ON MARRIANE MOORE’S “SILENCE”The mishmash of the poet (author) with the speaker of the poem (fiction), in verse or prose, is a misprision often attacked by the greats…Just nowJust now
Canetti, Coppola, and a CorridorThe other morning I was reading Elias Canetti’s Voices of Marrakesh, and early in the book, in a chapter on souks (bazaars) there is this…Oct 25Oct 25
JENNIFER JASON LEIGH AND MEIt’s taken some years to return to 1996 and decipher just what was going on between Jennifer Jason Leigh and me. Our elder selves don’t…Oct 17Oct 17
ON READING FLEUR JAEGGY’S SWEET DAYS OF DISCIPLINEI tend to have many thoughts when I read a book — or does the writer’s imagination just make me more aware of them? Over the four days of…Oct 8Oct 8
PAEAN TO JACK WARDENOf course there are other actors like him (M. Emmet Walsh). And there those actors that are so distinctive that I can see many different…Oct 3Oct 3
Reading StylesAt a recent discussion group for two novels, we talked of how we read certain books — the method of reading, whether to read in small…Sep 26Sep 26
On a Passage from Christine Schutt’s “Winterreise” in the book A Day, A Night, Another Day, SummerThe Bite of SchuttSep 20Sep 20
On Showing Bits of Ingmar Bergman’s Persona to my Seven-Year-OldOn Showing Bits of Bergman’s Persona to my Seven-Year-OldSep 10Sep 10
Handke and Time-TravelAnother mostly mild winter of herky-jerky temperatures encapsulated New York in January, but Peter Handke — whose literary star has been…Aug 30Aug 30