WHYY’s Fresh Air has Maureen Corrigan’s review of What Are Intellectuals Good For? by George Scialabba.
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Monthly Archives: April 2009
Hemming in Everyday Barbarism
Posted in Reading
Tagged book review, george scialabba, maureen corrigan, npr, usa
Materials for Her Factory
For The Village Voice, Eli Epstein-Deutsch profiles Can Xue.
Posted in Writing
Tagged can xue, china, deng xiaohua, eli epstein deutsch, profile, village voice
Disparity of Opportunity
In the New York Review of Books, Andrew Delbanco examines the funding of American colleges and universities.
For years, we have witnessed a growing gap between rich and poor colleges, the privatization of public universities, and aggressive if not reckless investment and spending practices at wealthy institutions, where the allure of gain appears to have overwhelmed the consciousness of risk. Now we are also witnessing drastic budget contraction at the most fragile and vulnerable institutions. Higher education has always been a mirror of American society—and, for the moment, at least, the image it reflects is not a pretty one.
Posted in Education
Tagged andrew delbanco, capitalism, nyrb, usa
A Meaningful Life by L. J. Davis
Recommended.
Posted in Read in 2009
Tagged lj davis, nyrb, recommended, usa
By Allies and Enemies
Chiang emerges as a flesh-and-blood man rather than the buffoonish cardboard-cutout figure he has generally been portrayed as. China’s nationalist leader is revealed as a tormented soul, as prone to bursting into tears as into angry tirades, who through force of will conquered his own demons to — as he saw it — lead his people out of colonial oppression and moral decay to forge a strong, unified nation.
The Washington Post has Laura Tyson Li’s review of Jay Taylor’s The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China.
Posted in Reading
Tagged book review, china, history, jay taylor, laura tyson li, nonfiction, politics, taiwan, usa, war, washington post
Two Distinct Personalities
For the Observer, Tim Adams talks to Claire Walsh about J. G. Ballard.
Posted in Writing
Tagged interview, jg ballard, observer, science fiction, tim adams, uk
Haunted Stillness
In the New York Times, Joan Silber reviews Paul Yoon’s Once the Shore.
Yoon’s narratives face the interesting challenge of relying on characters who don’t exactly believe in action. The sea woman, contemplating why she never remarried after the war, simply thinks, “A life was formed and she took it.” While a number of people here are tormented by longing — an orphan is sure that more than one man is the lost boy she once took care of; a young girl keeps seeing a ghostly woman in the snow wearing a dress like her dead mother’s — their yearnings result more in frustrated gestures than in actual drama.
Posted in Reading
Tagged book review, joan silber, new york times, paul yoon, short story, south korea
Unaccountable Predilection
The New Republic highlights its Nabokov archive.
Posted in Writing
Tagged book review, the new republic, usa, vladimir nabokov