From David Shields’s How Literature Saved My Life: When I was a little kid, I was a very good baseball…
The Dividing Line, the Defining Meals: Kafka Sermon Final
For a few days here on Big Other, now while we’re still in soul-shot of Passover and Easter, I’ve been…
The Sister, the Lover, & Skepticism: Kafka Sermon #2
A couple of days ago, here on Big Other, I posted my first round of thoughts on one of Kafka’s briefest…
The “Fabulous” vs. the “Struggle:” Kafka Sermon #1
ON PARABLES Many complain that the words of the wise are always merely parables and of no use in daily…
Interview with Michelle Butler Hallett
Outside of Canada, most people, when asked to name a Canadian writer, might think of Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, Michael…
I Can Read for Miles and Miles: Field Report from the Moby-Dick Marathon
Last weekend I went to the Moby-Dick marathon, an annual event in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where much of the landlubbing…
Stanley Elkin, Ghosting Through Boston, Beautifully
A reminiscence of Stanley Elkin & a one-on-one workshop session I was lucky enough to have.
Dante 2020-6: Tower, Tree, Candle, & the Triumph of the Fragile.
The Divine Comedy has its end, after 3X9 spirals rendered in 100 evenly distributed cantos, and it’s about time my…
Dante 2020-5: the Intimate Erases the Monolith.
BIG OTHER, gracious blog, has been letting me post my ideas about Dante’s Divine Comedy. The basic question: Why should…
Dante 2020-4: Big Lights & Small Grapple in Paradise.
Three times, recently, I’ve posted my ideas about Dante’s Divine Comedy. I’m exploring why a long poem coming up on…