Comfort and Consolation
What I saw then was this fairly obvious faculty of art: that it goes on, it lasts a bit longer that our frail human lives—it offers comfort. The vision is more enduring than our persons—it…
Category: World Literature
Pass It On
A work of art is something you make, something you give to other people. It’s an object for use, and people can make many different uses of the same work. Susan Sontag
2015 Chinese Poets in Translation Reading Group
Chris Wallach and I are starting a reading group in 2015 with the aim of reading one of the translations each month of such poets as Wang Wei, Han-Shan, Li Ch’ing-chao, Tu Fu, Su Tung-p’o, Bo Juyi,…
Respecting the Vietnamese
On John Balaban’s Remembering Heaven’s Face: A Moral Witness in Vietnam For Chris, Carol, and Cristina John Balaban declared himself a Conscientious Objector during the VietnamWar; he ended up going to Vietnam, but as a member…
A Course on Thomas Merton with Patrick Cousins
Thomas Merton is perhaps the single most important American Catholic writer of the 20th century, and his writings continue to remain startlingly relevant today. In this course, we will read and discuss a broad sample…
A Dangerous Novel
In his novel Life and Fate Vasily Grossman exposed the horrors of the Soviet system Some of the Soviet intellectuals acknowledged He had told the truth But they were against publishing it Because it could hurt the…
Why Shakespeare Matters/2 by Magan Wiles
Magan studied Social Justice with me in 2004; did theater work with refugee kids through Center for Survivors of Torture and War Trauma as well as Playback Theater; worked with ISM in Palestine in 2006;…
Why Shakespeare Matters/1 by Katie Consamus
I’ve asked a few friends, a good portion of whose lives have been in the theater, if they’d be willing to write on the following topic because I was curious how they’d respond: Why Shakespeare…
Muhammad
Dear Fatima, You’re one of the most enthusiastic, ardent devotees of reading I know. So I’d like to introduce you to a person who is an amazing reader and recommend his short book to you…
Time To Get down to Business
“I always knew you were majnoon.” “I never denied it.” “But this time you’ve gone too far.” “It makes perfect sense to me!” “You want to learn…” “Judge ye not!” “You want to learn Korean,…