Dreaming Without Memory in Strangled Sleep

All the Textures of Sadness

2008-07-16T00:22:00.008-05:00

I'm halfway through Janette Turner Hospital's Due Preparations for the Plague, and I'm forever indebted to the person who recommended it to me. Its pieces are all of loss and trauma, terror and obsession, memory and forgetting, absence and presence, gaps and silences. The language of midrash is all over it. But every time I say that about a book--that is, every time I read midrash into all its

Stones, Messiahs, and Revelations

2008-07-06T19:27:00.007-05:00

There's something I love about this world, and it's that every time people think they've figured something out and that they have all the answers, a new piece of information somehow manages to materialize and calls everything into question. Depending on how you look at it, this can be either frustrating or liberating. I tend to think it is, most often, the latter. In the New York Times today: A

The Return of the Jewish Nose: Reading Yasmina Khadra's The Attack

2008-06-29T23:48:00.003-05:00

Cross-posted at Jewcy.com.Unless you are a fan of Tex-Mex, trucks with balls, scorching heat, and museums commemorating George W. Bush, there are very few reasons to spend the summer in southeast Texas. But I happen to be here visiting someone, and so I’ve taken the opportunity to sit in on his Texas A&M University class on contemporary world literature, where the

Summer Reading

2008-06-14T21:13:00.003-05:00

Years ago, I used to love reading Amy Tan. Last year, she came to Purdue for a reading, and she was really great in person--full of life and energy and lots of clever little insights. So I bought her newest book after the reading--Saving Fish From Drowning. It's been sitting on my desk for over a year, and I finally decided to start reading it. I'm only a couple of chapters in, and it's not

Changes...

2008-05-14T22:53:00.005-05:00

This has been a big week. I successfully defended my dissertation, participated in the graduation ceremony (and snuck out early), and introduced my family to Chicago and Indiana. My family, of course, was proud of me, but they were a bit disappointed that my new "doctor" status does not enable me to dispense prescriptions. Now, I'm going to enjoy my last week in Indiana, before I travel down to

"In Support of Corporate Farms"

2008-05-04T17:54:00.004-05:00

I've just discovered that another of my friends, the notorious Cody Lumpkin, has a poem appearing on Verse Daily. Cody, Leslie St. John (see my previous post), and I once shared a hotel room at a literature conference in Louisville. I wonder if this means that I, too, will soon have a poem that appears on Verse Daily. Probably not, since I don't tend to write much poetry. Unfortunately, I don't

Things That Bend

2008-05-03T11:29:00.008-05:00

My lovely friend Leslie St. John has published this equally lovely poem, and it appears on VerseDaily today. (Oh, and the picture above, is of Leslie.) "Things That Bend " After Dorianne Laux's "What's Broken" The inch worm in the window sill, curling In a bank of light. Snow-soaked porch steps, Old pinewood floors. The neck, the back— My body bends into another body. Firelight Bends around

Michael Chabon

2008-04-18T14:33:00.003-05:00

I had the honor of introducing Michael Chabon the other night, when he came to Purdue as our annual Literary Awards speaker. I've had the fortune (or, misfortune, sometimes) of meeting and getting to know a number of writers in my field, but I was particularly impressed with Chabon. He's a nice guy, a real person--not pretentious or egotistical, like one or two other writers in my field with

Oh, Happy Day

2008-04-10T23:56:00.004-05:00

Today was one of the happiest days I've had in a long time. It started off with teaching Bible as Literature. Today we talked about the rebellion of Korah against Moses, in Numbers 16. It's one of my favorite parts of the text. It's the one where Korah pisses Moses off, and so the ground opens up and swallows Korah and all of his followers--except that it's not meant to be read literally. It's a

Religion, Faith, and Alchemy

2008-03-27T16:01:00.004-05:00

I am constantly on the lookout for new ways to explain my own ambivalence about religion. I despise it, and yet it has made who I am, and it forms the basis for nearly all of my endeavors: academic, spiritual, psychological. I am drawn to religion, but only in the sense that it must necessarily be an ongoing process, rather than a product of one group of people's musings on the nature of God.

Why Do the Wicked Prosper?

