My initial reaction to The Recognitions, on my second reading of the novel, was captured in the post I wrote … More
Author: oboynton
321. (William Empson)
William Empson’s brilliance as a reader is more immediate than his brilliance as a critic. The line between the two … More
320. (William Gaddis)
Re-reading William Gaddis’ The Recognitions, I come closer to understanding what Empson meant when he bucked against the post-Eliot neo-Christian … More
319. (Anton Chekhov)
On “Ward No. 6” This post belongs mostly to a good friend of mine, whose specializing in Victorian literature enriches … More
318. (Alexander Pope)
Alexander Pope thought the poet a supreme critic—of mankind’s second nature, in its variety of forms, manners, and habits. But … More
317. (Derek Mahon)
Derek Mahon died on 1 October 2020. I’ve written about his poetry before—it’s Lucretian or Ovidian spirit—and going back to … More
316. (Anton Chekhov)
Some Notes on Chekhov: –The doubleness of the short story as he writes it: amazement at the vista of a … More
315. (John Berryman)
The fifth section of John Berryman’s The Dream Songs, song 92, “Room 231: the fourth week”, opens with Henry in … More
314. (Yves Bonnefoy)
As a translator of Shakespeare into French, Yves Bonnefoy has reckoned with the chasm separating the French and English poetic … More
313. (John Keats)
There is the occasion and there is the utterance; there is the condition and there is the judgment; there is … More
