If there are non-English speaking writers who have made as big an impact on the literary world as the late departed Chilean, Roberto Bolaño, I am not aware of them. The onslaught of posthumous publications, which include The Savage Detectives and 2666 has fed a large appetite of the
The possibility of Simon Mawer’sMan Booker Prize shortlisted novel The Glass Room (Other Press) running off the tracks into banality is immanent in its elements—thankfully, it stays the course, as a superlative story ranging over 60 years (1929-1990) of the 20th century. Set in post-WWI central
The notion of style is a matter confounding even the most nimble thinkers—so it is, at the least, convenient to have some guideposts in this tricky terrain. And for the unfortunate and benighted individuals whose calling is writing or whose intention is a clarity of communication in English, one
The unlikely course of historian/activist (or vice versa), Howard Zinn’s subversive (I take that to be a good thing) A People’s History of the United States—first published in 1981 to selling over a million copies and spawning a historiographic cottage industry (there now being a number
There is already a Tabernacle-size choir singing the praises of Attica Locke’s first novel. Among others, the inestimable James Ellroy and my old pal (I mean that in a Facebook kind of way) George Pelecanos extol Black Water Rising (Harper Collins) as a stylish, involving literary thriller with
This may be a commonplace occurrence—what to do when you read a derogatory review by a writer you admire, of a work by another author you regard highly? It is not common for me, though, as I rarely read reviews. In this case my faith in the author in
Amy Goodman, host of the useful and progressive radio program Democracy Now!, has recently published a collection of articles, Breaking the Sound Barrier (Haymarket Books, edited by Denis Moynihan) with an introduction by favorite whipping boy of right-wing loonies, Bill Moyers. Ms. Goodman is a well-known political skeptic
Speaking of Andy Warhol, I suppose it would be missing the point to complain that the person given credit for the prescient observation that everyone would be allotted fifteen minutes of fame had exceeded his own share. Artist, political activist, filmmaker, writer, magazine publisher, philosopher Andy Warhol, who died in
Reportedly Andy Warhol started Interview Magazine when he was refused press credentials to the (inaugural) 1969 New York Film Festival. Though it began its life as a newsprint quarterfold, by the 1980s it became a perfect bound, oversized publication printed on offset stock. And taking advantage of these enhanced production
There must be some explanation for the fact that it wasn't until 2008 that someone had the clarity of thought to anthologize their well-considered selection of the best writing on the internet. Possibly it is that whatever cabal decides these things was finally overwhelmed by the torrent
