Category Archives: Book Excerpts
Escapism in contemporary American fiction
We’re celebrating the publication of Escape, Escapism, Escapology: American Novels of the Early Twenty-First Century, in which John Limon traces the central theme of 21st-century United States fiction: the desire to escape at a time of inescapable globalization. This is an extract from the first chapter, Notes from Neverland.
Life in A Bubble
Edwidge Danticat on Diaspora and Identity
The Haitian diaspora today, in my view, is very big and complex. You now have a lot of Haitian-born millennials who are adding another very important layer to the conversation. Some of them are in media, and what is highlighted about them is not even that they’re Haitian. They’re just out there excelling and doing their thing.
What is tone?
Guest post by Judith Roof The below is an excerpt of the preface from Tone by Judith Roof Key Tone Tone Def: Etymology mid-14c., “musical sound or note,” from Old French ton “musical sound, speech, words” (13c.) and directly from Latin tonus “a sound, tone, accent,” literally “stretching” (in Medieval Latin, a term peculiar to … Read More »
The Filipino Author as Producer
This week we’re celebrating the publication of Critical Creative Writing: Essential Readings on the Writer’s Craft, a comprehensive introduction to the key debates in creative writing today, from the ethics of appropriation to the politics of literary evaluation. Today’s post is an excerpt from Conchitina Cruz’s essay “The Filipino Author as Producer.” My profile in… Read More »
“Somewhere in the United States the hamburger was born”
As the barbecues and grills heat up all over the country for Fourth of July, discover the origin(s) of the all-American meal with this excerpt from Carol J. Adams’ Burger from our Object Lessons series. The history of the hamburger features a man, the Inventor, “American” of course. There he was toiling on his own, when… Read More »
Silencing Women
An excerpt from the Object Lessons book Silence by John Biguenet In our first visit to Florence, while still students, my wife and I found a little restaurant near our bat-infested pensione as sunset turned the Arno bronze. Having been raised by her grandmother from Viareggio, the nearby beach resort, Marsha ordered our meal in… Read More »
Tracing a Literary Fantasia: an extract from Samuel Beckett and Arnold Geulincx
'With a few chapters left to write of Murphy in January 1936, Samuel Beckett ventured within what he called ‘the abhorred gates’ of Trinity College, Dublin library for the first time since resigning from a teaching post at his old University 4 years earlier. He returned repeatedly to the library over the following 3 months… Read More »
New Directions in Religion and Literature: Jo Carruthers on Englishness and Religious Identities
In Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden the children sit in their newly restored garden, bursting to express their sense of celebration. Ben the gardener suggests they sing the Doxology hymn, even though ‘He had no opinion of the Doxology and he did not make the suggestion with any particular reverence’. The children imitate a… Read More »