Commentaries - November 2007

To the barricades

I'm reading an essay-roundup of then-current poetry in the September 1960 issue of the Atlantic. Peter Davison, Harvard '49 and editor at Harvard University Press, wrote the piece.

Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder

Below and at right: Albert Maignan's "Green Muse" (1895) shows a poet succumbing to the green fairy.

Edward Rothstein of course writes on art for the Times. Today's column is unusual — a seemingly real essayistic venture, and the topic is absinthe. Art that's been made under the influence of absinthe. And the green magic has long been associated with bohemianism and the avant-garde.

There are only two things that recommend this piece in particular.

Which way to go?

Eric Umansky — my former student, a pal, and a fine writer and investigative journalist — is spending some months in Damascus.

GIRLdrive arrives at Marjorie

I've been following GIRLdrive, a road-trip blog written by Emma and Nona.