It’s All in the Game: My Affair with Footballer’s Wives I’d like to be able to say that it was all about being a sports fan. I’d like to tell you that I decided to follow an entire season of the weekly BBC drama, Footballer’s Wives, in order to help me better appreciate the travails…
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Wrestling with Nick Hornby
With the annual AWP conference underway this weekend in Chicago, Illinois, I’m torn between wishing I was there and being glad that I can spend the weekend writing rather than managing an exhibit booth or presenting a paper. With its list of attending luminaries, the conference can be a daunting place to read one’s work….
Eight American Poets
Eight American Poets: Notes on Seminar Lyrical Intelligence: The Poetry of Linda Gregerson and Mark Doty (The last in a series of brief essays accompanying this fall’s Eight American Poets seminar at the Writer’s Center.) One of the greatest pleasures of teaching is, for me, selecting the works to be considered in a given class….
McEwan Review
A Lesson in Revision: A review of Ian McEwan’s novel Saturday It is a source of no small irritation to many of my writer friends that when it comes to novels, I tend to prefer British writers to Americans. Howls rise, lists of great American writers are tossed out, I am accused of everything from…
Christo Review
Thoughts on The Gates, an installation by Christo and Jeanne–Claude in Central Park Like many Christo fans of my acquaintance, I had, until The Gates, never seen any of his installations in person. Photos had had to suffice to show me the work that he and his wife and collaborator, Jeanne–Claude, had done all…
Sontag Essay
In Memory of Susan Sontag “One felt that he could generate ideas about anything. Put him in front of a cigar box and he would have one, two, many ideas ” a little essay. It was not a question of knowledge . . . but of alertness, a fastidious transcription of what could be thought…