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William Vollmann

Image of cover of Rising Up and Rising Down Image of cover of Riding Toward Everywhere Image of cover of Poor People Image of cover of Expelled from Eden

"A realm forever beyond reach":
William Vollmann's
Expelled from Eden and
Poor People

This article appears on Electronic Book Review (22 January 2008). To read the Introduction, click here, and to read the entire article, click this link.
Images courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Blaise Cendrars

Image of cover of The Astonished Man

"Preface" to The Astonished Man by Blaise Cendrars

pp-iv (London: Peter Owen, 2004). The publisher commissioned the preface.
Visit www.peterowen.com/pages/nonfic/aston.htm
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Blaise Cendrars

Published in The Review of Contemporary Fiction, Volume XXIV, No. 1 (Spring 2004), pp. 58-93. Visit dalkeyarchive.com/review/?c=2004-1
This is a scholarly overview and analysis of the prose works of Blaise Cendrars (1887-1961) with a brief biographical component.
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Henry Miller

Image of cover of Plexus

"That Crude Mixture": How Theater Gives Shape to Plexus

Published in Nexus: The International Henry Miller Journal,
Volume 4, No. 1 (Winter 2007), pp.105-119.
Visit http://nexusmiller.org.
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Carrollian Nonsense Prose
in Henry Miller's "Jabberwhorl Cronstadt"

Published in Nexus: The International Henry Miller Journal,
Volume 1, No. 1 (Fall 2003), pp.23-43.
Visit http://nexusmiller.org.
 

Abstract Image of cover of Black Spring
Black Spring, Henry Miller's second major publication, is often treated in a somewhat cursory fashion by scholars. Instead of subjecting the fiction to a consistently close reading, many critics recapitulate its contents and give the plot of each piece, when present, while others regard the book as a form of biographical writing. Though work has been done on "The Angel Is My Watermark!" and "The Tailor Shop," there are few adequate explorations of the eight other pieces. "Jabberwhorl Cronstadt," while not neglected, has not been examined at its roots, on the word level, where hidden meanings reside, and in that respect this paper sharply departs from previous criticism.
The argument begins with a sketch of the thematic and aesthetic role "Jabberwhorl Cronstadt" fulfils in Black Spring. From there the essay moves into the piece's similarities with Lewis Carroll’s wordplay, to reach the point where the text’s language becomes the focus. Through denotative analysis of one illustrative passage a deliberately constructed yet previously unseen message is revealed, one of sickness leading to death, which rests in what look like random notes filled with odd words and nonsense phrases. This discovery opens a window into the piece’s full implications.
Far from being, as many regard it, a sunny word painting of Miller's friend, the poet Walter Lowenfels, or, alternately, a whimsical exercise in word games, "Jabberwhorl Cronstadt" is a darker and more pregnant work than commentators have recognized. It is the aim of this essay to explicate a subtle and insufficiently analysed work by a skilful United States modernist.
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Book Reviews

Below are book reviews which have appeared in American Book Review, Books in Canada--The Canadian Review of Books, and The Review of Contemporary Fiction. Here are the authors and titles. Further information is included in the reviews themselves (they're all PDF files). This gets added to frequently, so check back often. The links to these publications are, respectively, http://americanbookreview.org, www.booksincanada.com, and http://www.dalkeyarchive.com.

American Review of Books

Image of cover of Everything Passes Everything Passes
by Gabriel Josipovici (January/February 2008)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner

You can visit www.carcanet.co.uk
to order Gabriel's book
 

Books in Canada

Image of cover of The Book of Chameleons

The Book of Chameleons


by José Eduardo Agualusa (January/February 2008)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of Solzhenitsyn Reader The Solzhenistyn Reader: New and Essential Writings 1947-2005
edited by Edward E. Ericson, Jr. and Daniel F. Mahoney (December 2007)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Cover image of African Psycho African Psycho
by Alain Mabanckou (December 2007)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of Porius Image of cover of Descents of Memory Descents of Memory: The Life of John Cowper Powys and
Porius
by Morine Krissdóttir and John Cowper Powys (November 2007)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of Conversations with Professor Y Conversations with Professor Y
by Louis-Ferdinand Céline (October 2007)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Double-Blind
by Michelle Butler Hallett (October 2007)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of Firmin Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife
by Sam Savage (October 2007)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of Die, Lady, Die Die, Lady, Die
by Alejandro López (September 2007)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of The Voice of the Heart The Voice of the Heart:
The Workings of Mervyn Peake's Imagination
by G. Peter Winnington (September 2007)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of Oceans Image of cover of From Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow From Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow:
How Maps Name, Claim, and Inflame and
Oceans: An Illustrated Reference
by Mark Monmonier and Dorrik Stow respectively (March 2007)
Images courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of Skipping towards Armageddon Skipping Towards Armageddon:
The Politics and Propaganda of the Left Behind Novels and the LaHaye Empire
by Michael Standaert (January/February 2007)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of Singer on the Shore The Singer on the Shore: Essays 1991-2004
by Gabriel Josipovici (November 2006)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner

