Transformations of history into mythology, songs of survival and resistance, of rapture and the triumph of the spirit, ghosts and the presence of the past and its legacies in our lives now, as if the generations of a family were reflected forward into the future as primary shaping forces of identity; the works of … Continue reading Toni Morrison, on her birthday February 18
“I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.” Kazantzakis Freedom fighter, author, philosopher, adventurer and wandering scholar, Kazantzakis is a heroic figure like the subject of his masterwork Odyssey: A modern sequel, composed over 13 years (1925-1938), an immense epic poem written more beautifully than Homer’s but one of his least read … Continue reading Nikos Kazantzakis, on his birthday February 18
Thomas Bernhard is a misfit with intent, his work a melancholy of fools, both the puppet and the puppets he mocks, words like a pin with which to deflate the puffed up bourgeoisie who adored him for it, like sadly fallen character balloons at a parade. Of Thomas Bernhard I have three opinions, … Continue reading Thomas Bernhard, on his birthday February 9
His hilarious, odd, unclassifiable debut I Am A Cat, perhaps the most beloved work in Japanese literature, continues to delight and perplex. Filled with wordplay of the Joyce-Calvino bent, philosophical ruminations which reference Shakespeare and Dostoevsky, allusions to classical Chinese literature and a plot made of vaudevillian farcical routines akin to those of William … Continue reading Soseki Natsume, on his birthday February 9
An encyclopedic and phantasmagorical body of work, full of dark satire, science fiction tropes, chaos, magic, songs of anarchy and freedom, and a beautiful unbounded transgression, William S. Burroughs wove revolutionary allegories together with the glorious madness of Dionysian ecstatic vision. Combining in his person Existentialism and Surrealism, his work is driven by two … Continue reading William S. Burroughs, on his birthday February 5
Hers is the first revolution in which we must all fight; to seize ownership of ourselves and our autonomy, for each of us must reinvent how to be human. Maps of the unknown, the works of Gertrude Stein act also as laboratory notebooks and record the experiments of her two great projects: to unleash … Continue reading Gertrude Stein, on her birthday February 3
Loud, heap miseries upon us yet entwine our arts with laughters low!” ― James Joyce, Finnegans Wake Wonderful, hilarious, illuminating writing, still beyond the leading edge after decades. A visionary and masterful wordsmith, James Joyce’s stories are compelling, intriguing verbal puzzles. New ideas unfold every time you read them. His reinvention of language … Continue reading James Joyce, on his birthday February 2
“The writer’s job is the job of a clown, the clown who also talks about sorrow.” Kenzaburo Oe Rabelaisian grotesques of realism which tend to the transgressive and surreal revolutionary visions of de Sade and Akutagawa; antiheroes branded with public shame as if with the Scarlet Letter of Nathaniel Hawthorne and heir to the … Continue reading Kenzaburo Oe, on his birthday January 31
Herald of Existentialism, Anton Chekov helped realize the principles of the Enlightenment and create the modern world, innovating many of the techniques of literary Modernism and using them to carry forward the mission of Humanism and Marxism to set us free. His influence has been enormous; The Cherry Orchard alone has had such impact that … Continue reading Anton Chekov, on his birthday January 29
For his Russian translations and biography of Solzhenitsyn alone I would adore him; they remain a feat of great scholarship and a service to the world. He has a stellar debut, The Flute Player, a great novel, The White Hotel, and his poetry can stand on its own. The Flute Player is a fictionalized … Continue reading D.M. Thomas, on his birthday January 27
Dollhouse Park Conservatory & Imaginarium 