Tag Archives: Literature

BOOKS / Gregg Barrios : Zadie Smith’s ‘NW’ Speaks in the Polygot of the Streets

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Thorne Dreyer

Zadie Smith’s latest novel, NW,speaks in the polygot of the streets Smith never identifies the color of her characters — well, not unless they are white. By Gregg Barrios / Critical Mass / February 27, 2013 “Tread carefully over the … Continue reading →

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VERSE / Don Paul : Word Passed Down through Forbidden Radio

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Thorne Dreyer

Don Paul and Chuck Kinder at Stanford, January 2002. Photo by April Smith.Word Passed Downthrough Forbidden Radio for Chuck Kinder and John Sinclair on their birthdays, October 2012 The voices beside your pillow, friends past midnight,Wailing from the River, whistling … Continue reading →

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Jonah Raskin : ‘Uncle Tom’ Vs. Simon Legree, 2012

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Thorne Dreyer

Uncle Tom and Simon Legree. Image from Uncle Tom’s Cabin Reconsidered.Election 2012:‘Uncle Tom’ Obama Vs. ‘Simon Legree’ Romney Ironically, on the eve of the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, modern-day Americans are once again in need of emancipation and without … Continue reading →

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Jonah Raskin : Jack Kerouac’s ‘Mishmash’ Life

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Thorne Dreyer

Jack Kerouac. Photo by Tom Polumbo, circa 1956. Image from Wikimedia Commons.Jack Kerouac’s ‘mishmash’ lifeand his biographers None of Kerouac’s biographers are as concise as he was, none of them as poetical as he, and none of them as unapologetic … Continue reading →

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Thomas McKelvey Cleaver : Remembering Ray Bradbury

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Thorne Dreyer

Ray Bradbury in 1982. Photo by Lennox McLendon / AP / Washington Post.Ray Bradbury remembered:The librarian told my dadhe was asking for trouble “Ray Bradbury, a boundlessly imaginative novelist who wrote some of the most popular science-fiction books of all … Continue reading →

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Marc Estrin : Ian McEwan Speaks Half-Truths to Power

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Thorne Dreyer

Image from webshots.Ian McEwan:Speaking half-truths to power By Marc Estrin / The Rag Blog / February 23, 2011 The action In the midst of cries for freedom in the Middle East and Africa, Ian McEwan claimed the Jerusalem Prize for … Continue reading →

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Marc Estrin : Music Hath Charms…

Posted on December 13, 2010 by Thorne Dreyer

Music hath charms tosoothe the stinking breath By Marc Estrin / The Rag Blog / December 13, 2010 A recent revelation: rehearsing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, I was in the cello section mentally drooling over the carpet of harmonies we … Continue reading →

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Bill Fletcher, Jr. : Rediscovering ‘The Souls of White Folk’

Posted on November 22, 2010 by Thorne Dreyer

Mural in Great Barrington, Mass., honoring African American author W.E.B. Dubois. Image from Progressive America Rising.90 years later in the era of the Tea Party:Rediscovering ‘The Souls of White Folk’ By Bill Fletcher, Jr. / November 22, 2010 “But what … Continue reading →

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BOOKS / Jonah Raskin : ‘Mockingbird’ is Muddleheaded and Superficial

Posted on July 14, 2010 by Thorne Dreyer

First edition image from Manhattan Rare Books.To Kill a Mockingbird turns 50:Harper Lee’s muddleheadedNovel for white liberals By Jonah Raskin / The Rag Blog / July 13, 2010 This summer, literate Americans are feting the 50th anniversary of the publication … Continue reading →

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Leonardo Boff : In Praise of the ‘Siesta’

Posted on July 11, 2010 by Thorne Dreyer

Did monks introduce the siesta to the West? Photo by DJW / Minnesota Renaissance Festival.In praise of the siesta “If you want to kill a friar, take away his siesta and make him eat late.” — old Spanish saying By … Continue reading →

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LITERATURE / ‘Punto Final’ : ‘Adios’ to Monsivais and Saramago

Posted on July 3, 2010 by Thorne Dreyer

Carlos Monsivais (top), and Jose Saramago. Photos from el idiota de la familia, top, and La Nousfera.Left writers as endangered species:Adios to Carlos Monsivais and Jose Saramago By John Ross / The Rag Blog / July 3, 2010 MEXICO CITY … Continue reading →

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Vision of a Better World : Let the Poets Speak

Posted on June 28, 2010 by Thorne Dreyer

Meridel Le Sueur. Photo from Working Women.Class, race, empire, and resistance:The vision of the poetBy Harry Targ / The Rag Blog / June 28, 2010 Oil Spills as the Gulf of Mexico is Destroyed Judge with BP Stock Rules Against … Continue reading →

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