Category: Literary

  • Interview with New Henry James Biographer

    Henry James is the novelist whose writing straddles two centuries as well as two continents. He was an American by birth, English by residence and a European in his sensibilities.  It’s generally agreed that the definitive James biography is Leon Edel’s five-volume work (I myself have the one-volume abridged version, fearing I might miss out on an entire…

  • The Faith of David Foster Wallace

    There have recently been a spat of blog posts and articles about the late novelist David Foster Wallace’s faith and whether the upcoming D.T. Max bio of Wallace will shed any light on this important subject. The latest round of interest in Wallace’s Christian faith (we don’t know exactly what denomination he identified with) was set off…

  • Writers & Rock ‘n Roll on ‘Little Brother’

    I had the privilege of being the first writer published on the new Little Brother Magazine website this week. I wrote an article on literary writers trying to be rock stars. The article gave me a great excuse to write about my adolescent musical heroes “The Smiths.” Little Brother Magazine is a new literary magazine (print-based)…

  • Video of Marcel Proust’s Paris

    This is an absolutely wonderful 28-minute long video titled “Proust’s Paris” which provides both expert background on the historical events unfolding in Paris during Marcel Proust’s lifetime as well as the details of his and his family’s lives. You’ll also receive a tour of the Paris neighborhoods, homes and monuments that were an important part of his life and…

  • Learn French with Marcel Proust

    Like most people I have yet to tackle all seven volumes of Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, but I have managed to read the first two books and Swann’s Way is a particular favorite of mine. If you are a Proustian and somehow who wants to brush up on his French, there are great…

  • Marveling at Naguib Mahfouz Again

    This past weekend I happened to dip into a book of stories by Egyptian Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz and read his story/novella “The Beggar.” It was a reminder of why I’d been so astounded years ago when I’d read the first two books of his Cairo Trilogy. Here was a writer, I realized, who can…