Yearly Archives: 2013

Coetzee, The Childhood of Jesus, a review

The Childhood of Jesus by J. M. Coetzee Reviewed by Ellen Akins Nobel Prize-winning novelist J.M. Coetzee, now widely understood to be a reclusive crank, said in a 1983 interview that where everyone sees “bleakness and despair in my books … Continue reading

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Edwidge Danticat & Evelyne Trouillot

In light of my review of Edwidge Danticat’s Claire of the Sea Light, a note on another book, and another writer, close to the author’s heart. The University of Nebraska Press recently brought out The Infamous Rosalie, by the celebrated Haitian writer Evelyne … Continue reading

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Notes on Coetzee

J. M. Coetzee’s new book, The Childhood of Jesus, will be published on September 1 (and my brief review will appear in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune somewhere around there), in anticipation of which, a few notes: Here’s a link to Coetzee’s … Continue reading

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Footnotes

Further notes on footnotes: blue streak “As Mexican guns began to fire the Americans noticed a curious phenomenon. Owing most probably to a combination of poor Mexican gunpowder and the rarified mountain atmosphere, the enemy cannonballs left a blue streak … Continue reading

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Ic! Nouns ending in ic or s, etc.

“There’s two things to watch for in writing:  subjects and verbs” Yes, you read that right (or wrong, depending on how efficiently your brain corrects what it sees as it sees it):  “There’s two”–one of the mistakes Stephen Wilbers (“Effective … Continue reading

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