Songs That Make Books Better A few months ago I wrote about some pretty general musical moments in fiction, basically because I think there’s a kind of cool connection between hearing a tune in my head while also reading someone else’s interpretation of said tune. I’d go so far as […]
Five Reasons Why Old Sci-Fi Paperbacks Are Awesome I was kind of at a loss for something to write this week — until I noticed a stack of paperbacks sitting in the corner of my perpetually messy room. And while I am in no way a true sci-fi aficionado, […]
Artscience Sounds Nice, But It’s Totally Lame It’s funny how easy it’s become — not that I assume it was ever too difficult — to separate the word “art” from the traditions, meanings and general contexts within which it’s operated in modern society, not to mention human history as a […]
Another Reason Why American Insecurity is a Renewable Resource I’m going to take this in a bit of a different direction today — one that, on its surface, isn’t lit-related — so bear with me. While I was scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed last week, I happened to stumble upon […]
You’ve heard it said that white people are fucking crazy. Having spent 22 years as a member of this decidedly unselective group, I can attest to that. And here’s one thing I’ve learned over the course of my short life: White people tend to get even crazier when they begin […]
Lady Day and the Prez This week I dug Billie Holiday’s 1956 memoir, Lady Sings the Blues. For some reason I generally don’t go for stuff like this, but — as with Charles Mingus’ autobiography — I had to pick up the book because I figured that someone who spoke […]
On the Recent Immortalization of T.C. Boyle I’m halfway through T.C. Boyle’s 2003 novel Drop City right now — and while it might not be a book that many people particularly remember, it’s reminding me of why he remains one of my absolute favorites. Which is pretty good timing, because […]
Talk to the Media, Speak to the Language You must talk to the media, not to the programmer. To talk to the programmer is like complaining to a hot dog vendor at a ballpark about how badly your favorite team is playing.” -Marshall McLuhan Language is inescapable. […]
An Open Letter to the English Majors Tomorrow I’m going to graduate from college. Finally. And rather than describing all of the ups and downs in detail, I’ll just say that it was an interesting experience, and I’m happy to have had it. I’m going to leave here with […]
I’m in the middle of Thomas Pynchon’s first novel, V, right now — and it’s just as fresh as it was 51 years ago. But I’m not going to talk about that. This week I read a pretty informative piece published in The Economist on April 21, which details […]
On this day, December 3, in 1857, Joseph Conrad was born in Berdichev, Imperial Russia (modern
Ukraine, then a part of Poland). While he settled in England and wrote in English, he always considered himself a Pole. Heart of Darkness, one of the most famous of his 20 novels (which explores colonialism and the attitudes regarding what constitutes a barbarian versus civilized society) is considered one of the best English novels of the 20th century, as is his novel Lord Jim, which chronicles a crew’s abandonment of its disabled ship. Conrad died in England in 1924 at age 66.