Monthly Archives: April 2014

Classifying artists is a thing now…and so is linking T.S. Eliot to John Lennon and Bob Dylan and suggesting there’s a controversy concerning their work being considered plagiarism… A recent piece by University of Chicago economist David Galenson, obviously meant … Continue reading →

“…But thilke text heeld he nat worth an oyster….” – Geoffrey Chaucer Anyone who reads Eleanor Clark’s classic The Oysters of Locmariaquer will come away from the book convinced of two things: 1) cultivating oysters is a complex and difficult task … Continue reading →

Garcia Marquez’s use of magical realism as a literary style gave him  freedom in a repressive culture… Any appreciation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who died last week at age 87, will likely drift into a discussion of the literary style … Continue reading →

Reading Barthelme’s Snow White reminds us that PoMo is about uncertainty as much as it is about anything… Donald Barthelme is a name closely associated with two of postmodern literary fiction’s most important structural/stylistic innovations: flash fiction and collage. While his reputation was built on his short … Continue reading →

Once upon a time readers actually wanted to learn from books… After a spate of book reviews for new found writer friends, this essay takes a look at a book from the 2014 reading list.  Sharp Eyes: A Rambler’s Calendar … Continue reading →

C.D. Mitchell understands the “Dirty South” better than many who trumpet their knowledge of it… In my recent essay on Richard Ford as an influence on my own writing I wrote about  dirty realism, a style associated with a group of … Continue reading →

“We have to keep civilization alive somehow.” – Richard Ford, “Communist” Aspiring writers choose role models for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes, as with those who’d emulate Byron or Baudelaire, it’s the attraction of the daring or Bohemian (or both) lifestyle … Continue reading →

A thriller with a serious message that is also a model of what YA fiction can be… Mitch Doxsee’s thriller Dismal Key walks an interesting line.It certainly can meet the criteria for Young Adult (YA) literature; its protagonist, McCluskey Harvey, … Continue reading →