A Classic Chronicle of Korean America: On Kim Ronyoung’s Clay Walls “David S. Cho Explores Ideas of Homeland, Belonging and Identity in a Pioneering Contribution to Asian American Literature” Novels that introduce us to people from cultures other than our own contribute to human understanding in a global context. Clay Walls is a truly pioneering […]
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Related Post: Eleanor Bennett has died and left behind with her lawyer, Charles Mitch, a series of recordings for her son, Byron, and his younger sister, Benny (short for Benedetta) to listen to. Eleanor insisted that they listen to the recordings together, and the accompanying note is directed to B and B, a term she
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Hanif Kureishi’s Relentlessly Revealing Memoir “How a tragic accident helped the author find his rebellious voice again” In December 2022, at age 68, writer Hanif Kureishi fell onto a hard floor in Rome and woke up a tetraplegic. Hillary Kelly visited Kureishi in London in December 2024 and here describes that visit and comments on
Introduction: Life Review American psychiatrist Dr. Robert N. Butler made the study of the lives of older adults and of the aging process his life’s work at a time when the last years of life were largely neglected in both medicine and public policy. Butler coined the term ageism, by analogy with sexism and racism,
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What We Learn About Our World by Imagining Its End Arthur Krystal ponders the stories humans have devised about when and how the world will end: “Having to come to terms with this eventuality [the end of the world] is the price we pay for being able to imagine it in the first place.” Tash
How Much Does Our Language Shape Our Thinking? Language is perhaps the ultimate social construct. Manvir Singh, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of California, Davis, examines “unease about the erosion of various cultural identities” as English continues to spread around the globe. At issue is the question of whether languages “influence how
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Holy cow! This is my second book by R.F. Kuang (the first was Babel), and I’m blown away not only by her ability to write but also by her ability to think–and deeply–about the issues she’s asking readers to confront. In this satirical gem she takes on the publishing industry and all the various officious
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Jimmy Carter: Poet, Novelist, Memoirist, Philosopher “He wasn’t just prolific, publishing 32 books. His output also showed an unusual range that included memoirs and forays into historical fiction and even poetry.” The New York Times eulogizes President Jimmy Carter with emphasis on his writing: “Publishing 32 books over the course of his life, he wasn’t
Here in the U.S. today is national science fiction day, observed annually in honor of science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, who was born on January 2, 1920. I didn’t read science fiction as a teenager or young adult. To the best of my recollection, I discovered science fiction through television rather than books. My introduction
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