The magazine writers of New York City in the 1840s, the people Perry Miller chronicles in The Raven and the Whale, were obsessed with the supposed problem of American literature. Where were the great American writers - the American Milton, the American Shakespeare, the American Dickens? The American Walter Scott was James Fennimore Cooper, but that did not seem to help much. One theme Miller trace...

Afansy Fet, Russian poet Christina Rossetti, English poet Margaret Cho, Korean-American comedienne J. J. Cale, American songwriter James Lee Burke, American mystery author Joan Didion, American author Sony Boy WIlliamson, blues musician Calvin Trillin, American author Josh Malihabadi, Urdu poet of India and Pakistan Walt Disney, American filmmaker Fritz Lang, Austrian film director Martin Van

Just yesterday I wondered if there wasn't more anthologized translations these days, and now I see that Best American Fantasy will be broadening its reach to Latin America: Starting with BAF4, the series will consider stories published in English in Latin American publications, as well as translations of Latin American writers into English in North American publications. In short, any story publis...

American Adulterer: A novel "The subject is an American citizen holding high elected office, married, and father to a young family..."From its opening line, American Adulterer examines the psychology of a habitual womanizer in hypnotically clinical prose. Like any successful philanderer, the subject must be circumspect in his choice of mistresses and employ careful calculation in their seduction; ...

(image from 2009 Indian Health Service Heritage Site) November is American Indian Heritage Month. Various links of interest, in no particular order: The Creation of National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month (via Indian Health Services) The National Museum of the American Indian, especially its Education page. American Indians in Children's Literature by Debbie Reese, which should b...

‘American Wife is a work of fiction loosely inspired by the life of an American first lady’ Curtis Sittenfeld writes at the start of the novel and, being both curious and English I had to look up online to find out which first lady was in question. When I found out that this was a

American Gothic by Thomas Hoving Chamberlain Brothers 2005 The following 4 book reviews are of my own books that I read during the latter half of my stay in Hospital. Most Americans are familiar with the painting known as American Gothic. It's a very famous American painting. This book is about the life of Grant Wood, the painter, and the story of this specific masterpiece. Grant Wood was bor...

American Book Awards The 2009 American Book Awards were announced on October 6. According to the American Booksellers Association:The American Book Awards, established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation, recognize outstanding literary achievement from the entire spectrum of America's diverse literary community. The purpose of the awards is to recognize literary excellence without limit...

It was like this all up and down the river and many of the young people, the way they accepted their lack of prospects, it was like watching sparks die in the night. [excerpt from American Rust] American Rust by Philipp Meyer Spiegel & Grau, 2009 ISBN #978-0385527521 Fiction; 369 pgs It's quite an endorsement when several book bloggers include a book on their top ten list of the year. American...

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: American Rust by Philipp Meyer.About the book, from the publisher:Set in a beautiful but economically devastated Pennsylvania steel town, American Rust is a novel of the lost American dream and the desperation—as well as the acts of friendship, loyalty, and love—that arise from its loss. From local bars to trainyards to prison, it is the story of two yo...