I don’t walk as much (or as quickly) as I have for most of my life. Still, Wendy and I take a walk every day, weather and other circumstances permitting. I treasure these times. But I also like to read about walking. Continue Reading »
Readers would be hard-pressed to find a religious creed in the often dark works of Cormac McCarthy. But the writer's depictions of darkness are never devoid of light, however tragic or precarious its place in the narratives. Continue Reading »
Classical education is not a fad: It’s been around for thousands of years and sets up students for academic, professional, and spiritual success. Continue Reading »
Seen from our enlightened vantage, Nana might well seem the original torchbearer of all the brave new freedoms. In the end, however, uncharitable Nature undoes her. Continue Reading »
I hope that, in addition to letting you know about at least a book or two that might be your cup of tea, I’ve managed to suggest the riches available to us. Continue Reading »
The job of a translator is both difficult and one of great responsibility. An author can be utterly misrepresented in a language that is not his own: David Magarshack, for example, who translated Chekhov’s plays, argued that the entire Western approach to Chekhov was grossly mistaken and based . . . . Continue Reading »
When I recently ventured to say to an old acquaintance of mine, an academic mandarin who teaches literature at an elite university, that The Catcher in the Rye was a profound work of art, he smiled gregariously as if about to relish a shared ironic joke, then gazed at me with slowly . . . . Continue Reading »
I am struck by the everyday misery and uncertainty and sheer muddle that George Orwell endured, along with his quotidian joys and satisfactions; particularly when juxtaposed with today's handwringing. Continue Reading »
Francis Marion Crawford was a very important novelist in his own day, and yet today few know his name. It is worthwhile revisiting his works. Continue Reading »