Tag: of

A Summary and Analysis of ‘The Flowering of the Strange Orchid’ by H. G. Wells

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) Little Shop of Horrors , the story is an unsettling tale about a parasitical species of plant which feeds upon the blood of a man who collects orchids. Perhaps a brief plot summary would be a wise place to begin. Summary ‘The Flowering of the Strange Orchid’ is about […]

The Empty Spotlight: On Nicolette Polek’s “Bitter Water Opera”

Bitter Water Opera by Nicolette Polek IN THE PENULTIMATE scene of The Red Shoes (1948), a spotlight strikes the stage. A man presents his hand to a closed door. It opens; there is nothing inside. He spins, and the spotlight spins with him. He leaps, pirouettes, and raises his arms, the spotlight following just beyond […]

Paul Yamazaki on the Important, Joyous Work of Running an Independent Bookstore

Seminary Co-op booksellers and friends have held a number of conversations with legendary bookseller Paul Yamazaki throughout the past two years, in the intoxicating stacks of City Lights, perambulating the streets of San Francisco, and over whiskey tumblers deep into the night. With Paul we’ve edited them into the format of one day and night’s […]

Julia Alvarez on Falling in Love with Writing Again

This first appeared in Lit Hub’s Craft of Writing newsletter— sign up here . On a Sunday in October, 2021, well into a second year of the pandemic, in the incipient stages of a new novel, I woke up to a total retinal detachment in my right eye. I describe the experience as palm branches […]

Jorie Graham’s Poetry of the Earth and Humanity, Set to Music

“Music for New Bodies,” premiering Saturday at Rice University in Houston, sets Jorie Graham’s poetry to music with a chamber group of instruments and electronics, as well as five vocalists. Peter Sellars wanted to know more. He was in San Francisco a few years ago, attending a performance of “ The No One’s Rose ,” […]

This Poet Flirts With Sentimentality, but Averts It With Wit

Credit…Eric Timothy Carlson THE SORROW APARTMENTS, by Andrea Cohen Contemporary poetry isn’t witty. That’s not to say it isn’t funny; on the contrary, it can be extremely amusing, sometimes even intentionally. But for the most part, the art form today vacillates between, on one hand, decrying social and/or personal injustices and, on the other, aiming […]

The Journey of a Madwoman: Between Facts, Memory, and a Fractured Self

I started with a walk. The walk would lead me into the past. It took me to a hospital. A hospital that was no longer a hospital. That was the idea. I would describe the hospital, my home. If I could walk, I could remember. It wasn’t nostalgia. My memory is disordered. The building had […]

My “Friend” Keeps Sending Me Their Writing and I Need It To Stop: Am I the Literary Asshole?

Speaking philosophically, if a tree falls in the woods after too many cans of Miller Lite and there’s no one around to hear it, is it cool if the tree grabs another drink or should the tree just go to bed and sleep it off? Much to consider. I’m your host, Kristen Arnett, and I’ve […]

A Summary and Analysis of John Cheever’s ‘The Worm in the Apple’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) The short stories of John Cheever (1912-82) are among the greatest American short stories of the twentieth century. His Collected Stories runs to 900 pages and contains tales which are by turns realist, borderline magic-realist, and downright strange. In Cheever’s short story ‘The Worm in the Apple’, the narrator […]

IALA announces its 2024 annual grants for creative writing and translation

The Armenian Weekly The International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA) is pleased to announce its three new annual grants for one writer and two translators whose works-in-progress show exceptional literary and creative ability. Applications open on September 1 until September 30, 2024, and winners will be announced in December 2024. The International Armenian Literary Alliance’s Creative […]