The Unknown Kerouac is good for the advancement of Kerouac scholarship, but the book hardly justifies, for the average reader, its price and size.
Book Review: “Dharma Lion” — The Rich Heritage of Allen Ginsberg
The power of Allen Ginsberg’s legacy could be felt in the controversy over the decision to award Bob Dylan the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Book Review: “The Hatred of Poetry” — Thinking the Worst About Verse
The Hatred of Poetry claims to explore our culture’s rampant animosity toward the entire art form.
Book Review: Don DeLillo’s “Zero K” — The Wages of Cheating Death
Zero K will prove refreshing to Don DeLillo’s readers in that it’s a novel of faith — a concept that he’s always been skeptical of.
Fuse Remembrance: Farewell, Jack Bruce — Thundering Dynamo of the Bass Guitar
A homage to Jack Bruce, thundering dynamo of the bass guitar, singer of unmatched power and clarity, coequal with Clapton at the helm of the supergroup Cream.
Book Review: “The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair” — Beware the Hype
The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair is a long but fast-paced book that walks the line between airport novel and true work of literary fiction.
Book Review: “Living in the Meantime” — Too Ambitious for its Own Good
Richard Barnett is familiar with the wide variety of characters that can be found in the American South, and fond of the cadences of their speech—so much so that these preoccupations become a burden.
Book Review: “MFA vs NYC” — There Are Worlds Elsewhere
The culture of American fiction is never as neatly defined as books like “MFA vs NYC” make it out to be.
Book Review: “The Haunted Life” — Learning About What it Took to Become Jack Kerouac
“The Haunted Life” is little more than an example of the staggering amount of work it takes for a writer to find his voice, a testament to the years of toil Kerouac put in before forging a style all his own.
Book Review: “Killing the Second Dog” — A Pair of Captivating Polish Con Artists
Polish writer Marek Hlasko sometimes writes like Hemingway, but without the premium the latter placed on honor and grace.
