Jens Peter Jacobsen, Niels Lyhne
Niels Lyhne by Jens Peter Jacobsen My rating: 4 of 5 stars This 1880 Danish novel was once immensely influential: it and its author were cited or praised by Hermann … Continue reading
William Faulkner, Go Down, Moses
Go Down, Moses by William Faulkner My rating: 4 of 5 stars Go Down, Moses (1942), though not always grouped with Faulkner’s indisputable masterpieces, is nevertheless one of his most … Continue reading
Gerald Murnane, The Plains
The Plains by Gerald Murnane My rating: 3 of 5 stars Gerald Murnane is in vogue. Every few years, it seems, a new writer or handful of writers is coronated in … Continue reading
Frances Stonor Saunders, The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters
The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters by Frances Stonor Saunders My rating: 4 of 5 stars Someone once said that beneath or behind … Continue reading
Eugene O’Neill, Long Day’s Journey into Night
Long Day’s Journey Into Night by Eugene O’Neill My rating: 4 of 5 stars Long Day’s Journey into Night, often considered one of the finest American dramas and as its … Continue reading
Against Celebration: Bloomsday vs. Dallowayday
Two years ago, Elaine Showalter suggested that we balance Bloomsday (June 16, the day whereon Joyce’s Ulysses is set) with Dallowayday: Like Joyce’s Ulysses, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway is set … Continue reading
Ernest Hemingway, The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories
Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway My rating: 3 of 5 stars Hemingway used to be overrated and is now if anything underrated. Once venerated for promoting … Continue reading
Hart Crane, The Bridge
The Bridge by Hart Crane My rating: 4 of 5 stars The Bridge (1930) is a long poem seven years in the making. It was written under several varieties of … Continue reading
Anna Kavan, Ice
Ice by Anna Kavan My rating: 4 of 5 stars Jonathan Lethem begins his introduction to the new Penguin Classics edition of this 1967 novel, “Anna Kavan’s Ice is a … Continue reading
Jack Kerouac, On the Road
On the Road by Jack Kerouac My rating: 3 of 5 stars You will say, “You should have read this book when you were sixteen!” Reader, I wouldn’t have liked … Continue reading
