Tag Archives: Literature

BOOKS / We Are All Zimbabweans Now

We Are all Zimbabweans Now (a brief summary)By James Kilgore / The Rag Blog / September 1, 2009 [We Are All Zimbabweans Now: A Novel by James Kilgore, paperback, 272 pp, RH-Struik Publishing, August 24, 2009,$23.95.] We Are All Zimbabweans … Continue reading

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Jonah Raskin : Robbing Jack Kerouac With a Fountain Pen

Jack Kerouac. Photo by Tom Palumbo.Robbery:The ongoing legal battle for Control of Jack Kerouac’s literary estate By Jonah Raskin / The Rag Blog / August 5, 2009 Woody Guthrie was right. Some will rob you with a six-gun, some with … Continue reading

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COMICS / Paul Buhle : Beyond the Superhero

Pages from Die Stadt (1925), a “novel in woodcuts” by anarchist artist Frans Masereel (1889–1972). Masereel’s novels are not usually treated as “comics.”Beyond the superhero With the boom in graphic novels, comics are likely to appear anywhere — sometimes lavish … Continue reading

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BOOKS / Jonah Raskin : Eduardo Galeano’s ‘Mirrors’

From Hugo Chavez to Barack Obama and to you, too… Eduardo Galeano’s Mirrors:A reflection on Uruguay’s preeminent author By Jonah Raskin / The Rag Blog / June 21, 2009 He doesn’t have a full beard like Che, doesn’t smoke big … Continue reading

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Mesmo’s Meanderings : Bud Shrake, Acapulco Gold, Mad Dogs and the Raw Deal

Texas literary legend Bud Shrake, 77, passed away on May 8, 2009, in Austin. Photo from The Texas Observer. Bud Shrake, 77, a seminal literary figure (“a lion of Texas letters,” according to the Austin American-Statesman) and an Austin underground … Continue reading

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Bud Shrake, 77 : This Texas Tall Tale is a Literary Legend

Bud Shrake speaks at Texas Book Festival in November, 2008. Photo by Bob Simmons / The Rag Blog. Edwin “Bud” Shrake died Friday, May 8, of lung cancer, at the age of 77. A towering figure in Texas literature — … Continue reading

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Note from Big Brother : Room 101, Meet Zubaydah’s Box

‘…you will actually place a harmless insect in the box, such as a caterpillar.’The Obvious Comparison By Hilzoy / April 16, 2009 OLC memo of August 1, 2002, signed by Jay Bybee: “You would like to place Zubaydah in a … Continue reading

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Author of ‘Writing Down the Bones’ Visits Austin

Natalie Goldberg and Bookwoman’s Susan Post. Photo: Alice Embree.Natalie Goldberg Visits AustinBy Alice Embree / The Rag Blog / April 5, 2009 Natalie Goldberg was in Austin on April Fools’ Day promoting her book, Old Friend from Far Away, The … Continue reading

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The Passing of John Updike : Baseball, Misogynism and Literary Brilliance

Called ‘kaleidoscopically gifted’ and ‘an American Balzac,’ John Updike died Tuesday, Jan. 27, of lung cancer at the age of 76. Many have tagged him the most important literary figure of our time. By Thorne Dreyer / The Rag Blog … Continue reading

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BOOKS / ‘We Lost the Vietnam War Because We Didn’t Understand That They Were Poets’

A detail of “Guerrilla Warfare: A Surprise Attack,” 1966. To see several other images from “Mekong Diaries,” click here (PDF file). Graphic: Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Museum.Christian Appy on ‘Mekong Diaries’By Christian G. Appy / January 16, 2009 … Continue reading

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A Compendium of Leftist Children’s Literature

“Mr. His,” by A. Redfield (a k a Syd Hoff), 1939. From “Tales for Little Rebels.”Children of the Left, Unite!By Caleb Crain / January 9, 2009 Financial behemoths have been nationalized. The government is promising to spend liberally to combat … Continue reading

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The Taqwacores: Giving Young Muslim Americans a Connection to Reality

Michael Muhammad Knight, the author of “The Taqwacores,” which a college professor has called “The Catcher in the Rye” for young Muslims. Photo: David Ahntholz for The New York Times.Young Muslims Build a Subculture on an Underground BookBy Christopher Maag … Continue reading

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