Literature and Poetry
CultureWatch Book Reviews: Local Stop in the Promised Land
Serena Nanda Reviews: The Local Stop of Gregg's title is the upper West side of New York City, which Gregg calls the Avenue, from the early 20th century through the 1950s. Gregg, who lived in the neighborhood, so authentically recreates its ambience and its residents that the novel reads like a compelling urban ethnography. Gregg’s evocative dialogue and descriptions wonderfully express how the Avenue impacts each resident in unpredictable ways, as we follow their lives and relationships throughout the book.
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CultureWatch Reviews: Gillibrand's Off the Sidelines and Warren's A Fighting Change Merge Into One Compelling Narrative
Jill Norgren writes: One pleasure of A Fighting Chance and Off the Sidelines lies in the telling of each woman's path to the United States Senate. Warren announced her plan to apply to law school only to be met with the critical response of her mother: "Stay at home, have more children, and do not become one of those crazy women libbers." Gillibrand relates how a male senator walked up to her after she had succeeded in losing weight gained in pregnancy and said "Don't lose too much weight now. I like my girls chubby." more »
Terror and Wonder: Exploring Gothic culture's roots in British literature
Highlights of the exhibition include a vampire slaying kit and 18th and 19th century Gothic fashions, as well as one of Alexander McQueen's catwalk creations. Also on display is a model of the Wallace and Gromit Were-Rabbit, showing how Gothic literature has inspired varied and colourful aspects of popular culture in exciting ways over centuries. more »
A Slightly Malicious Poetry Puzzle Perhaps Intended to Confuse and Mystify
Joan L. Cannon writes: Most people read poetry (if they read it at all) for the pleasure of it. I get very irritable when the author makes that impossible on purpose — very much like the 'modern' artists and composers who seem not to care a whit if their production is pure fraud. Of course, they get a way with it a lot because no one can figure out how to prove it's bogus. more »