You can visit www.carcanet.co.uk
to order Gabriel's book
 

Image of the cover of Siberia Siberia
by Nikolai Maslov (November 2006)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of Centuria Centuria: One Hundred Ouroboric Novels
by Giorgio Manganelli (October 2006)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner

You can visit www.mcphersonco.com
to order this book in paperback
 

Image of cover of Things in the Night Things in the Night and
Hidden Camera
by Mati Unt and Zoran Zivkovic (September 2006)
Images courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of Lunar Follies Lunar Follies
by Gilbert Sorrentino (May/June 2006)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Cover image of A Strange Commonplace A Strange Commonplace
by Gilbert Sorrentino (May/June 2006)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of Over the Rainbow? Hardly Over the Rainbow? Hardly: Collected Short Seizures
by Chandler Brossard (April 2006)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of My Life in CIA My Life in CIA: A Chronicle of 1973
by Harry Mathews (January/Febuary 2006)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Going Down
by David Markson (January/February 2006)
 
Copyright © 2005 by David Markson from Going Down: A Novel.
Reprinted by permission of the publisher. Cover design by Gopa & Ted2
 

Image of cover of Spring Forward Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time
by Michael Downing (November 2005)
 
Copyright © 2006 by Michael Downing from Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time.
Reprinted by permission of the publisher. Cover design by Kimberly Glyder Design
 

Image of cover of Sebastian's Arrows Sebastian's Arrows:
Letters and Mementoes of Salvador Dali and Federico Garcia
Lorca ed, trans., annotated by Christopher Maurer (October 2005)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Cover image of A*hole A*hole
by Hilton Obenzinger (September 2005)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of Memories of My Melancholy Whores Memories of My Melancholy Whores
by Gabriel García Márquez (September 2005)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Tribute to Saul Bellow
(May 2005)
 

Image of cover of the End The End: Hamburg 1943
by Hans Erich Nossack (March 2005)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of Vanishing Point Vanishing Point
by David Markson (January/February 2005)
 
Copyright © 2004 by David Markson from Vanishing Point: A Novel.
Reprinted by permission of the publisher. Cover design by Kimberly Glyder Design
 

Image of cover of Right and Left Right and Left
by Joseph Roth (November 2004)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of Fountain at the Center of the World The Fountain at the Center of the World
by Robert Newman (September 2004)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of Goldberg Variations Goldberg: Variations
by Gabriel Josipovici (September 2004)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner

You can visit www.carcanet.co.uk
to order Gabriel's book
 

Image of cover of Siegfried Siegfried
by Harry Mulisch (August 2004)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of The Moon in Its Flight The Moon in Its Flight
by Gilbert Sorrentino (June/July 2004)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of Tests of Time Tests of Time: Essays
by William H. Gass (April/May 2004)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of Dan Yack Image of cover of Confessions of Dan Yack Image of cover of Gold Dan Yack,
Confessions of Dan Yack and
Gold
by Blaise Cendrars (January/February 2004)
Images courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Cover image of Actress in the House Actress in the House
by Joseph McElroy (January/Febuary 2004)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of P P
by Andrew Lewis Conn (January/Febuary 2004)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of Three Novellas Three Novellas
by Thomas Bernhard (December 2003)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of The Dance of Geometry The Dance of Geometry
by Brian Howell (October 2003)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of Ascension Ascension
by Steven Galloway (September 2003)
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Image of cover of The Rush for Second Place Image of cover of Agape Agape Agapē Agape and
The Rush for Second Place
by William Gaddis (April 2003)
Images courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

The Review of Contemporary Fiction

Image of cover of Colonel Zoo Review of Colonel Zoo
by Oliver Cadiot (Summer 2006)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Review of Memories of My Melancholy Whores
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Spring 2006)
 

Image of cover of Writers on the Air Review of Writers on the Air:
Conversations about Books and
The Believer's Book of Writers Talking to Writers
by, respectively, Donna Seaman and Vendela Vida, ed.
(Spring 2006)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of Gold Review of Gold
by Blaise Cendrars (Summer 2005)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Image of cover of Moravagine Review of Moravagine
by Blaise Cendrars (Spring 2005)
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Image of cover of P Review of P
by Andrew Lewis Conn (Spring 2004)
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Image of cover of We Always Treat Women Too Well Image of cover of Witch Grass Review of Witch Grass and
We Always Treat Women Too Well
by Raymond Queneau (Fall 2003), reprinted in CONTEXT #15 (Spring 2004)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Review of To the End of the World
by Blaise Cendrars (Spring 2003), reprinted in CONTEXT #13 (Spring 2003)
 

