Books

Author Interview: Suspense Stories With a Twist — Writer George Harrar

January 29, 2013
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George Harrar is not really a mystery or suspense writer, per se. His work is noir and tension-filled, but there is a philosophical and psychological sub-strata that’s more reminiscent of Kafka than Robert Parker.

Poetry Review: A Provocative Step Out of the Shadows — Poet Anna de Noailles

January 27, 2013
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Literary history credits Rainer Maria Rilke with establishing European poetry’s seminal concern with the duality between inner and outer worlds. Could it be that Comtesse Anna de Noailles was his precursor in this regard? Translator Norman Shapiro and Black Widow Press should be thanked for bringing her back into the discussion.

Visual Arts Review: Cartoonist Roz Chast Reveals Her “Theories of Everything”

January 26, 2013
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For those who missed this evening, pick up Roz Chast’s “Theories of Everything,” which is a wonderfully huge collection of her cartoons published in “The New Yorker.”

Book Review: César Aira’s Miraculous Conception

January 23, 2013
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In an age where technology has made the improbable perfectly plausible, squeezed out spontaneity, and raised skepticism about the nature of reality, how can we still believe in miracles? This is the crux of the novel, made delightfully vivid and comic by César Aira’s prose.

Poetry Review: Flowers for the Motherland — “A Bouquet of Czech Folktales”

January 15, 2013
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In 1853, the Czech scholar Karol Jaromír Erben published “A Bouquet of Folk Tales,” which became a source-book for artists and composers, and “one of the three foundational texts of Czech literature.”

Poetry Review: The Beautiful Precision of Poet David Ferry

January 14, 2013
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David Ferry’s voice is quiet but never shirks. It admits directly and indirectly that the world is a perplexing place.

Book Review: Jane Austen’s “Emma” — Aptly Annotated

January 14, 2013
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Editor Bharat Tandon guides us expertly through “Emma,” stopping along the way to augment the text by clarifying usages, concepts, and references that may stump the 21st-century reader.

Theater Review: Seeing the “Invisible Man”

January 13, 2013
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An adaptor has to make choices, and this theatrical version of “Invisible Man” focuses on the novel’s most straightforward narrative strand.

Theater Feature: Searching for “Family Happiness”

January 13, 2013
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In this production, director Piotr Fomenko “wanted to explore whether family happiness is even possible, the fight to keep it and the fear of losing it.”

Visual Arts/ Book Review: “Mute Poetry, Speaking Pictures” — A Treat for Word-and-Image Fans

January 10, 2013
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“Mute Poetry, Speaking Pictures” is indispensable reading for word-and-image freaks and a treat for fans of virtuoso scholarship.

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