So I Hugged a Book Today by Sara Rendell
I am not sure why, but when I finished reading The Book of Mev, I hugged it. Maybe my body wanted to be closer to tangible truth. Maybe I was trying to express my gratitude to…
Scintillating Promises (The Joys of Reading and Writing/Reinaldo Arenas)
Reading Reinaldo Areas’ novel The Color of Summer was a breakthrough experience for me. From him (and Eduardo Galeano) I figured out how to structure what eventually became The Book of Mev. The following are some passages I love from his Before…
To Convert the Whole World
Napoleon is said to have described the English as a nation of shopkeepers. It is a fitting description. They hold whatever dominions they have for the sake of their commerce. Their army and their navy…
Live Life Now by Eileen McGrath Mosher
I recently came across this piece of correspondence from January 2006. Mark, I hardly know what to write. I just finished your book (minutes ago) and was so moved by your beautiful remembrance of your…
Share the Wealth with Johannes Wich-Schwarz: German-Jewish Poetry after the Holocaust
“The Not-Word: German-Jewish Poetry after the Holocaust” What does it mean to write in German as a Jewish author after the Holocaust? Can poetry recover, reclaim, and renew language after unspeakable trauma? How do we…
To Hope is To Gamble
1. The work of this emotion requires people who throw themselves actively into what is becoming, to which they themselves belong. To hope is to give yourself to the future, and that commitment to the…
Candor
You asked, “Did I ever tell you My reaction when I finished The Book of Mev?” “No. Please do.” “I cried and cried and cried.”
Early Friday Mornings
Wherever two or three are gathered In silence With the bell There the Buddha is There the Dharma is There the Sangha is
Shema, Primo Levi
You who live secure In your warm houses Who return at evening to find Hot food and friendly faces: Consider whether this is a man, Who labours in the mud Who knows no peace Who…
Facing the Facts
1. In fact, there is no way that I know of apprehending the world from within American culture (with a whole history of exterminism and incorporation behind it) without also apprehending the imperial contest itself. …