David Foster Wallace and the Utter Hell of Solipsism
Keywords David Foster Wallace, Solipsism, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Jean-Paul Sartre, Infinite Jest “One of the things that makes Wittgenstein a real artist to me is that he realized that no conclusion could be more horrible that solipsism.” David Foster Wallace The wildly ambitious American writer, David Foster Wallace (1962-2008), offers a complicated account of what it […]
Mark Z. Danielewski on Changing the Way We Read
“My interest is in how meaning is communicated via language, and I believe the shape, positioning, even the color of the language has an effect on meaning.” Mark Z. Danielewski In an interview with Google, Mark Z. Danielewski comments on the didactic way he writes his novels. This might come as a surprise if you […]
Himalayas of Literature: From Wallace to Joyce
“The wonderful things in life are the things you do, not the things you have.” –Reinhold Messner Himalayas of Literature is one of Book Oblivion’s newest ongoing course series. Participants reside all over the world and read through some of the most intense literature on the planet. Stephen L. Russell is our guide and chooses […]
Haruki Murakami Novels in Chronological Order
“I am 55 years old now. It takes three years to write one book. I don’t know how many books I will be able to write before I die. It is like a countdown. So with each book I am praying – please let me live until I am finished.” Haruki Murakami HARUKI MURAKAMI NOVELS […]
The Best Books for Studying Magical Realism
In a magical realist story there must be an irreducible element, something that cannot be explained by logic, familiar knowledge, or received belief.” ~David Young and Keith Hollaman Magical realism is a radically complicated literary mode. It’s so complicated that I get uncomfortable every time I hear someone describe a work of literature as a […]
Colson Whitehead’s The Intuitionist
I’m excited to announce our summer book club read! Most of you know I choose a book that I think you will enjoy AND that I haven’t read. This season is no different. Intuition is a concept I’ve been thinking through for a while in various forms and occasionally comes up in our conversations as […]
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
This analysis of Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World explores the themes and characters of Haruki Murakami’s wildly entertaining novel.
Mark Z. Danielewski on Craving the Familiar
The ear tends to be lazy, craves the familiar and is shocked by the unexpected; the eye, on the other hand, tends to be impatient, craves the novel and is bored by repetition. ~W.H. Auden I just spent two weeks in Northern California – a place that is incredibly familiar and that I am lucky […]
Mark Edmundson on Becoming the Author’s Advocate, His Attorney for Explication and Defense
“The kind of teaching I part company with, the kind that seems to me most destructive to the freedom of self-making, is the kind that simply applies a standing set of terms to every text that comes to hand. These forms of teaching are a little like bad translation. Every work, alas, is rewritten in […]
Dear March – Come In by Emily Dickinson
“If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry.” ~Emily Dickinson “Dear March, Come In” is Emily Dickinson’s eloquent greeting to the season of Spring. By personifying the season we have thought about every single day of a long and […]
The Best Haruki Murakami Love Quotes
Keywords Haruki Murakami love quotes, empathy, desire “We are most alive when we’re in love.” John Updike Haruki Murakami is not known for writing romance novels, yet something about this list of Haruki Murakami love quotes demonstrates his unique posture toward love. The way he describes the human condition continues to resonate with readers. He […]
Haruki Murakami’s Timeless Writing Advice
Keywords Haruki Murakami Writing Advice, Magic, Writing Routine, “I didn’t want to be a writer, but I became one. And now I have many readers, in many countries. I think that’s a miracle. So I think I have to be humble regarding this ability. I’m proud of it and I enjoy it, and it is […]
Haruki Murakami’s Earliest Writing Motivations
“Human beings have an innate inner drive to be autonomous, self-determined, and connected to one another. And when that drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives.” ~Daniel H. Pink, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us Haruki Murakami wrote an introductory essay, The Birth of My Kitchen Table Fiction, when he […]
Murakami Reading Group
“In this world, there are things you can do alone, and things you can do with somebody else. It’s important you combine the two in just the right amount.” ~Haruki Murakami Murakami Reading Group The opportunity to read and study Haruki Murakami is here. Reading Beyond Murakami is one of Book Oblivion’s online course series. […]
Famous Writers on the Love of Reading
Keywords Writers, Reading, Readers, Writers are readers, Famous Writers on the love of reading “I believe that reading and writing are the most nourishing forms of meditation anyone has so far found. By reading the writings of the most interesting minds in history, we meditate with our own minds and theirs as well. This to […]