Keogh, Theodora. The Fascinator. New York: Farrar, Straus & Young, 1954. —. My Name is Rose. 1956. New York: Signet, 1958. —. The Tattooed Heart. 1953. New York: Signet, 1954. Theodora Keogh is my latest literary obsession, so I’ve been buying her out-of-print books on amazon.com as I find them (several of her novels haveContinue reading “Books Acquired Recently: Theodora Keogh”
Tag Archives: literature
Books Acquired Recently: Giannina Braschi
Braschi, Giannina. Empire of Dreams. Trans. Tess O’Dwyer. Las Vegas: AmazonCrossing, 2011. —. United States of Banana. Las Vegas: AmazonCrossing, 2011. —. Yo-Yo Boing! 1998. Trans. Tess O’Dwyer. Las Vegas: AmazonCrossing, 2011. I hadn’t heard of Giannina Braschi until about a month ago when I received an email from amazon.com in my school account (notContinue reading “Books Acquired Recently: Giannina Braschi”
Theodora Keogh’s Meg
I just finished reading Theodora Keogh’s 1950 novel Meg, which is about the eponymous protagonist’s struggles with her entrance into womanhood in the year before she turns thirteen. I am generally not a fan of books that are primarily about children (two major exceptions are Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close and MiriamContinue reading “Theodora Keogh’s Meg”
Some Thoughts on the Role of Pop Culture in Teaching Us How to Live
One of my favorite film scenes is when Rob (John Cusack) asks in High Fidelity “What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands ofContinue reading “Some Thoughts on the Role of Pop Culture in Teaching Us How to Live”
Samuel R. Delany’s Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders
I just finished reading Samuel R. Delany’s new novel Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders. It is his longest fictional work (beating the classic Dhalgren by three pages and a much larger word count), and includes many themes which will be familiar to Delany fans (characters with nailbiting fetishes and/or massive penises, graphicContinue reading “Samuel R. Delany’s Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders”
Book Acquired Recently: Theodora Keogh’s Meg
Keogh, Theodora. Meg. 1950. New York: Signet, 1951. I bought this book after reading Keogh’s novel Gemini, which I enjoyed. I love old pulp fiction paperbacks, and thus am especially excited to add this edition to my library. The cover painting isn’t as lurid as pulp fiction illustrations often are, but the descriptions ofContinue reading “Book Acquired Recently: Theodora Keogh’s Meg”
Books Acquired Recently
Baraka, Amiri. Dutchman and The Slave. 1964. New York: Harper, 2001. I bought this book to use while completing my essay in the forthcoming Modern Language Association volume Approaches to Teaching Baraka’s Dutchman, for which it is the standard edition. However, I’ve never read The Slave before, and I look forward to it. I love Baraka’sContinue reading “Books Acquired Recently”
Theodora Keogh’s Gemini
I just finished reading Theodora Keogh’s 1961 novel, Gemini. As I mentioned in my previous post, it is about a brother and sister who are lovers. Their attraction for one another is never fully explained; it is part of their mysterious connection as twins, a magical force unknowable to outsiders. As such, it is difficultContinue reading “Theodora Keogh’s Gemini”
Ann Bannon’s The Marriage
I just finished reading Ann Bannon’s 1960 novel The Marriage. It is the only one of her novels that is not a part of the excellent Beebo Brinker series of lesbian pulp fiction. However, two characters from the series, Laura Landon and Jack Mann, play a major role in it, and it takes place just after theContinue reading “Ann Bannon’s The Marriage”
Book Acquired Recently: B.S. Johnson’s The Unfortunates
Johnson, B.S. The Unfortunates. 1969. New York: New Directions, 2007. This is one of my favorite books. I already have a copy, but just received a desk copy from the publisher (New Directions is great!) because I’ll be using it in one of my classes this fall. It is more of an art object thanContinue reading “Book Acquired Recently: B.S. Johnson’s The Unfortunates”
Daniel Shank Cruz 