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Gao Xingjian, on his birthday January 4 2026 revision

Absurdist poet, playwright, theatrical director, novelist, painter, and critic who translated Samuel Beckett and Eugène Ionesco, Gao Xingjian charts the limits of language in works that investigate man’s place in the world and among others, blending dialogues, dreams, natural history, and philosophical meditations.      His art grounded in the fragile beauty of the classical Taoist … Continue reading Gao Xingjian, on his birthday January 4 2026 revision

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  Adonis (Ali Ahmad Said), on his birthday January 1  2026 revision

Greatest poet of the Arabic language and scholar of its literature, secular humanist and fearless voice of diversity and tolerance, Adonis championed freedom of conscience and individual autonomy against Islamization as political and religious tyranny. For who stands between each of us and the Infinite serves neither.       Syrian born as Ali Ahmad Said, he … Continue reading   Adonis (Ali Ahmad Said), on his birthday January 1  2026 revision

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Manuel Puig, on his birthday December 28  2025 revision

     Cinematic montages and the juxtaposition of images as narrative translations of pop art collages, the shift of meaning across boundaries and strategies of discord and surprise, nonsequitors, bizarre red herrings; the novels of Manuel Puig illuminate our shadow selves like a Magic Lantern.      His stories can be Surrealist dream voyages, subversions of Freudian … Continue reading Manuel Puig, on his birthday December 28  2025 revision

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Best Poetry of 2021

Call Us What We Carry, Amanda Gorman    African American Lit https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56805404-call-us-what-we-carry Postcolonial Love Poem (Pulitzer Prize Winner)  Natalie Diaz  Native American Lit Sho, Douglas Kearney   African American Lit  A Blood Condition, Kayo Chingonyi     British Lit Notes on the Sonnets, Luke Kennard  British Lit Beowulf: a new translation, Maria Dahvana Headley  British Lit Living Weapon: Poems, … Continue reading Best Poetry of 2021

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The Best Books of 2021

                                    Fiction               Best Novels  The Magician, Colm Tóibín     Irish Lit The Books of Jacob, Olga Tokarczuk     Polish Lit The Book of Form and Emptiness, Ruth Ozeki    Asian American Lit Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr  American Lit The Island of Missing Trees, Elif Shafak  Islamic Peoples Lit  Turkey Afterlives, Desertion, Gravel Heart, The Last Gift, … Continue reading The Best Books of 2021

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The Best Books of 2021

The Best Books of 2021, the ones we’ll still be reading in a thousand years, include:                                     Fiction               Best Novels  The Magician, Colm Tóibín     Irish Lit The Books of Jacob, Olga Tokarczuk     Polish Lit The Book of Form and Emptiness, Ruth Ozeki    Asian American Lit Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr  American Lit The Island … Continue reading The Best Books of 2021

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                 Jay’s Revised Modern Canon 2021 Edition World Literature Fairytales

                 The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales, Bruno Bettelheim      Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales, Marie-Louise von Franz      The Fairies in Tradition and Literature, The Anatomy Of Puck, Encyclopedia of Fairies: Hobgoblins Brownies Bogies & Other Supernatural Creatures, Kate Krackernuts, Hobberdy Dick, Katharine M. Briggs      A Midsummer … Continue reading                  Jay’s Revised Modern Canon 2021 Edition World Literature Fairytales