Category Archives: Publications

A FESTIVAL OF FICTION SEPTEMBER 26TH

Hey, guys! Sorry it’s been so long since my last post, but my excuse is I’ve been busy writing other stuff!  Mainly my novel, Problems of Translation, on which I’ve completed eleven chapters since the spring, some of whose passages … Continue reading

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EVEN THOUGH IT’S SPRING, “HARVEST” IS NEARBY

NEW YORKERS! Run, don’t walk, to the Quad Cinema on W. 13th Street (btwn 5th and 6th Avenues) to see “Harvest,” Marc Meyers’ brilliant and moving film about one Connecticut family (and perhaps many other families as well). Why the … Continue reading

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AN ACCIDENTAL ENCOUNTER WITH A SNIPPET OF SCIENCE

Ever wonder why you get colder when the wind blows? We walk around every day inside a media bubble eagerly prattling on  about the “wind-chill” factor.  That certainly seems a bona fide blessing when it comes to the question of … Continue reading

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SNIPPETS: FROM TWO FAMOUS WRITERS AND ME

# 1:  Richard Powers Richard Powers’ Generosity is a wonderful work of fiction.  The man is a genius; he knows so bloody much it boggles the mind.  Not only can he structure a book so it moves ineluctably toward a … Continue reading

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A NEW YEAR BEGINS WITH A NEW READING AT CORNELIA STREET

Wow!  The dawn of a new decade brings with it a sudden realization!  It’s been almost a year since I gave a reading at the Cornelia Street Cafe! That drought will end on January 25th and I invite everyone within … Continue reading

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FATE, LUCK OR FORTITUDE: A BRILLIANT CAREER

Shortly after the Second World War a young European arrives in New York City.  His English is pretty imperfect, but he needs a job.  After employment agencies turn him down, a friend helps him compose two ads for the New … Continue reading

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JHUMPA LAHIRI’S MAGICAL LANGUAGE

What is it with Jhumpa Lahiri? Her language does not bristle with style, never calls attention to itself.  She writes with a quiet clarity, her language supple yet unaffected, her tales mostly revolving around the mundane, ordinary facts of daily … Continue reading

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DELIGHTFUL ENCOUNTERS FROM AN UNEXPECTED SOURCE

I have a new hero. Heroine, I suppose. Her name is Nina Berberova. An artist friend of mine knows an architect who studied at Princeton. Over lunch together — the three of us — he learned both that I’m a … Continue reading

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A NON-FICTION BOMBSHELL FROM THE PAST, ABOUT THE PAST

I don’t read much non-fiction these days, but I can enthusiastically recommend In Harm’s Way, by Doug Stanton. It’s the story of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in August, 1945. I sought it out as research, hoping to wrest … Continue reading

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THE “COLUMBIA RIOTS,” NICHOLAS BERDIAEV AND ME

I’m often late with birthdays, so it should shock no one that I’m tardy in acknowledging the fortieth anniversary of the 1968 “riots” at Columbia University. I have friends who played an active role back then, and who recently spoke … Continue reading

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