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That Was How I Gave Up Micol
As I wrote last time, we’ve been looking at largely content and meaning issues in The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, and last time, we...

Alan Bray
10 hours ago4 min read


Building A Story
Over the past several weeks, we’ve been looking at The Garden of the Finzi-Continis through the lens of content and meaning, pondering...

Alan Bray
Jun 133 min read


Stendahl Syndrome
There are several interesting literary references in The Garden of the Finzi-Continis that enrich the story. Certainly, it begins with a...

Alan Bray
Jun 63 min read


Forever Young
‘Kay, this is supposed to be part two of a discussion on whether The Garden of the Finzi-Continis is primarily a love story or a story...

Alan Bray
May 305 min read


Love Story
Last time, I suggested that The Garden of the Finzi-Continis was more a story of unrequited love than one about the Holocaust....

Alan Bray
May 235 min read


The Garden of the Finzi-Continis
Today, dear friends, a new story, Giorgio Bassani’s 1962 novel The Garden of the Finzi-Continis . The book won the Viareggio prize in...

Alan Bray
May 163 min read


Moth
Over the past several weeks, we’ve been considering some different aspects of Susan Minot’s fine novel, Evening . Today, I’d like to call...

Alan Bray
May 23 min read


What's It All About?
A major distinction in literary works is whether a story’s plot is linear or circular. A linear plot expresses cause and effect—A leads...

Alan Bray
Apr 255 min read


Imperfect
Good day! Let’s get started. (chairs scraping on a dry floor, murmurs from the audience, coughing) Mr. Speaker! Your exaltedness! Call...

Alan Bray
Apr 184 min read


Time Travel
Evening uses several styles of narration to show different experiences of time. The chapter entitled A Pale Bay begins: She kept the...

Alan Bray
Apr 114 min read


Evening
This week, dear friends, we begin an exploration of a new book, Susan Minot’s 1998 novel, Evening . If one reads back of the book blurbs...

Alan Bray
Apr 45 min read


Masks
As we read and re-read Frederick Busch’s The Night Inspector , we may ask ourselves, what is the book’s major theme, my bro? (This is...

Alan Bray
Mar 284 min read


Hunt for the Implied Author
So, best beloved, who and/or where is the implied author in Frederick Busch’s The Night Inspector ? The who? Long time readers of this...

Alan Bray
Mar 214 min read


Stylin'
Before we go further in our explorations of Frederick Busch’s The Night Inspector , let’s comment on the structure of the book. If we...

Alan Bray
Mar 144 min read


Strike Through the Mask
Frederick Busch’s novel “The Night Inspector” begins with the protagonist, Billy Bartholomew, directing a craftsman in the construction of a

Alan Bray
Mar 73 min read


In Which the Author Postpones Discussing Herman Melville
The present time of “The Night Inspector” occurs in the period after the American Civil War, 1867, although it also covers the time of...

Alan Bray
Feb 274 min read
Shipmate
It has been a long break, best beloved. A long time since I’ve set forth on a voyage toward a book. Over a year ago, I signed off, vowing...

Alan Bray
Feb 204 min read


Winter Break
Last week, we began taking a look at Lorrie Moore's Who Will Run The Frog Hospital? I had intended to continue with that fine story this...

Alan Bray
Dec 14, 20231 min read


Who Will Run The Frog Hospital?
This week, ladies and gentlemen, a new one…drumroll…Lorrie Moore’s 1994 novel, Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? What? ‘Kay, I’m not sure...

Alan Bray
Dec 7, 20235 min read


Dog - My Lord You
We have to talk about the dog. A central part of James Salter’s My Lord You concerns a large dog who appears in many scenes, shadowing...

Alan Bray
Nov 30, 20235 min read