book review Musings on Proust, Part 9 12 Feb 2021 Proust Goes for a Laugh Proust had a bit of fun at his own expense in a comic bit that he put in is own words for a change, in…
Author post… Musings on Proust, Part 8 27 Dec 202027 Dec 2020 If only Proust were not so parsimonious with his comic writing! Just laughed through a short section in the salon scene of "Le coté de Guermantes," book II, with Mme.…
Author post… Musings on Proust, Part 4 15 Apr 202016 Apr 2020 Having finished not with A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs as I had at first vainly imagined, but only Part 1 of Tome 2, I prepare to plunge into…
Author post Musings on Proust, Part 2 31 Mar 202031 Mar 2020 Finished Du coté de chez Swann last night.... Okay, I'm beginning to wonder whether I feel about Proust (so far, having read one volume out of seven, each of which…
Author post Musings on Proust, Part 1 27 Mar 202027 Mar 2020 I have at last begun reading Proust's A la recherche du temps perdu. While the coronavirus pandemic and its accompanying restrictions have given me more time to read, I actually…
Author post When Clichés Come to Life 20 Mar 202020 Mar 2020 Clichés are much derided in writing circles, and rightly so: they are a lazy way to express the character of a situation, and usually they have been heard so often…
Author post… Recursions, Part 11: “Ulysses,” by James Joyce 10 Sep 201828 Sep 2018 This is the eleventh in a series of short critical looks at books of literary criticism. Yes, a writer writing about writers who write about writers! I composed these for…
Announcement More Advice on Writing, Reprinted 2 Feb 20187 Feb 2018 Advice on writing by...er...me! Reprinted in "A Writer's Path," a literary community, originally printed here as "Clause and Effect": "How to Avoid Being Too Wordy in Your Writing" This is…
Author post Clause and Effect 11 Dec 201711 Dec 2017 Do you love subordinate clauses? I know I do. And how about assonance and alliteration, rhythm and rhyme? Let's face it: they can be as tasty as chocolate. But would…
Author post When Good Writing Goes Bad 23 Jun 201724 Jun 2017 Writing is one of the worst things you can do as a novelist, if you love it too much. This is especially so, I suspect, for those of us--and that…
