A Tale of Two Samsas: Kafka’s and Murakami’s Literary Connection
Franz Kafka and Haruki Murakami There is an apparent connection between Franz Kafka’s story, The Metamorphosis, and Haruki Murakami’s work, “Samsa in Love.” It might be one of the most bizarre re-workings ever, but I suspect Kafka wouldn’t have it any other way. If you read Kafka’s story, you’ll have the tools for digging into […]
Mary Oliver Finds the Antidote to Confusion in Literature
In her essay collection, Upstream, Mary Oliver describes the antidote to confusion she found in literature – first reading and then writing – as a kind of standing with otherness in the world.
The Role of Reciprocity in Nature in Haruki Murakami’s The Elephant Vanishes
A fresh perspective on the imbalance between animals and humans, Haruki Murakami’s short story The Elephant Vanishes explores the troubling paradoxes hiding in a relationship built on exploitation instead of reciprocity.
Marilyn McEntyre on When Poets Pray
Marilyn McEntyre collects her meditations on classic and contemporary poetry in When Poets Pray and offers the reader a deep reverence for language and God.
Genius and Ink: Virginia Woolf on How to Read
Genius and Ink: Virginia Woolf on How to Read is a newly packaged collection of some of the most beautiful prose Virginia Woolf has written on the creative, radical, and rebellious act of reading.
Ray Bradbury on the Seduction of Space in The Rocket Man
In his 1951 short story, The Rocket Man, Ray Bradbury explores the seduction of the open sky that inspires Elton John’s iconic song by the same name.
Lost in Translation: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Meaning is lost in translation between the original Japanese and the English translation of Haruki Murakami’s Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.
Ralph Ellison and Kenneth Burke on Race, Writing, and Friendship
Ralph Ellison and Kenneth Burke were friends for more than 50 years and Bryan Crable chronicles the complex history of their friendship.
Reading as Meditation – A Creative Practice
Reading as meditation is the creative practice of attending to the text to evoke the image of thought that penetrates the reader.
Paul Valery on the Common Material of Poets and Philosophers
Paul Valery challenges the arbitrary divide between the poet and the philosopher while considering the intellectual rigor of the poet.
The Invisible in Haruki Murakami’s Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
In Haruki Murakami’s short story, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, he offers insight into the phenomenology of sound taught by Maurice Merleau-Ponty.
Kate Mascarenhas’s The Psychology of Time Travel
Four women will invent time travel. Three will make their mark on history. Two will do anything to be remembered. One will not survive. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF TIME TRAVEL Summer is here and we are cracking open a new book together. We’d love for you to join us in reading The Psychology of Time Travel […]
How Time and Space Converge to Evoke Walter Benjamin’s Aura
“The concept of aura which was proposed above with reference to historical objects may usefully be illustrated with reference to the aura of natural ones. We define aura of the latter as the unique phenomenon of a distance, however close it may be. If, while resting on a summer afternoon, you follow with your eyes […]
Walter Ong’s Psychodynamics of Orality and the Reader
Keywords Walter Ong, Psychodynamics, Orality and Literacy “Until writing was invented, men lived in acoustic space: boundless, directionless, horizonless, in the dark of the mind, in the world of emotion, by primordial intuition, by terror. Speech is a social chart of this bog.” Marshall McLuhan When we trace language from orality, characterized by the pre-socratics and […]
10 Diverse Books That Reflect Human Experience
“The book industry is focusing more on diverse voices and stories: a reflection of the real demographic of the United States, allowing all to find their stories reflected in books. Children’s publishers across the industry have put an emphasis on finding diverse authors and stories, and I believe adult publishers are accelerating their efforts as well. All voices should be represented […]