The Shocking Surprise of Great Art: José Saramago

July 1, 2016

You remember the initial encounter for years, even decades after the first taste. You remember the quality of light, the position of your coffee mug on the table. On top of the emotional intensity of the moment, you remember, also, your physical reaction, the charge of the prose itself.

Kevin Rabalais

October 30, 2015

Anatomy of a Sentence

Anatomy of a Sentence: Don DeLillo's Underworld

Kevin Rabalais

October 30, 2015

Anatomy of a Sentence

“The sound of the ash bat making contact with the ball reaches Cotter Martin in the left-field stands, where he sits in a bony-shouldered hunch.”
—Don DeLillo, Underworld

In today’s Anatomy of a Sentence, we explore sound and its ability to connect disparate people. Alongside a memorable sentence from Underworld, we look at passages in Lolita and Madame Bovary.

Kevin Rabalais

October 9, 2015

Bibliophoria

Bibliophoria, or What to Read This Weekend: Patti Smith’s M Train

Kevin Rabalais

October 9, 2015

Bibliophoria

“Why can’t things be just as they are? I never thought to psychoanalyze Seymour Glass or sought to break down ‘Desolation Row.’ I just wanted to get lost, become one with somewhere else, slip a wreath on a steeple top solely because I wished it.”
Patti Smith, M Train