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Arts Appreciation: The Centenary of Australian Giant Patrick White

May 27, 2012
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Of the major 20th-century writers in English, Patrick White stands with the best, partly because he refused to repeat himself, and partly because he refuses to tell you everything, so that when you read him there is a sense of discovery.

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Author Interview: Jay Atkinson’s Memoirs of a Rugby-Playing Man — Remembrance of Punches Past

May 26, 2012
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If Wordsworth was right in saying that poetry is emotion recollected in tranquility, than a rugby memoir is a punch in the face reconsidered from a hospital bed.

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Fuse Commentary: Borne Back Ceaselessly into the Kitsch? A Glimpse of Baz Luhrmann’s Gatsby

May 26, 2012
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Judging by the trailer for The Great Gatsby, it looks as if director Baz Luhrmann’s habitual excess will overwhelm the lyrical beauty and subtle power of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s prose.

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Poetry Review: Ghassan Zaqtan’s Haunting Poetics of Suspension

May 25, 2012
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The poetry of Palestinian author Ghassan Zaqtan dwells in the space between life and death, memory and erasure, respite and continuous travel.

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Theater Review: Another Visit to “Ten Blocks on the Camino Real”

May 24, 2012
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Tennessee Williams’ stature amongst American playwrights may be more secure then it was when he died in 1983, but companies like Beau Jest, when they stage inspired productions of previously neglected works, are expanding our appreciation of what kind of a dramatist he was.

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Visual Arts Feature: Rembrandt, Rubens, the Beau Sancy, and the Jew

May 22, 2012
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The history of the Beau Sancy took me back to the years around 1640, when it passed into and out of the orbit of the greatest Netherlandish artists of the day, the Dutchman Rembrandt and the Brabander Rubens.

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Concert Review: Boston Modern Orchestra Project/Gil Rose at Jordan Hall

May 21, 2012
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Ultimately, there’s a “look at my technique” quality to composer Lewis Spratlan’s writing in this piece that doesn’t match the musical content and that seems to be striving to be all things to all listeners.

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Theater Review: “Xanadu” — Let the Campy Times Roll

May 21, 2012
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The SpeakEasy Stage Company’s Xanadu is a joyful, fun piece of light summer entertainment, beautifully executed by the cast and crew, that celebrates sublime schlock in surprisingly hilarious and creative ways.

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Fuse Feature: Writer Carlos Fuentes — A Personal Remembrance

May 20, 2012
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As sorry as I was to lose Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes last week, I was nonetheless deeply pleased that he reached the age of 83. I almost killed him when he was 37.

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Book Review: The “Three Lives” of Stefan Zweig

May 19, 2012
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Stefan Zweig’s was a dramatic, action-packed, intense epic of a life, but Oliver Matuschek’s biography, Three Lives, simply plods along.

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