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Chevengur by Andrei Platonov: “Down with earthly toiling for the poor / The soil will nourish us for free!”

Chevengur by Andrei Platonov (Ann Arbor: Ardis Publishers, 1978), translated by Anthony Olcott When we last left Alexander “Sasha” Dvanova, he was wandering the countryside at the request of the provincial executive committee president looking for spontaneous outbreaks of socialism in the countryside. Sasha is shot by anarchists but rescued by Stepan Efimovich Kopenkin, commander […]

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Ten Tales by Leopoldo Alas: Doña Berta

Ten Tales by Leopoldo Alas (Clarín) Translated from the Spanish by Robert M. Fedorchek Introduction by John W. Kronik Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 2000 ISBN 0-8387-5436-8In this post I’m going to focus on the story “Doña Berta,” one of the richest and most perplexing short stories/novellas I’ve read. I commented on the other nine stories […]

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Ten Tales by Leopoldo Alas

Ten Tales by Leopoldo Alas (Clarín) Translated from the Spanish by Robert M. Fedorchek Introduction by John W. Kronik Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 2000 ISBN 0-8387-5436-8 Reading and posting had suffered of late, so I’ll try and get caught up with a couple of posts on this collection of short stories by Leopoldo Alas. Ten […]

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(Short) Weekend veiwing

Check out these crazy kids performing in Athens on the Hill of Muses in the summer of 1989, covering Van Morrison’s “Foreign Windows” and “One Irish Rover.” I hope they have accomplished something since then…it looks like they’re up to no good here. For more on the collaboration, click here.

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Off the Beaten Track in the Classics by Carl Kaeppel: Some Early Greeks on India

Off the Beaten Track in the Classics by Carl Kaeppel (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1936) To what extent the civilizations whose remains have been discovered in North-West India influenced and were influenced by the civilizations of Mesopotamia and, thereby, influenced those of the Western World, we cannot as yet determine. Such influence there certainly was, […]

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Parade’s End on HBO

I’ve commented on the miniseries several times already, but I did want to mention that it will premier on HBO on February 26. Despite some issues with the series, I was impressed with how well they adapted a difficult book to the screen. Definitely recommended. Here are some random thoughts I had while watching it. […]