Category Archives: Visual arts

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

Posted on February 6, 2013 by wcd2

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 92nd Street Y, Chaco Canyon, China, I Love a Broad Margin to my Life, Leslie Silko, Li River, Maxine Hong Kingston, Mesa Verde, The Turquoise Ledge, Toni Morrison, Tucson | Leave a comment

Edward Weston, Walt Whitman: Grass

Posted on November 7, 2012 by wcd2

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 →

Posted in Atlantic, Autobiography, Cities, Climate change, collaboration, Environmentalism, Modern art, Nineteenth-century literature, oceans, Photography, planet, print medium, Publishers, Remediation, twentieth century art, Vernacular dialects, Visual arts | Tagged Arizona, Boston, Charis Wilson, Edward Weston, Georgia, Hurricane Sandy, Limited Edition Club, Museum of Fine Arts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Paumanok, St. Simon's Island, Walt Whitman, Yaqui | Leave a comment

Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: “Re Dis Appearing”

Posted on October 24, 2012 by wcd2

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 "Re Dis Appearing", Berkeley, Busan, Christian Metz, Demeter, Dictee, France, Joan of Arc, Korea, Manchuria, New York, Persephone, Raymond Bellour, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Thierry Kuntzel, Tumblr, World Humanities Forum, Yu Guan Soon | 1 Comment

Pynchon on the Simpsons, Hughes on the Bootsie cartoons

Posted on August 29, 2012 by wcd2

August 29, 2012 I’m not absolutely sure it is his voice, but most people seem to think it is: “Diatribe of a Mad Housewife,” Season 15 of The Simpsons, aired on Jan 25, 2004. Marge is mad enough to write a … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, collaboration, Contemporary Art, Ethnicity, Graphic Novels, Interdisciplinarity, Media, Modern art, Modernist poetry, print medium, Race, Remediation, Television, twentieth century art, Twentieth century literature, Visual arts, YouTube videos | Tagged " Graphics Classics, "Danse Africaine", "Simple" stories, "The Negro, Afua Richards, All's Fair in Oven War, Bootsie cartoons, Chicago Defender, Daumier, Diatribe of a Mad Housewife, Hogarth, Langston Hughes, Moby-Dick, Ollie Harrington, Stan Shaw, The Simpsons, Thomas Pynchon | 2 Comments

Literature to Film, Sydney 2012

Posted on May 30, 2012 by wcd2

May 30, 2012 May 28, 2012 was the centenary of the birth of Patrick White. Many of us from the conference went down to a special screening of The Eye of the Storm, directed by Fred Schepisi, featuring Charlotte Rampling … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, architecture, Arts communities, Australia, Cities, collaboration, Comparative literature, Contemporary Art, Diaspora, Educational institutions, film festivals, film medium, Global South, Interdisciplinarity, Media, Modern art, museums, Music, Remediation, Rock music, Theater, Translation, twentieth century art, Twentieth century literature, Visual arts, world literature | Tagged Allen Ginsberg, Antony Waddington, Bob Dylan, Cate Blanchett, Charlotte Rampling, Chekhov, England, France, Fred Schepisi, Geoffrey Rush, Howl, I'm not There, James Franco, John Gaden, Judy Davis, MOMA, Patrick White, Russia, Seattle Film Festival, Sydney, Sydney Opera House, The Cherry Orchard, The Eye of the Storm, Vivid Lights Festival | 10 Comments

Space Brownies: Alice B. Toklas, Brion Gysin, William Burroughs

Posted on May 16, 2012 by wcd2

May 16, 2012 Gertrude Stein was dead at that point; she had died in 1947. In 1952 Alice signed a contract with Harper’s to write a cookbook. Then in her 70s, Alice was not as quick with her pen as … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts communities, collaboration, Experimental poetry, film medium, Food in literature, Handwritten script, Interdisciplinarity, Media, Modern art, print medium, Publishers, Radio, Remediation, twentieth century art, Twentieth century literature, Visual arts, world literature | Tagged Alice B. Toklas, Brion Gysin, canibus sativa, cookbook, cut-up method, Gertrude Stein, Harper's, hash brownie, hippie counterculture, I Love You, mash-up, Nova Trilogy, Peter Sellers, remix, William S. Burroughs | 2 Comments

Gertrude Stein: Pittsburgh to Paris

Posted on May 9, 2012 by wcd2

May 9, 2012 850 Beech Avenue, Allegheny West. A two-story house, 5 windows on its front facade, 3 on the second floor, 2 on the first. A modest house, middle-class, no more. I remember this, of course, from The Autobiography … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Arts communities, Modern art, museums, Paris, twentieth century art, Twentieth century literature, Visual arts | Tagged African masks, Allegheny West, Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, blue period, California, Cubism, Gertrude Stein, La Femme au Chapeau, Leo Stein, Matisse, Metropolitan Museum, Michael Stein, Paris, Pennsylvania, Picasso, Pittsburgh, rose period | 2 Comments

Black Pittsburgh

Posted on May 2, 2012 by wcd2

May 2, 2012 I’ve been here before, but it hit me again this time, coming into the city at night. This has got to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The river and the bridges all lit up — there are … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, African-American literature, Arabic, Arts communities, collaboration, Contemporary Art, Educational institutions, Ethnicity, Islam, jazz, Media, Music, peripheral networks, Theater, twentieth century art, Twentieth century literature, Visual arts, world literature, World religions | Tagged Abdullan Ibn, Billy Strayhorn, Brenda Buxton, bridges, Buhaina, Duke Ellington, Earl Hines, Fate Marable, Hill Distict, King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Mary Lou Wiliams, Nation of Islam, New Orleans, Paris, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Cycle, riverboats, Romare Beaden, Stanley Theater, The Piano Lesson, West Afraica | 21 Comments

Yusef Komunyakaa and Chad Gracia, Gilgamesh

Posted on February 22, 2012 by wcd2

February 22, 2012 I’ve never given a talk at UCLA. Caltech, yes, in nearby Pasadena; also the Huntington Library. But never at the famed Royce Hall, 405 Hilgard Avenue. So I’m a bit anxious about tomorrow: a graduate student … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, Classics, collaboration, Comparative literature, contemporary poetry, Cuneiform, Dance, epic, Handwritten script, Mesopotamia, Near Eastern poetry, Remediation, Theater, Translation, Visual arts, world literature | Tagged Caltech, Chad Gracia, Cunieform, Enkidu, epic, Gilgamesh, Huntington Library, Ode to the Maggot, Our Oriental Heritage, Pasadena, Sumeria, UCLA, Will Durant, Yusef Komunyakaa | 67 Comments

Langston Hughes, Jacob Lawrence

Posted on February 8, 2012 by wcd2

February 8, 2012 Langston Hughes never went to Black Mountain College, but maybe he didn’t need to. 1948-49 was emblematic. A no doubt incomplete list of what happened during those months: in June 1948, Langston Hughes moved into 20 East … Continue reading →

Posted in abstract expressionism, collaboration, Cuban poetry, Media, Modernist poetry, print medium, Remediation, Translation, twentieth century art, Twentieth century literature, Visual arts | Tagged Arno Bontemps, Ben Frederic Carruthers, Black Mountain College, City Center, Cuba, Cuba Libre, Haiti, Home in a Box, Jacob Lawrence, Kurt Weill, Langston Hughes, New York, Nicolas Guillen, One-Way Ticket, Poetry of the Negro, Street Scene, Troubled Island, William Grant Still | 21 Comments