Tag Archives: New York Times
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
James Baldwin’s friends
July 31, 2013 Well, at least they went to high school together, that accounts for it: DeWitt Clinton High School, in the north Bronx. By the time James Baldwin and Richard Avedon brought out Nothing Personal (1964), they’d known … Continue reading
Junot Diaz, Octavia Butler: Other People’s Books
March 13, 2013 It was 1957 and she was ten. She had managed to save five dollars, mostly in change, but still a lot of money. The public library had been fine up to this point; now she was … Continue reading
Unending Katrina: Dave Eggers’ Zeitoun
October 31, 2012 I never made it to the World Humanities Forum, a small story in a big storm. New Orleans and New York: this is the tale of two cities that is now unfolding. I wish I could say: … 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
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
Tender is the Translation
June 20, 2012 Because of my online lectures on Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner, I’ve been getting inquiries about these authors from Asia, Europe, South America – many viewers of the Open Yale Courses are outside the US. This week I … Continue reading