The Mystery of Love
posted 2 months ago | 4 comments
Through the composing and imaginings of thirty volumes of novels, numerous short stories, plays, and poems, I have been wrestling with the mystery of attraction. It has been the dominant theme of my work. You know the kind I mean, the obsessive, m...
The Smart Phone Addiction
posted 2 months ago | 5 comments
A number of my friends have returned from their Thanksgiving holidays with their families with a general complaint. It goes something like this:
There was a complete lack of face-to-face communication. Family members seemed far more interested in...
There was a complete lack of face-to-face communication. Family members seemed far more interested in...
J. Edgar, the Bad and the Good
posted 2 months ago | 3 comments
After seeing Clint Eastwood’s excellent biopic, J.Edgar, I was reminded of Mark Anthony’s funeral oration in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred wi...
The Plight of the Mainstream Novelist
posted 2 months ago | 1 comment
Lost in the conversation of the impact of eBooks is the plight of the mainstream novelist, who writes books that fit no genre category but nevertheless represent the crown jewels of the authorial world, the lynchpin of the trade publishing busines...
Martha Marcy May Marlene: A Brave Movie
posted 2 months ago | 1 comment
I recently saw the movie Martha Marcy May Marlene, which bravely took up the question of the insidious influence of bizarre cults on unsuspecting young people.
Having lived through the era when such cults were media fodder and a number of friends...
Having lived through the era when such cults were media fodder and a number of friends...
Why I Still Love the New York Times
posted 3 months ago | 1 comment
Yes, I still love the New York Times. I have been reading it since I was twelve years old when I subscribed at a discount as a freshman at Brooklyn Technical High School.
I probably read parts of it earlier, since my father was an ardent reader a...
I probably read parts of it earlier, since my father was an ardent reader a...
Contact Made, Message Delivered
posted 3 months ago | 4 comments
I think it’s time for the Occupy Wall Street people to declare victory and go home. They have illustrated their anger and their passionate desire for a more equitable America. I would not insult their integrity by asking any of them what they want...
I Found it at the Movies
posted 3 months ago | 0 comments
Pauline Kael, who reviewed movies for the The New Yorker for many years, was considered by many to be the goddess of film critics. Her comments on movies were both insightful and controversial. Once again, a compendium of her reviews is coming out...
Where is Our Culture Heading?
posted 3 months ago | 3 comments
I wouldn’t characterize myself as an intellectual snob, but I have always regarded fiction for adults as an indispensable endeavor that offers insight into the human condition through storytelling, excites one intellectually and emotionally, and i...
The Scales of Human Value
posted 3 months ago | 1 comment
I have been trying to make sense out of what appears to be a strange bargain between the Israelis and Hamas to exchange a single kidnapped Israel soldier, Gilad Shalit, for a thousand Palestinian prisoners, many of whom have blood on their hands f...
