In Reading literary nihilists in Tehran I speculated that having an officially-sanctioned, award-winning, condemnatory literary critical book on absurdist, nihilist fiction might find its largest audience among the country’s future nihilists. Seeing some of the surprising titles that are being translated in Iran these days makes it look like these 21st century apostles of nothingness […]
When Russian novels make it to the big screen it is usually because they either already have enough melodrama to turn them into marketable films (Doctor Zhivago) or because screenwriting assassins can be found to cut out the wordy parts and stick to the scenes of carriage rides, furtive kisses and duels. Recently though, a […]
One might be tempted to think that literature commonly characterized as absurdist or nihilist would not get much official attention in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Still less would anyone think that it could serve as a springboard to reaching the rarefied heights of literary prizes. Yet, as absurd and potentially nihilistic as it sounds, […]
In a bid to obtain the status of a “UNESCO Creative City of Literature,” Prague’s Municipal Library has put a literary map of the city online that locates both Czech and international writers in various parts of the city. At the moment the map is only in Czech (which I would think might hinder their […]
Somewhere there is bound to be a librarian doing their earnest best to classify Miroslav Penkov’s brilliant debut collection of stories East of the West. At first glance it seems fairly straightforward. Penkov is Bulgarian and the book is subtitled “A country in stories” – that country being Bulgaria. Yet the book was written in […]
My review of the fourth volume of Canetti’s memoirs in the newly released issue of the Cerise Press. “I was living in England as its intellect decayed. I was a witness to the fame of a T.S. Eliot. Is it possible for people ever to repent sufficiently of that? An American brings over a Frenchman […]
Anna Andreyevna Gorenko was born on June 23, 1889. She went on to write some of the greatest poetry of the 20th century under the name of Anna Akhmatova. From “Requiem” ‘I arrive here as if I’ve come home!’ I’d like to name you all by name, but the list Has been removed and there […]
An article in Berlin literary magazine Readux about Arthur Koestler, his newly reissued Dialogue with Death and defining one of the 20th century’s most polarizing intellectual figures. Link: Koestler on Readux Photo – Arthur Koestler, Paris 1937 – by Fred Stein
Book World Prague kicked off May 12 at the historic Industrial Palace, site of the Communist Party congress for 41 years during the regime of the same name. That the political landscape has changed considerably is evident even before stepping inside the building. With the opening ceremony approaching, the palace’s imposing art-nouveau façade was matched […]
The latest issue of Drunken Boat is out, including my short story “Literary Theft” – a story about, among other things – a literary theft, St. Petersburg and a nefarious urban legend. “Literary theft!” Ivan cried, suddenly going into some kind of rapture. “You stole that from my poem!”—Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov Read the story […]
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