Posted in American Literature on Sep 21st, 2009 1 Comment »
In 1921, when Sinclair Lewis’s book Main Street was passed over for the Pulitzer Prize in favor of The Age of Innocence, he sent Edith Wharton a congratulatory letter expressing his admiration for her work. She responded warmly, saying that this was the “first sign I have ever had–`literally’–that `les Jeunes’ at home had ever [...]
Posted in American Literature on May 24th, 2009 No Comments »
In a letter to William Dean Howells, Henry James described his early work Washington Square as “a tale truly American.” After spotting Washington Square on M.’s shelf Easter morning, I eagerly “borrowed” it with James’s own sentiment in mind. I find it less disappointing than James did in retrospective moments.
Instead its transparent, if reductive, vision [...]
Posted in American Literature, Latino/a Literature & Culture, World Literature on Feb 17th, 2009 No Comments »
Too often critics fixate on multicultural literature’s identity awareness. They become disproportionately preoccupied with the cultural discomfort immigrants face as they reconcile contradictory aspects of selfhood into a stable, multicultural identity. It’s all the rage to dissect literature through the frame of identity politics, the study of the shared injustices suffered by specific social groups. [...]
Posted in American Literature, Latino/a Literature & Culture on Jan 30th, 2009 No Comments »
Regrettably, I’m reading faster than I can write. Although I am behind and never intend to catch up, I keep returning to Santiago’s When I Was Puerto Rican. As the first novel of an autobiographical trilogy, WPR depicts Santiago’s childhood, one marked by upheaval. Migrancy is much more than an eventful journey for this PR [...]
Posted in American Literature, Uncategorized on Jan 20th, 2009 No Comments »
Four occasional poems have graced American inaugurations. This short canon begs many shrewd observations, so I urge you to take a moment to read the poems in succession if you’ve never done so. (To make that task easier, I tried to find and post accurate versions below.) While the poems’ commissioners, notably among [...]
