The Dead Director’s Society

reviewed by Nick Burton

Issue No. 27 ~ August, 1999

The Color of Pomegranates (1969)

reviewed by Nick Burton

Issue No. 27 ~ August, 1999

Tales of Ordinary Madness (1982)

reviewed by Nick Burton

Issue No. 27 ~ August, 1999

Nostalghia (1983)

reviewed by Nick Burton

Issue No. 27 ~ August, 1999

Orpheus (1949)

reviewed by Nick Burton

Issue No. 27 ~ August, 1999

Interview with Naomi Shihab Nye

interviewed by Rachel Barenblat

Issue No. 27 ~ August, 1999

The author of FUEL talks about the nuts and bolts of publishing, the art of storytelling, and the importance of reading.

A Poetry Student’s Commonplace

by Anne Doolittle

Issue No. 27 ~ August, 1999

Pif's Poetry Editor offers up her commonplace book of poetry, a listing of various snatches of stuff - universal and profound.

But Is It Art?

by Michael Dunaway

Issue No. 27 ~ August, 1999

Art is a funny thing. One man's trash is another man's treasure, one man's Philip Glass is another man's clanging cymbal, and one man's bold new post-structuralist statement is another man's chicken scratch on a canvas.

Amnesia

reviewed by Scott Urban

Issue No. 27 ~ August, 1999

Cooper's novel moves like a dream in which one knows one is dreaming and yet can't wake up. The narrative voice shifts so often that the first half of the book is unnecessarily confusing ... [and] not everything is neatly explained by the end - but then, it rarely is in a dream....

Jackstraws

reviewed by Elizabeth Knapp

Issue No. 27 ~ August, 1999

In the deep sea of American poetry, Simic is our winning angler. He reels in the catch, and we sit down for the feast, supping on a poetry of succulent thrill and delight.

Robert Frost: A Life

reviewed by Melanie Kirkpatrick

Issue No. 27 ~ August, 1999

According to Parini, Frost was initially viewed as a wise and genial man. Then he was perceived as the 'farmer-poet offering homespun wisdom from the lecture platform.' Finally, and most recently, Frost has been condemned a monster.....

Turnip Blues

reviewed by Vivian Dorsel

Issue No. 27 ~ August, 1999

"When Mrs. Lemack reads in a newspaper article that the late blues singer, Bessie Smith — her lifetime idol — rests in an untended grave in a run-down cemetery, she is determined to go there and make sure that Bessie receives the care and respect she deserves..."