Tim Parks wonders why biographies of writers flirt with hagiograpy, why they are so blind to their subjects’ faults: With only the rarest of exceptions…each author is presented as simply the most gifted and well-meaning of writers, while their behavior, however problematic and possibly outrageous…is invariably described in a flattering light…special pleading is everywhere evident,Continue reading “Hagiography as Biography: Turning Writers into Saints”
Monthly Archives: February 2014
Random Searches on the New York Subway: A User’s Story
Today’s post will simply make note of an interesting (and alarming) email I’ve received from a reader. Please do share this widely. Some time ago I was researching the random bag check policy for the NYC subway system and stumbled across your blog posting [on random searches on the New York subway]. Until today IContinue reading “Random Searches on the New York Subway: A User’s Story”
Can An Adult Read a Book Like a Child?
In ‘The Lost Childhood’ (from The Lost Childhood and Other Essays, Viking Press, New York, 1951), Graham Greene writes: Perhaps it is only in childhood that books have any deep influence on our lives. In later life we admire, we are entertained, we may modify some views we already hold, but we are more likely toContinue reading “Can An Adult Read a Book Like a Child?”
Facebook and Writers’ Status Messages
My last post on Facebook led me to think a bit more its–current and possible–integration into our lives, especially those conducted online. As ‘net users are by now aware, almost any site you visit on the ‘net features a Facebook button so that you can indicate whether you ‘Like’ the page and thus, share itContinue reading “Facebook and Writers’ Status Messages”
The Curious Irony of Procrastination
Do writers procrastinate more than other people? I wouldn’t know for sure just because I have no idea how much procrastination counts as the norm and what depths practitioners of other trades sink to. But I procrastinate a great deal. (Thank you for indulging me in my description of myself as a ‘writer’; if youContinue reading “The Curious Irony of Procrastination”
Facebook and Impoverished Sharing
A few days ago, on this blog, I excerpted a couple of passages from Richard Klein‘s Cigarettes are Sublime, and wrote of a little episode in my life centered on smoking cigarettes as a way to kill time. Once I had written the post and published it here, as is usual, I posted links toContinue reading “Facebook and Impoverished Sharing”
Walking in Sydney: From Beach to Campus (And Back)
I like writing about walking–to work, and around New York City, for instance–on these pages. I like walking through new cities, for it remains the best way–at the right remove–to experience their offerings. One walk that combined commuting with exploration was one I undertook, sporadically, for a few months, in Sydney, Australia, while living inContinue reading “Walking in Sydney: From Beach to Campus (And Back)”
Cigarettes and the Killing (of Time)
In Cigarettes are Sublime (Duke University Press, 1993) Richard Klein writes: The cigarette kills time, chronometric time, the stark mechanical measure of mortality….The series of moments the clock records is not only a succession of “nows” but a memento mori diminishing the number of seconds that remain before death. But the cigarette interrupts and reverses theContinue reading “Cigarettes and the Killing (of Time)”
Notes From Sick Bay
I am a sick man. But I’m not particularly spiteful. However, my sickness does make me an unattractive man. I do not think my liver is diseased. However, I know nothing at all about my disease, and do not know for certain what ails me. I don’t consult a doctor for it, and never have,Continue reading “Notes From Sick Bay”
Blood Meridian and The Nature of the Universe
Yesterday’s post, in which I excerpted a couple of passages from Samuel Delany channeling Foucault, is followed today by two excerpts from Cormac McCarthy‘s Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness in the West (Vintage International, New York, 1992). I’m going to call these ‘theological’ in nature. (The entire novel, I realize, may be termed a kindContinue reading “Blood Meridian and The Nature of the Universe”
Samir Chopra 