If I say, “This book, the chapters of which are separated by descriptions of painter’s pigments, alternates between the point of view of the main character, Yuki—who grew up with Japanese parents in New York, made friends with a future model in high school and went on herself to become an artist and move to … More Girls & Monsters: Rowan Hisayo Buchanan’s Harmless Like You
Bae Suah’s 에세이스트의 책상, translated into English by Deborah Smith and available as A Greater Music from Open Letter, has a wintry feel to it. To be fair, much of the book does take place in winter. But while A Greater Music covers a number of years and therefore seasons, it’s winter that casts its pervasive blanket over … More Art That Makes You Feel Sick: Bae Suah’s A Greater Music, Translated by Deborah Smith
I may be developing a knack for reading books I can’t summarize. Sasha Sokolov’s Between Dog and Wolf was difficult to sum up because it lacks a linear plot. Percival Everett’s Assumption, on the other hand, has inspired personal reviews saying, in so many words, “Stop right here and go read the book! Everything is a spoiler!” … More More Twisted: Percival Everett’s Assumption Is Yours to Make
The painting shown above is Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s The Hunters in the Snow. As you can see, it’s a work of great depth and intricacy. However, as you may have guessed, I’ve placed it here because it’s special in the context of this review. References to The Hunters appear in translator Alexander Boguslawski’s notes for the … More Sasha Sokolov’s Meaty Headtrip “Between Dog and Wolf,” Translated by Alexander Boguslawski
Language. Culture. Origins. These are known quantities. They’re obvious as money, healthy as kale. Aren’t they? In our pseudo-psychological society, outright rejecting any of the concepts above may be seen as grounds for pity. The vague and largely unexamined public value placed on these concepts is predicated on the idea that anything linked to one’s … More Yiyun Li’s Story of Giving Up Her Mother Tongue Evokes the Value of the Personal
I’m not the kind of person who gives a lot of thought to my own tombstone. Officially, I’d say I prefer to be cremated, but I’m really more of a “dump me in the nearest river” type. At the same time, I don’t particularly think of graves or graveyards as being creepy places. I think … More 5 Unexpectedly Beautiful Grave Sites of Famous Russian and Soviet Writers
A couple nights ago, I listened to an NPR interviewee talk about Steve Bannon’s two-pronged threat to liberal politics as being a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” approach. References to various pieces of gothic literature, like Frankenstein, had already appeared as political commentary in some online arenas earlier in this year’s election season. When I … More 3 Garden Path Sentence Headlines for Our Age of Fake News and Questionable Intentions
Isolation, alienation and loneliness are prominent themes in Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s 1818 classic novel Frankenstein. Some analyses theorize that Victor Frankenstein makes a misguided attempt to create a human being due to his isolation from friends and family. His solitude can be compared with that of Robert Walton, a sea captain on a mission to … More What’s Wrong with Victor? The Root of Frankenstein’s Isolation
Adapter’s note: While the following is a free adaptation of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s classic work and contains certain probably obvious elements not present in the original, it also more or less follows the actual plot of the book as put down by Ms. Shelley. This means spoilers spoilers spoilers. For your convenience and edification, any text … More [A Read-Online Comic] Stick-figure Summary of “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley
Hi! This is the second in a series of translations from Jules Renard’s Le Vigneron dans sa vigne. The first segment can be found here, and the original French text here. The Vintner in His Vineyard Mores of the Philippes II I paid them a visit for the new year. I had left a bushy country, … More [Translated Story Series 1.2] “Le Vigneron dans sa vigne”
LIT ALL OVER 