Jonathan Swift

“La batalla entre los libros antiguos y modernos” llega a nosotros a través de un antiguo manuscrito. Ahí se cuentan los hechos acaecidos una noche en la Biblioteca Real de Saint James. Según nos refiere el autor anónimo, una encarnizada lucha se peleó no sólo con hierro y fuego, sino también con argumentos afilados, sentencias … More Jonathan Swift

Emiliano Zapata

I woke up on the last day of 2012 to a gray sky, thinking I never want to sabotage myself or be complicit or accepting of sabotage again. That, as it turns out, is what I will renounce in the new year. I ordered a copy of Elsewhere. I once planned lectures while driving, like … More Emiliano Zapata

El jinete polaco

“En un piso de la calle 52 Este de Nueva York, ante los ojos conmovidos de una mujer y un hombre que oyen tras las ventanas cerradas el viento del invierno y el rumor como de catarata de la ciudad a la que asoman muy pocas veces y encuentran en el baúl de Ramiro Retratista … More El jinete polaco

Ramón Llull

I am now studying the literature of the Iberian Peninsula so as to teach it and there is a lot to know that I did not. Ramón Llull knew classical Arabic and wrote his first book and other texts in it, for instance; he had learned Arabic so as better to convert the infidel, just … More Ramón Llull

Des livres

I want books by Pico Iyer and Lisa Cohen, and I have to buy El espejo enterrado (Alfaguara 2010) for the culture course. I believe I already have another book I ordered for that class: Editors: Hart and Young Title: Contemporary Latin American Cultural Studies Publisher: Arnold (distributed in USA by Oxford UP) Date: 2003 … More Des livres

Vicksburg Blues

Here is a bronze statue of one of my ancestors. I could visit it in Vicksburg. That is one of those places where, when I go through, I can hardly believe I am there. It serves espresso now but Mark Twain would recognize it. Like Natchez it stands on bluffs above the Mississippi, on U.S. … More Vicksburg Blues

María

The atmosphere in Jorge Isaacs’ novel María is truly right wing. We know he was a conservative, and that the novel is set on a plantation, but I had not read it since spending some time every week for several years chatting with some well-heeled conservative Christians and beginning to understand the gestalt of their … More María