It's oddly appropriate that famous author Anne Rice died just a day before my mother's Yarzeit. My mother was an extremely anxious, brilliant, troubled and fascinating person with wonderfully weird, eclectic tastes. She loved mysteries and she loved Wagner (the composer, not the NYC mayor) and she loved science fiction and she loved Agatha Christie. … Continue reading My mother and Anne Rice
Tag: Magically Real
TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER update: Sonnet in Honor of Kamala Harris joins the roster!
Friends -- we have a new sonnet in honor of Kamala Harris created by K. Andrew Turner. We'll add sonnets to the roster as we receive them. the entire group can be viewed here:
And now 5 questions for authors I dig #1 — Stacey Levine, and Brown Seaweed Soup
Friends -- I have this idea. Periodically I want to interrupt whatever I'm doing on Magically Real so that I can ask writers I respect and admire 5 questions, which they will then answer. I'm doing this so that we'll have the opportunity to hear their own unique geniussy take on writing world. Along the … Continue reading And now 5 questions for authors I dig #1 — Stacey Levine, and Brown Seaweed Soup
Reading the 18th Century, March 12, 2017. Rousseau redux: The Discourse on Inequality continued with some cool info on people who read him
Hi everyone -- welcome back as we take a second look at this seminal piece of writing by Jean Jacques Rousseau. Last time, I talked about Rousseau's theory of humans in the state of nature. Now we'll take a quick look at some of his other ideas. Part 2 of the Discourse starts off … Continue reading Reading the 18th Century, March 12, 2017. Rousseau redux: The Discourse on Inequality continued with some cool info on people who read him
Self-deprecation and the gesture towards improvement: Why I love Jonathan Swift’s weird poem about his own death
I have no title to aspire Yet when you sink I seem the higher (Jonathan Swift, “Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift” transcribed from memory). Friends – The above is a quote from my favorite 18th Century poem “Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift,” written by Jonathan Swift himself and published in 1739. … Continue reading Self-deprecation and the gesture towards improvement: Why I love Jonathan Swift’s weird poem about his own death
June 6th, 2016, Wrestling with Mr. Robot — will the revolution be televised?
There's a great rant near the end of the season finale of Mr. Robot featuring wonderful Christian Slater. This rant about the uncertain nature of reality reminds those of us who remember of a much younger Christian Slater ranting in another film as another seductive bad guy who blows things up. So it's a deeply … Continue reading June 6th, 2016, Wrestling with Mr. Robot — will the revolution be televised?
May 16th, 2016- 100 years of solitude: the futures-past of the novel
Well, Friends, I did it. I just finished 100 Years of Solitude. Um. *shrugs shoulders, looks into the evening sky* It's a beautifully written novel, certainly, and I'm grateful to Kathleen Alcala for her observation that she was struck by how much the narrator sounded like members of her family telling fantastical tales from a … Continue reading May 16th, 2016- 100 years of solitude: the futures-past of the novel
03/26/16 — repeating names, everything but the kitchen sink, and the point of 100 Years of Solitude (maybe)
Dear Friends -- Huzzah! I'm about halfway through Gabriel García Marquez's 100 Years of Solitude. As I started the book, I queried some folks over at the Magical Realism Facebook group about the novel, and while most comments were positive, one brave person said the book was just about unreadable. I have to admit that … Continue reading 03/26/16 — repeating names, everything but the kitchen sink, and the point of 100 Years of Solitude (maybe)
Before I read Marquez– Kate Durbin, Anna Nicole Smith and the unreal heal
Dear friends -- I have not yet read 100 years of solitude. I know. It's a schande, as we say in Yiddish. How can a writer who works in MR, NOT have read this novel? I own it now, and I keep looking at it. I keep trying to start. But I can't start, because … Continue reading Before I read Marquez– Kate Durbin, Anna Nicole Smith and the unreal heal
Magical Realism, personal trauma, and the wound in the world in CEREMONY by Leslie Marmon Silko
“He had to keep busy; he had to keep moving so that the sinews connected behind his eyes did not slip loose and spin his eyes to the interior of his skull where the scenes waited for him.” CEREMONY Leslie Marmon Silko’s first novel written in the 1970’s, is a book I’ve continually heard … Continue reading Magical Realism, personal trauma, and the wound in the world in CEREMONY by Leslie Marmon Silko
Stephanie Barbé Hammer Writing (Un) Real 