World Books

Book Review: “The Hanging Garden” — A Posthumous Gift from a Literary Giant

August 4, 2013
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This novella is a gift to all of us who love Patrick White’s strangely alive prose and a welcome addition to his oeuvre. And for those who don’t know his work, it is a terrific way to be introduced to one of the 20th century’s finest writers.

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Book Review: “Reading Ḥayy Ibn-Yaqẓān” — Rewriting the History of Ideas

August 3, 2013
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“Reading Ḥayy Ibn-Yaqẓān” is a mesmerizing study that will enchant anyone interested in interdisciplinary, cross-cultural explorations of the history of science that transform the way we look at the past and the present.

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Book Review: “The Missing Year of Juan Salvatierra” — A River of Consciousness

July 24, 2013
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“The Missing Year of Juan Salvatierra” is a compelling celebration of art as a force of nature, a fragile yet indomitable demand for possibility despite the constraints of a torpid existence.

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Theater Feature: From the Mouths of Female Despots — An Interview With Playwright Theresia Walser

July 13, 2013
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Dramatist Theresia Walser is careful to point out that these women did not merely benefit from the abuses of authoritarian power, but perpetrated many of them as well.

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Book Review: From France with “L’Amour” — A Neglected Volume by Marguerite Duras

July 9, 2013
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For those of you who have never read Marguerite Duras, “L’Amour” is an invigorating place to start.

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Book/Theater Review: Vladimir Nabokov Does That Shakespeherian Rag

July 8, 2013
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Nabokov will become much more seriously playful about extinction and the nature of love in the increasingly complex fables to come. “The Tragedy of Mr. Morn” is his initial earnest fairy tale.

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Poetry Review: A Spanish Metaphysical Poet Searching for Songs of Truth

June 25, 2013
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Poet José Ángel Valente deeply considered what kind of lyricism remains legitimate; that is, truthful, not deceptive; a song that moves us to truth, not a Siren’s song.

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Book Review: “In Times of Fading Light” — A Rich Story of Divided Hearts

June 8, 2013
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Though its central events are in the past, conveyed by characters by means of often ambiguous shreds of memory and musing, “In Times of Fading Light” is a work of quiet power and beauty, dense with sorrow, telling detail, and suspense.

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Theater Review: A Political Refugee’s Tale — “Bashir Lazhar”

May 31, 2013
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Pittsfield’s Barrington Stage Company is now giving “Bashir Lazhar,” ably translated by playwright Morwyn Brebner, its American premiere and I admire the theater’s choice.

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Book Review: “The Woman of Porto Pim” — Riding on a Brilliant Train of Associations

May 28, 2013
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Antonio Tabucchi’s “travel book” transcends conventional literary forms: his stories occupy an attractive space between fiction and non-fiction, poetry, biography, short story and journalistic travel piece.

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