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Jul 18 2007
Living in the Kinkade-Hood
One’s person’s kitsch is another person’s art, a fact that was most evident to me when I was attending college in Branson, Missouri in the early ‘80s. First there are… read more
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Jul 16 2007
The Perils of Literary Laziness
I’m not a fast reader. I’ve improved with experience and age, but it usually takes me awhile to get through any hefty tome. Still, a good book always seems worth… read more
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Jul 12 2007
Allowing for a little substance
As long as I have been alive, there have been convenient ways of interacting with the people in my life, the relatives and friends, near and far. This has been… read more
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Jul 10 2007
Audio Poetry: “Departure in New Affection and New Noise”
In a letter to Paul Demeny, Rimbaud argues “All ancient poetry culminated in Greek poetry, harmonious Life.” For Rimbaud, this harmony involves both mind and body: “verses and lyres, rhythms:… read more
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Jul 08 2007
Lost in Literary Fandom
Okay, here’s the truth of my current reading habits. More often than not, I prefer to read about writers rather than what they’ve actually written. Ann Charters’s Kerouac: A Biography… read more
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Jul 04 2007
A Comic Turn
Here’s a trip down nostalgia lane: a little while ago I went to a comic book shop for the first time in a decade, and everything was just as I… read more
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Jul 02 2007
The Company of Men
Flying to Durham, North Carolina, a couple of weeks ago for a summer seminar on Italian cinema (see last week’s blog), I was seated in the back of the plane,… read more
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Jun 29 2007
A Libyan 1984
Evelyn mentioned the Man Booker International Prize in a recent blog post and the cultural impact of Things Fall Apart. That novel rejected the school of thought that Africa was… read more
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Jun 27 2007
My Failure to Get It On Over Italian Cinema
This summer I packed my book bag, sharpened my pencils, polished a few apples and went back to school, for three weeks anyway. I had been selected by the college… read more
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Jun 24 2007
Poetry: the Art of Pleasure and Balance
As a scribbler of poems, I have often asked myself what is the promise of poetry? In what consists the peculiar pleasure of the well-crafted poem? The first answer that… read more