Image of cover of Selected Works of Cesare Pavese Review of Selected Works of Cesare Pavese
by Cesare Pavese, trans. and intro. R.W. Flint (Summer 2002)
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Quarter After Eight

Image of cover of The Corrections Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections
NY: Picador USA, 2002, 592 pp., $15.00, paperback, fiction.
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

James Buchan, The Persian Bride
Boston: Mariner, 1999, 343 pp., paperback, fiction.
 

Image of cover of House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski, House of Leaves
London: Pantheon, 2002, 709 pp., paperback, fiction.
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Quarter After Eight: A Journal of Prose and Commentary,
Volume 9 (2002), pp.201-04, published in March 2003.
 

Literary Review

God, Hell, Sex and Tobacco
Review of Collaborators by Janet Kaufmann
February 1989
 

Spanish Fly By Night
Review of City of Marvels by Carlos Mendoza
December 1988
 

Unholy and not Innocent
Review of The Unholy Innocents: A Romance by Gilbert Adair
October 1988
 

Amazon.com Reviews

Image of cover of Tests of Time

Tests of Time: Essays
by William Gass:
"Not much of an essay writer" -- May 13, 2004
[See BiC for a lengthy review of this book]
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Memed My Hawk
by Yashar Kemal:
"Sturdy but it doesn't involve one" -- December 25, 2001
 

The First World War
by Ivan Klima
"A servicable work" -- December 13, 2001
 

My Golden Trades
by Ivan Klima:
"A light touch" -- December 13, 2001
 

Women of Sand and Myrrh: A novel
by Hanan Al-Shaykh
"Parched" -- November 24, 2001
 

The Persian Bride
by James Buchan:
"Poetic, hard-edged and timely" -- November 6, 2001
[see "Three Reviews" for another review of this book]
 

Image of cover of The Corrections

The Corrections
by Jonathan Franzen:
"A tight fit" -- October 30, 2001
[see "Three Reviews" for another review of this book]
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

Wyndham Lewis: Painter and Writer
by Paul Edwards:
"A clear gaze on a murky fellow" -- October 28, 2001
 

Legally Speaking: Contemporary American Culture and the Law
by Helle Porsdam:
"A persuasive case" -- April 3, 2001
 

The Intuitionist: A Novel
by Colson Whitehead:
"An underwhelming novel" -- March 14, 2001
 

November 1916: The Red Wheel/Knot II
by Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn:
"Hunting for history with a big net" -- December 9, 2000
 

Petrushka and the Dancer: the Diaries of John Cowper Powys, 1929-1939
by John Cowper Powys
"Not just another english eccentric" -- December 2, 2000
 

Rude Assignment
by Wyndham Lewis
"Look into the shadows" -- November 30, 2000
 

Diaries: 1899-1941
by Robert Musil:
"The penetrating mind of Robert Musil" -- November 27, 2000
 

Image of cover of Moravagine

Moravagine
by Blaise Cendrars:
"Sickness unto death" -- September 19, 2000
[see RCF for another review of this book]
Image courtesy of publisher, copyright owner
 

"Since at Least Plato...": And Other Postmodernist Myths
by M.J. Devaney:
"Passion and intelligence combined" -- June 9, 2000
 

Vast Alchemies
by G. Peter Winnington:
"The mind and art behind the 'Titus' books" -- May 29, 2000
 

Thesis

Use and Identity of the Narrator in the Works of Henry Miller
(1988): MA thesis, MUN
 

Buzz & Platinum PEI

The Buzz is a local monthly arts newspaper. Platinum P.E.I. focuses on local businesses. All articles were solicited by the publication or the subject.
 

"Local Initiative"
- an article on Louise Vergnano, owner of The Reading Well Book Store and Bohemian Literary Society (March 2004)
 

"Having a blast" and "Falling in love"
- Articles on the Prince Edward Island Symphony Orchestra, featuring Paul Merkelo (trumpet); and a Valentine's Day concert in
Summerside PEI (February 2002)
 

"Lots of grog in the jar"
- Article on The Olde Dublin Pub, a venue for live music in
Charlottetown PEI (February 2001)
 

"backalleydisks.com"
- Article on Back Alley Discs, a record store in Charlottetown
(November 2000)
 

"The Reading Well Bookstore"
- in Platinum P.E.I. Volume 1, no. 1
(December), p.30 profile)