Monthly Archives: January 2012
Back to the Russians
Last year I began work on an essay regarding recent Jewish Russian émigré writing, focusing specifically on the short-story cycle form. I was particularly interested in Ellen Litman’s The Last Chicken in America and David Bezmozgis’s Natasha and Other Stories, since both … Continue reading
Reading Race
Yesterday I received a review copy of a new book published by First Second, The Silence of Our Friends, written by Mark Long and Jim Demonakos and illustrated by Nate Powell. It’s a graphic novel based on the experiences of … Continue reading
Publicity
I recently received through the mail the latest issue of Midstream: A Quarterly Jewish Review, which I get due to the fact that I’m editor of Philip Roth Studies. As I was thumbing through this issue, I chanced upon an … Continue reading
Reasons to SMiLE
I’ve long been a Brian Wilson/Beach Boys fan–although not a fan of the post-”Brian Is Back” nostalgia-laden direction that the Beach Boys took from the late ’70s to the present day–and like many, I was a sponge for any news … Continue reading
Lukewarm Comics Reading
I just recently finished reading A Comics Studies Reader, edited by Jeet Heer and Kent Worchester. I’m reviewing this book for the journal, Studies in American Humor, and I actually should have finished this book long before now. Part of … Continue reading
And by the way…
Just a few more comments on Todd Hignite’s The Art of Jaime Hernandez: The Secrets of Life and Death. One of the first things you’ll notice about this book is its introduction, written by Alison Bechdel. She is the creator of … Continue reading
Further Thoughts on Xaime
As I’ve mentioned in this blog previously, I’m in the process of working on an essay centered around Jaime Hernandez’s post-1996 comics–those that were published after the end of the first Love & Rockets series–and the way he deals with issues … Continue reading
The Twain Has Met
A couple of years ago I wrote an essay for the Mark Twain Circle‘s peer-reviewed journal, Mark Twain Annual, “Meddling with ‘hifalutin foolishness,’” where I looked at relatively recent comics adaptations of Mark Twain, both adaptations of his writing and the … Continue reading
Serially Confused
Just a few words about the liabilities of serialization. There are a number of comics that I read as monthly serials, and one of the biggest frustrations for me is when I completely forget what came before in the previous … Continue reading
Finally…World and Town
Well, I finally finished reading Gish Jen’s World and Town. I’m glad I stuck it out and completed the novel. It wasn’t that bad, and my experiences with it in the last half were more positive than in the first. … Continue reading