In 1965, Gordon Lloyd Harper interviewed Saul Bellow for the Paris Review (9.36, 1966, 48-73). During the interview the following exchange took place: INTERVIEWER It’s been said that contemporary fiction sees man as a victim. You gave this title to one of your early novels [The Victim], yet there seems to be very strong oppositionContinue reading “The ‘Victims’ of ‘Realistic Literature’”
Category Archives: Writing
Kundera on the Novel’s Powers of ‘Incorporation’
In ‘Notes inspired by The Sleepwalkers‘ (by Hermann Broch), Milan Kundera writes: Broch…pursues ‘what the novel alone can discover.’ But he knows that the conventional form (grounded exclusively in a character’s adventure, and content with a mere narration of that adventure) limits the novel, reduces its cognitive capacities. He also knows that the novel has anContinue reading “Kundera on the Novel’s Powers of ‘Incorporation’”
On Being a ‘Professional Philosopher’, Contd.
In my previous post on being a professional philosopher, I had emphasized the scholarly world: publishing, writing, theoretical orientation etc. Today, I want to take note of another very important duty of the modern professional philosopher: teaching. Most philosophers in the modern university teach a mixture of classes: the introductory ‘service’ courses, which in manyContinue reading “On Being a ‘Professional Philosopher’, Contd.”
Paul Valéry on the Indispensability of Avatars
Paul Valéry is quoted in Stephen Dunn‘s Walking Light (New York, Norton 1993) as saying: I believe in all sincerity that if each man were not able to live a number of lives besides his own, he would not be able to live his own life. Valéry’s stress on the sincerity of this claim for theContinue reading “Paul Valéry on the Indispensability of Avatars”
Reflections on Translations – V: The Special Challenges of Poetry
I have previously confessed, on this blog, to being mystified by the magical processes of translation, especially when I realize important components of my literary and philosophical education consisted of reading translated works. This mystification is especially pronounced when I confront translations of poetry, where the translator’s task appears ever more difficult. When I readContinue reading “Reflections on Translations – V: The Special Challenges of Poetry”
Reading ‘Roots’ in Sickbay
My reading of Alex Haley‘s Roots was feverish. Literally and figuratively, I suppose, for not only did I finish it in a little over two days, but I did so while running a body temperature above 98.4 F. The circumstances of my reading–the location, my physical condition–played no insignificant part in my reaction to theContinue reading “Reading ‘Roots’ in Sickbay”
Christopher Buckley and Dipsomania: Apparently Hard To Let It Go
The writers of great literature often supply us mere mortals with memorable lines, especially if they serve as the openers for their works. Thus, for instance, Tolstoy‘s Taxonomy of the Family, which kicks off Anna Karenina: All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. This serves as raw material for endless variationsContinue reading “Christopher Buckley and Dipsomania: Apparently Hard To Let It Go”
Walter Kaiser on Online Instability vs. Printed Stability
In reviewing the fifteen-volume cataloging of the massive Robert Lehman Collection (‘An Astonishing Record of a Vast Collection‘, New York Review of Books, 7 March 2013), Walter Kaiser writes: Like the collection itself, its impressive catalog may well be the last of its kind–and there aren’t, as I’ve said, very many of its kind to beginContinue reading “Walter Kaiser on Online Instability vs. Printed Stability”
On Being a ‘Professional Philosopher’
A recent post in The Philosopher’s Magazine blog set me thinking about some of the strictures on being a professional or academic philosopher, which today amount to pretty much the same thing. (I realize this might leave out bioethicists, some of whom do not have the typical duties or work profiles of philosophers that are facultyContinue reading “On Being a ‘Professional Philosopher’”
Dostoyevsky’s Gambler on the French and the Russians
Dostoyevsky‘s The Gambler, contains, like some of his other works, sweeping portraits of character types; in this quasi-autobiographical work, among others, those of a particular nationality. First, then, the gambler, Alexey Ivanovitch, on the French: De Grieux was like all Frenchmen; that is, gay and polite when necessary and profitable to be so, and insufferably tediousContinue reading “Dostoyevsky’s Gambler on the French and the Russians”
Samir Chopra 