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

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...

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...

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

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

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...

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...

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...

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...

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

The present time of “The Night Inspector” occurs in the period after the American Civil War, 1867, although it also covers the time of...

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...

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...

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...

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...

One of the characteristics of James Salter’s writing style is the way time makes big leaps, a feature that is especially evident in his...

Today, a new one, James Salter’s 1994 short story My Lord You. The story was originally published in the September, 1994 issue of Esquire...

Last time, we looked at the (long) opening scene of William Trevor’s A Bit On the Side. Let’s continue. Onward! A key element to the...

This week, the adventure continues with William Trevor’s 2004 short story A Bit On the Side, published as part of the story collection of...

First, here's a no doubt surprising but at the same time evident deviation. My usual habit is to publish a new installment of this blog...