“The horror. The horror.”
tags:
classics, Conrad, fiction, Heart of Darkness, literature, modernism, novels
Conrad’s singular phrase from the turn-of-the-century novella, Heart of Darkness, says it all. So many have borrowed from it, the best known work being Apocalypse Now, which is set in Vietnam instead of the Congo. Most people find the book a challenging read, but with…
» read
leave a comment Eliot’s “The Journey of the Magi”—an odd Christmas poem
tags:
Christmas poem, Eliot, modernism, modern poetry, poetry, the journey of the magi
One of Eliot’s post-conversion-to-Christianity poems, “Journey” is essentially a monologue delivered by one of the “wise men” who journeyed perhaps hundreds of miles long ago to visit the Messiah, if not in his infancy, at least in the earliest years. A manifestly modern poem, it…
» read
Not with a bang
tags:
Eliot, modernism, modern poetry, poetry, the hollow men
The epigraph for T.S. Eliot’s modernist poem “The Hollow Men” is a quotation from Conrad’s novella, Heart of Darkness, “Mistah Kurtz, he dead.” Fittingly the mysterious Kurtz, who is touted by one and all as a wonder boy, turns out to be hollow, a symbol…
» read
5 comments(How to) Review Realist Fiction for Dummys
tags:
Book Reviews, Josipovici, Modernism, Realist Fiction
I was making dinner tonight, listening to NPR, when Maureen Corrigan came on with her list of best reads for the year. These on-air reviews usually wash over me, my mind too busy on other matters, but tonight--after so many blog posts on reviews, reviewers,…
» read
Steven Pinker’s Missing Genes
tags:
Modernism, Postmodernism, Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate
Thursday, October 4, 2007 Steven Pinker’s Missing Genes: His Blank-out on post 19th C. Literature and Art I came across a review of The Blank Slate a few days ago--a long, thoughtful response to Pinker’s rather odd opinions on literature and art. I’d thought it…
» read
leave a comment 