2008-03-17T01:56:00.003-05:00

I've been working on my dissertation all evening. I'm tired of writing about theoretical things, so this post is going to be something different. I was driving home from the library late this afternoon, and I heard myself say, out loud, "God has blessed me with so many things I do not deserve." I don't really know where it came from, other than that it is an idea that is built into the tenets of

From Boilermaker to Bruin: The Journey Begins

2008-03-12T20:19:00.003-05:00

It's official: as of July 1, I will be a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Jewish American Literature at UCLA. The teaching load is extremely light, and I will have ample time and resources for research. But, more importantly, I will have warm weather. I've had my fill of Midwestern winters. A couple of weeks ago, as a matter of fact, I slipped on the ice while carrying my little dog. When we fell,

Tagging: Bringing Michael Chabon and Giorgio Agamben Together

2008-03-01T13:57:00.006-05:00

Oh, what fun! Not to mention a great reason to take a break from dissertation-writing. It seems I've been tagged, and apparently the rules are as follows: 1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).2. Open the book to page 123.3. Find the fifth sentence.4. Post the next three sentences.5. Tag five people. As you can see from the above picture of one corner of my desk, which I took just

Kosher Boy

2008-02-26T13:24:00.001-05:00

Oh, my. I can't decide whether this is hilarious or dangerous. I'm leaning toward the former.

Which Would Jesus Choose?

2008-02-26T13:11:00.001-05:00

So I've blogged about something naughty over at Jewcy.com. But, hey, I found the subject matter on NPR, so it's kosher, right?

At the Heart of the Jewish Ethical Conscience: Woody Allen

2008-02-16T13:56:00.002-05:00

In a piece on Woody Allen's late films, Jay Michaelson writes: Judaism is a religion of Job, not just Sunday School, and Allen's extended meditations on the presence or absence of moral order are the essence of the Jewish ethical conscience. Though Allen has seemingly rejected Judaism as a religion, Michaelson argues that Allen's later films, which aren't typically seen as falling into the

Throwing God Overboard

2008-02-02T12:40:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading Dara Horn's In the Image. It's one of those novels I've been meaning to read for quite some time since it's in my area (Jewish American literature). I think Horn is a spectacular writer, and I like this particular novel because it integrates all sorts of ideas about God, religion, memory, ethics, philosophy, culture, and love. And, it's a great story that's easy to read

Levinas, Bak, and Interpretation

2008-01-19T22:42:00.000-05:00

I'm currently co-guest-editing an issue of Modern Fiction Studies. The topic is Levinas and Narrative, and we have finally chosen an image for the cover of the issue (above). It's a piece called "Interpretation" (2003) by Samuel Bak, who is one of my favorite artists of all time. Isn't it lovely? You can see more of Bak's work here.

This is Feminism?

2008-01-18T20:35:00.000-05:00

According to an article over at the Forward, Ms Magazine has refused to run the above advertisement, which features images of Israel’s top female political leaders, and the American Jewish Congress is not too happy about this. The ad was submitted by the American Jewish Congress to Ms. Magazine, and spotlighted photographs of Dorit Beinisch, president of Israel’s Supreme Court; Tzipi Livni,

Who Knew the Nazis Were So Fashionable?

2008-01-07T20:08:00.000-05:00

I just discovered this link over at Jewcy.com. It's a piece about five brands the Nazis gave us. The list includes: 1. Volkswagen -- At this point, is there anyone who does not know that Volkswagens were little Nazi-mobiles designed by none other than Ferdinand Porsche? Porsche's partner in masterminding the Beetle was also the mastermind of World War II: that crazy, affable buffoon Hitler.

Koshering the White House

2007-12-13T15:49:00.000-05:00

According to Nathan Guttman, over at The Forward, Bush had a "day full of Jews yesterday." Bush’s Hanukkah tradition exceeds any other Jewish celebration offered by his predecessors. While former presidents held one “holiday celebration” for all religions, it was Bush who started the tradition of having a Hanukkah event for the Jewish community, as well as an Iftar dinner for Muslims during the

Chanukah Sameach!

2007-12-06T20:17:00.000-05:00

Contrary to what you might think, this is not a virtual menorah. It is a virtual chanukiah. I learned this only today, from Tamar Fox, over at Jewcy.com.

A Blasphemous Bit of Theatre

2007-11-20T04:14:00.000-05:00

I've posted this over at Jewcy.com.

Death of a Celebrity Writer

2007-11-10T13:52:00.000-05:00

A month or so ago, I received a telephone call from a friend who was at a Norman Mailer conference, somewhere in Texas I believe. I didn't know they organized such things. Today, sadly, I read that Norman Mailer has died. "He's always been at the center of a number of cultural storms and issues," Sipiora says. "He engaged the feminist movement in the '60s and '70s. He's been a prolific sports

And What of Dreams

2007-10-10T16:03:00.000-05:00

I began this blog a couple of years ago in the context of dreams and darkness, nightmares and absences, memory and the immemorable. I wrote, in the beginning, of segments of dreams that I had, in the event that they somehow connected themselves to an idea, philosophical or otherwise, that I found interesting and applicable beyond the scope of me me me. Of course, this has always been a blog that