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August 19 2025 The Wisdom of Our Darkness, the Flaws of Our Humanity, and the Brokenness of the World: In Celebration of H. P. Lovecraft

     The Lovecraft Mythos remains an iconic study in fear as the organizing principle of an invented mythology of Absurdist Nihilism; it also reveals how we use fear to shape ourselves and others. What are its methods and purposes in Lovecraft, and in horror literature in general? Why do we need fear as an instrument … Continue reading August 19 2025 The Wisdom of Our Darkness, the Flaws of Our Humanity, and the Brokenness of the World: In Celebration of H. P. Lovecraft

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June 5 2025 In Memoriam, Edmund White

     The beautiful, brilliant, compassionate, transgressive, and fabulously wonderful and strange alternate universe of Edmund White seduces and outrages, provokes and problematizes the imaginal spaces of our civilization which like the discontiguous and off kilter celebrity portraits of Andy Warhol explore our ambiguous boundaries and interrogate the ill fitting interdependence of our chiaroscuros of self … Continue reading June 5 2025 In Memoriam, Edmund White

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December 27 2024 Best Fiction & Poetry Books of 2024

       My choices for Best Novel of 2024 are Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner and  James by Percival Everett.       This year’s Nobel Prize goes to Han Kang; here is an excellent starting point for her work: Human Acts https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30091914-human-acts .  On the 2024 Nobel shortlist and also worth reading in their entirety are Haruki … Continue reading December 27 2024 Best Fiction & Poetry Books of 2024

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December 13 2024 Who Speaks For Us? World Literature As An Instrument of Global Family Membership and Transnational Identity Construction

     Herein I offer my idea of a useful past; world literature as contexts and sources for constructing a transnational identity as a global family member.      Yes, I once attempted to synthesize all knowledge and historical memory of our global human civilization under this banner as a resource for my high school students, including … Continue reading December 13 2024 Who Speaks For Us? World Literature As An Instrument of Global Family Membership and Transnational Identity Construction

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December 12 2024 Before They Come For Our Books, Our Children, Our Future, Our Memories, Histories, and Identities: Modern American Literature As An Instrument Of Constructing An American Identity

     It is illuminating regarding the purposes, motives, visions of the future and ideas of national identity of America’s two dyadic political parties, that while the Republicans are afraid the state is coming for their guns, we Democrats must now fear that a Second Trump Regime is coming for our books.       Before they come … Continue reading December 12 2024 Before They Come For Our Books, Our Children, Our Future, Our Memories, Histories, and Identities: Modern American Literature As An Instrument Of Constructing An American Identity

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Arthur Rimbaud, on his birthday October 20,  2024 revision

A visionary poetry achieved through systematic derangement of the senses; absinthe, opium, and sexuality, but also informed by a rigorous scholarship of classical Latin literature and inspired by Baudelaire; Arthur Rimbaud set out on a heroic quest to transcend himself, a magician on a shamanic journey to the Infinite and the transhuman, whose greatness lay … Continue reading Arthur Rimbaud, on his birthday October 20,  2024 revision

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Iran, a reading list

Iran, a reading list                                 Women’s Voices Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, Azar Nafisi Jasmine and Stars: Reading More Than Lolita in Tehran, Fatemeh Keshavarz City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death, and the Search for Truth in Tehran, Ramita Navai Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope, Shirin Ebadi Until We … Continue reading Iran, a reading list

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Iran, a reading list

Iran, a reading list                                 Women’s Voices Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, Azar Nafisi Jasmine and Stars: Reading More Than Lolita in Tehran, Fatemeh Keshavarz City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death, and the Search for Truth in Tehran, Ramita Navai Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope, Shirin Ebadi Until We … Continue reading Iran, a reading list

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Iran, a reading list

Iran, a reading list                                 Women’s Voices Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, Azar Nafisi Jasmine and Stars: Reading More Than Lolita in Tehran, Fatemeh Keshavarz City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death, and the Search for Truth in Tehran, Ramita Navai Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope, Shirin Ebadi Until We … Continue reading Iran, a reading list