Reviews and essays by Robert Fay.

  • 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…

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  • 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…

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  • Los Angeles Review of Books Debuts New Site

    The Los Angeles Review of Books has finally debuted their new website. It is an impressive collection of essays, reviews and interviews. Well worth visiting several times a week.

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  • Leo Tolstoy, Fiction and Truth

    The line between truth and fiction is becoming more tenuous with the rise of “creative nonfiction” and the continued popularity of the memoir. The debate over where and how to draw the line intensified recently with the publication of the book The Lifespan of a Fact by the creative nonfiction evangelist John D’Agata with Jim…

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  • Like Me on Facebook

    Like me on Facebook–or else. www.facebook.com/WriterRobertFay

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  • Send Up of Literary Hipsters

    Here is a funny promo clip for the IFC series Portlandia titled “Did You Read?” that pokes fun at literary hipsters trying to outdo each with references to articles in Mcsweeney’s, The New Yorker, Mother Jones, etc.

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