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Shakespeare in Swahililand: Adventures with the Ever-Living Poet by Edward Wilson-Lee William Collins; London: 2016 One of the most striking things I found as I followed Shakespeare on his travels through East African history was the fact that the works were present at every stage of life in the region during the very period when […]
Catullus’ Bedspread: The Life of Rome’s Most Erotic Poet by Daisy DunnHarper, 2016Hardcover, 336 pages An attempt to get back in the swing of posting… Catullus’ Bedspread by Daisy Dunn, released to coincide with her translation titled The Poems of Catullus (also from Harper) looks at the life and work of the poet […]
Don Quixote’s Profession by Mark Van Doren New York: Columbia University Press, 1958. Print. Drawings by Joseph Low Mark Van Doren in Quiz Show, answering a question about the meaning of Don Quixote: “It means, if you want to be a knight, act like a knight.” My great friends do not know me. Hamlet in […]
A Literary History of Alabama: The Nineteenth Century by Benjamin Buford Williams Associated University Presses, Inc.: Cranbury, New Jersey, 1979 ISBN: 0-8386-2054-X This post is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Ben and Marilyn Williams. I consider myself fortunate to have been friends of theirs. This study is a biographical, bibliographical, generic, critical, and chronological […]
Primo Levi’s Universe: A Writer’s Journey by Sam Magavern Foreword by Jonathan Rosen, Afterword by Risa Sodi Palgrave Macmillan: New York City, 2009 ISBN 978-0-230-60647-0 [W]hen we read all of Levi’s writings together, we find that he has woven a great and terrifying testament, one of the most vital bodies of work in modern literature. […]
Thanks to Anthony @timesflow for tweeting about the planned reissue by Dalkey Archive of Gnomon: Essays on Contemporary Literature by Hugh Kenner. Unfortunately it’s not scheduled to be released until next summer, but it’s a chance to set aside some money for wonderful essays written in the 1950s about 20th century literature. From the bookflap […]
Joseph Roth: A Life in Letters Translated and Edited by Michael Hofmann W. W. Norton & Company, Hardcover, 512 pages ISBN-10: 0393060640 / ISBN-13: 978-0393060645 Albert Einstein to B. W. Huebsch (24 February 1935) Esteemed Mr. Hübsch, I am truly grateful to you for sending me this consoling book [Job] by a real mensch and […]
Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? by James Shapiro Simon & Schuster, 352 pages, $26.00 ISBN: 1416541624I enjoyed James Shapiro’s A Year in the Life of Shakespeare: 1599 and wanted to read his latest book on Shakespeare as soon as I could. I didn’t realize Wikipedia had a long article on the Shakespeare authorship question as […]
This is the first book covered in the online Shakespeare course I joined. Shapiro’s work goes into detail on Shakespeare’s achievements in 1599 (a remarkable output–Henry the Fifth, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, and the first draft of Hamlet ), his business dealings, and the national scene within which he worked. The approach of […]