World Books
By Bill Marx In a recent World Books podcast I talk to author and book critic Helen Epstein about two new memoirs that share intriguing similarities and differences. Both are written in English by émigrés living in North America, but very much planted in other cultural traditions.
Read MoreDoes it matter that posthumous literary darling Roberto Bolaño fibbed about his past? by Tommy Wallach My World Books review of “2666” A couple days ago, “The New York Times” published an article suggesting that Chilean novelist and posthumous literary darling Roberto Bolaño may have fictionalized aspects of his own biography. In question are two…
Read MoreNorman Manea wants a nuanced moral reckoning of the sins committed in the Stalinist past. by Bill Marx In a recent World Books podcast I talk to Romanian-born essayist and novelist Norman Manea about his article, “A Lasting Poison,” which was published last month in the “New Republic.” In his commentary, Manea explores the recent…
Read Moreby Bill Marx Brain Snuggles with Violin at The World’s Studio In my latest World Books podcast, which includes video coverage, I examine evolving international views of the relationship between neuroscience and the arts, with a special emphasis on the healing powers of music for those suffering from neurodegenerative diseases. The Longwood Symphony Orchestra recently…
Read MoreBy Bill Marx Novelist Ha Jin — “Only through history can history be conquered.” On my latest World Books podcast I talk to writer Ha Jin, who in 1985 left China to attend Brandeis University. Since then he has written five novels, including “Waiting” which won the National Book Award and “War Trash,” the recipient…
Read MoreBy Bill Marx First, I want to mention a couple of volumes that I unaccountably left off my World Books 2008 round-up of the best fiction and non-fiction candidates. No, it is not another salute to the current international fiction daring Roberto Bolaño, a fever fanned by the appearance of his huge tome “2666” in…
Read MoreBy Bill Marx On this week’s podcast I talk to Peter Filkins, an award-winning translator who walked into a Harvard Square bookstore, picked up an obscure novel written in German and, after reading a few pages, recognized that he had stumbled onto literary gold. Written in 1950, published in 1962, the book was one of…
Read More“White King and Red Queen: How the Cold War Was Fought on the Chess Board” By Daniel Johnson. Houghton Miffilin, 384 pages, $26 Reviewed by Harvey Blume The book’s thesis about the Cold War is that chess was nothing less than sublimated war between the US and the USSR. For something that is neither war,…
Read MoreNorman R. Shapiro took on the Herculean task of translating the 17th century French poet’s work—some 240 poems in all—in increments of fifties. He has performed the difficult task with wit and panache.
Read MoreBy Bill Marx Translator and poet David Hinton in the midst of nature. On this week’s World Books podcast I talk to David Hinton, an award-winning translator of classical Chinese poetry and philosophy. His latest book, which Hinton translated and edited, is “Classical Chinese Poetry: An Anthology” from Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. The wonderfully rich…
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