autobiography | autobiography
May.10.2013
My Japanese brother-in-law (a cultural anthropologist and a linguist who studied Swahili and Kikuyu) once pointed out to me when I was in high school that I should be reading biographies. I took him seriously given his academic credentials but only read three works, Diary of a Genius by Salvador...
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Mar.16.2013
Summertime by J.M. Coetzee is labeled "fiction," not "a novel," or "a collection of autobiographical investigations disguised as a story cycle," or some other generic propositon. Just "fiction."
Ok, it goes this way: there is a biographer, an academic, who goes through the...
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Mar.15.2013
http://www.shelfpleasure.com/lovehate-no-my-writing-isnt-my-life-is-it-b...
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Jan.25.2013
3. Mr. Amnesia: Cambridge
In 1962, after ten years of writing poetry, my book,
Uncle Dog & Other Poems, was published by Putnam
in England. That was followed by two books from
Cornell University Press, Kissing the Dancer and
Thousand-Year-Old Fiancee. Then in 1966, I...
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Oct.16.2012
I’m always up for a challenge, so I was very pleased when my bloggerverse friend, Imelda Evans, tagged me on Twitter.
I’m not typically a word-sketcher. I don’t take my notebook and sit in the back corner of a coffeehouse, looking cool, writing down random nonsense. If I were though, I know...
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Aug.29.2012
The following essay was adapted from my book, "Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora" in the section called Viet Kieu (Vietnamese living overseas). A version of it was also adapted for a commentary on NPR's All Things Considered. Also embedded between the text are...
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Aug.29.2012
See, that’s a misleading way to start. There are actually eleven of us and twelve stories. I’m talking about a group I fondly refer to as the Authors of Oneand our series, simply called One. The Authors of One consist of ten authors, plus me. Ten equals one. I think we have the math...
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Jul.31.2012
Two years ago last week, my dad passed away. He was a young guy, only 61, and he died far too soon. As I have grown older, I have come to understand the lessons that he taught me and I now have a much fuller appreciation for what he left me. I have not been shy with sharing my feelings on my...
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Jul.20.2012
The stairway at 72 Sherbrooke West, where my mother lived as a child. It now is a public stairway, for use of the three tenants who live in the 3 storey flat. But it's the stairway where my grandmother, Maria Roy, of the humongus water-balloon bosom, chased her daughters up and down with a...
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Jun.23.2012
A list of 23 books – novels, poetry, autobiography, and a play – that have shaped American life. By the Library of Congress. From the Washigton Post website, today.
Interesting to guess ahead. You have to wait through an advertisement.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/books-that-shaped...
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