Category Archives: Uncategorized
Signing Off
April 27, 2014 We’re converting the blog into “News & Field Reports,” a forum for the community.
Denise Levertov’s Ghazals
March 7, 2014 I wonder what they thinking, these authors who write poems that they call ghazals, that bear no obvious resemblance to the traditional form in Urdu and Persian and Arabic? Denise Levertov’s “Broken Ghazals” is simply one poem … Continue reading
Not New York
January 8, 2014 I’m about to head off to Chicago, also about to teach my freshman seminar: “Cities.” Chicago again, New York, San Francisco. The books are the usual suspects, but not all of them (for San Francisco I’m … Continue reading
Octopus for Christmas
December 25, 2013 No, not salmon, that eminently respectable candidate for a fishetarian dinner. Octopus instead, still exotic and dubious-looking in this part of the world, but a common food staple in Japan and throughout the Mediterranean: in Spain, Portugal, … Continue reading
Equiano’s Turkey
November 28, 2013 Yes, according to Mark Forsyth, the Thanksgiving bird is named after a country 4429 miles away. But not the first to be so named. In fact, the original turkey was a guinea fowl from Madagascar, brought to … Continue reading
Natasha Trethewey
Born on April 26, 1966 in Gulfport, Mississippi, Natasha Trethewey was appointed the 19th Poet Laureate of the United States in 2012. She is currently serving her second term in this position in Washington, DC. Trethewey is also the Robert … Continue reading
Richard Wright: Native Son readers’ letters at the Beinecke Library
Native Son by Richard Wright is a heart-rending exposé of the racial oppression that permeated Chicago (and the rest of America) during the 1930s. Through the experiences of his black protagonist Bigger Thomas, Wright provides invaluable insights into the origins … Continue reading
Corthay Schock
Corthay Schock, Yale College ’16, is an English major intending to double major in English and Film. Her Wiki contribution: Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier Williams was born on March 26, 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi. He was an American playwright and author with famous works including Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Williams won a Pulitzer Prize for each … Continue reading
Jordan Brower
Jordan Brower is a fourth year Ph.D. student in English and Film at Yale University, where he is writing a dissertation on the critical literatures (both in print and on film) of the Hollywood Studio Era. His Wiki contribution: Ruth Ozeki