Tag Archive
From Nagasaki to Afghanistan: Kamila Shamsie’s “Burnt Shadows”
Maybe it’s because I spent a good part of my college years studying trauma and how people experience and record it; maybe because World War II and its fallout—both figurative and literal—is a topic I find myself drawn to again and again (my thesis was based on an oral history project I conducted that... »
Watching “Watchmen”
Zack Snyder’s film adaptation of the graphic novel Watchmen is caught between a poignant social commentary and a big-budget Hollywood action flick. In its aspirations towards the latter, it betrays the essence of the novel it attempts to reproduce. The original novel has strongly political overtones. It is set in an alternative world where America has... »
The Arrogance of the Anglo-Saxon, or Why Sartre was Wrong and French Literature is Paying for It
The conversation between the French novelist Frédéric Beigbeder and the American journalist Paul Berman was among the most explosive of the “Festival of New French Writing” conference. The panel got off to a shaky start, when the lanky, long-haired Beigbeder and Tom Bishop, the slightly-balding, distinguished Director of NYU’s Center for French Civilization and Culture,... »