The fifteenth anniversary of the death of a grievously neglected writer whom critics almost universally acclaim a creative genius.
Book Review: “My Red Heaven” — The City as a Mirror for Consciousness
Few contemporary authors much care to tussle with the proverbial mot juste; Lance Olsen insists on it, and over the course of fifteen novels, five books of nonfiction, and five short story collections, has shown himself a master of prose style.
Literary Reconsideration: A.S.Byatt’s “Possession”
Tour de force? Not quite. Joycean? Perhaps in the way contemporary individuals overlap with ancient, mythical counterparts.
Arts Remembrance: A Tribute to Poet and Writer John Ash
We were both English-speaking ex-patriots living in Istanbul, and John Ash’s poetry spoke eloquently to that shared experience.
Book Review: A Biography of John Berger — A Seminal Artist and Thinker
If you have not read John Berger, by the end of this biography you’re likely to feel an urgent need to pick up one of his books.
Book Review: “The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee” — Dreaming a New Dream for Native Americans
In this remarkable and timely book, David Treuer is determined that Native American history not be seen as a “catalog of pain.”
Book Review: “Five Cities” — Urban Meditations on Turkish History and Culture
Five Cities is a species of psychogeography, a deep map, that weighs the effects of topography, urban environments, and monuments of the past on mood and perspective.
Book Review: “The Feral Detective” — Strictly From Hunger
Farcical fight and sex scenes might be forgivable, but the “mystery” is so barely there it utterly fails to engage — and that’s lethal to a novel in this genre.
Book Review: “The Ruins of Ani” — Into the Mystic
The Ruins of Ani illuminates one of those rare places that leaves visitors feeling they might have to dust off the word mystical to describe the experience.
Book Review: “Madonna in a Fur Coat” — Sabahattin Ali’s Extensive Epitaph
It’s worth pointing out that Sabahattin Ali has deliberately reversed traditional gender roles in Madonna in a Fur Coat.