New Novel: The Human Stain
Philip Roth is an author I never encountered or heard much about until after college. I think back on who I was exposed to during that time, the great authors who rose to prominence between the 60s and 90s: Updike, Garcia Marquez, Le Guin, Barth, Morrison, Doctorow, Eco, Naipaul, McCarthy, DeLillo, Irving, Rushdie… but never … Continue reading
Effabling the Ineffable in 2001: A Space Odyssey
The most memorable moments of the film version of 2001: A Space Odyssey are the opening, with the rendition of Strauss’ “Thus Spake Zarathustra” and the monkeys wielding lethal porcine femurs, followed by the exchanges between the self-aware robot HAL 9000 and the crew of the spaceship Discovery. What makes these moments so familiar is the … Continue reading
2001: A Space Odyssey
The drought had lasted now for ten million years, and the reign of the terrible lizards had long since ended. So we jump forward a century or so in writing history, leaving behind the soap opera costume drama of George Eliot’s Middlemarch for the space opera psychodrama of Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. The … Continue reading
Book 3 – The Witches of Eastwick
John Updike made his name with a book called Rabbit, Run, which told the story of a man who didn’t get women. At all. He didn’t get them so badly that he abandons his wife and toddler son within twenty pages of our meeting him. We go on to read about him not getting women for … Continue reading
Can having any opinion about Harry Potter be okay?
Happy Thanksgiving! If you’re anything like my family, you’ll probably eat a lot, watch football and maybe talk about going to a movie. Then pass out. But if you do get out to see a movie, chances are it will be the new Harry Potter. Speaking of which! After asking folks to vote for the … Continue reading
Letters Republic 