My Name Is Aram
William Saroyan 1940 (An open and curious boy growing up in an Armenian community in California encounters the rich quirkiness of his family and neighbors.) Writing from the spirit of memory. Not a record of specific memories, but effortless intuitive writing that naturally conjures the ethos, tinged with wistfulness, that can accompany the distant remembrance […]
“The Judgment”
(“Das Urteil”) Franz Kafka 1912 (After treating a needy friend superficially for years, Georg finally pays the price.) This is an existentialist horror tale about a man Georg who treats a distant friend superficially, then pays for this crime with his life. The distant friend is sick, poor and unmarried. Georg cannot think of what […]
Go Down, Moses
William Faulkner 1942 (Vivid tales from the deeply rooted McCaslin family of Mississippi explore the human desire to dominate others.) Faulkner raises a novel, especially Go Down, Moses, like a mountain range. A small peak here, another one some indefinite distance to the side but nearer to the viewer, another apparently between them but actually much […]
Twain’s stories
February 9, 2015 / Leave a comment
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) 1865-1890 (A champion of common sense and nonsense casually delivers his colorful yarns, witty satires, and twisty dramas.) Sitting with Mark Twain when he’s in a storytelling mood, we get to know the man—or at least he leads us to believe we get to know him. He lets us in on […]
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