Lenin, People's Court | 8 Comments