A stunning indictment of homophobia, racism, and toxic masculinity, particularly among African Americans, Punch Me Up to the Gods holds a mirror up to America, a mirror before which many of us will not want to linger.
Book Review: Samuel R. Delany’s “Dhalgren” — A Critical War of Words
The jury’s in. The critics who agreed with an early assessment that 1975’s Dhalgren is a “literary landmark” get to touch champagne flutes and congratulate one another.
Book Review: “Blue Swan Black Swan” — Madness Made Beautiful
Whether we call this slim volume poetic prose or prose poetry, a novella or a collection of verse, seems beside the point. It is haunting, hypnotic, and moving.
Book Review: “Disquiet” — A Compassionate Litany of Tragedies in the Middle East
This is a timely novel, a lament for the multicultural harmony that has disappeared from Mesopotamia as well as a dire warning: fundamentalism is on the rise, not just in the Middle East but in the West as well.
Poetry Review: “Any Song Will Do” — A Very Worthwhile Discovery
Donald Levering’s poems exhort us to be less left-brained, to side more often with intuition, creativity, flights of fancy.
Book Review: “And Go Like This” — Short Stories of Distinction
The stories in And Go Like This are wise, compassionate, and deftly crafted.
Book Review: Robert Glick’s “Two Californias” — An Affinity for Fragmentation
Two Californias is full of humor, good writing, and thoughtful angles on human existence—with zombies thrown in for good measure.
Literary Remembrance: Homage to Guy Davenport — Brilliance Worth Savoring
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.