Category Archives: Uncategorized

The critic’s job

Posted on August 14, 2012 by Peter Schmidt

Except for all the male pronouns, Alfred Kazin’s credo remains good advice: “A critic must reveal why we read him [a writer].  Everything else—the historical associations, the comparison with other writers, the placing in a school, the social, moral, and … Continue reading →

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This may be the best short discussion ever written about words as signs (semiotics) vs. words as music, especially in poetry

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Peter Schmidt

A. R. Ammons, “Motion” (c. 1961-65)   The word is not the thing: is a construction of, a tag for, the thing: the word in no way resembles the thing, except as sound resembles, as in whirr, sound: the relation … Continue reading →

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Want to see the influence of Chekhov on U.S. short story writing?

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Peter Schmidt

This is just one example of Chekhov’s influence, but it’s a great one. An apparently previously unpublished (?) short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, dating from 1936, printed in summer 2012 in The New Yorker. F. Scott Fitzgerald: “Thank You for … Continue reading →

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Some Reasons Why Daenerys Targaryen’s Character Is Even Better in Game of Thrones Than in Song of Ice and Fire

Posted on July 21, 2012 by Peter Schmidt

  Note: this essay discusses books 1 and 2 of George R.R. Martin’s The Song of Ice and Fire and seasons 1 and 2 of HBO’s Game of Thrones.  There are no spoilers here regarding later books.   What thoughts … Continue reading →

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More Holly Golightly than Daisy Miller….

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Peter Schmidt

Am greatly enjoying reading Elaine Dundy’s comic novel about a young American in the Left Bank of Paris in the early 1950s, The Dud Avocado (1958). It’s just been reissued in paperback.  The heroine Sally Jay Gorce is much closer … Continue reading →

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Third Class Superhero

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Peter Schmidt

Depressed by seeing a not-that-great movie that everyone assured me was a Great Movie, a Pow! Wowie Zowie! Movie, I avenge myself by re-reading Charles Yu’s short story “Third Class Superhero.” The story begins as follows: “Got a letter today … Continue reading →

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“The Death of the Cyberflâneur” ?

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Peter Schmidt

The Death of the Cyberflâneur – NYTimes.com. Lots of good things to think about in this article.  However, as Mark Twain quipped once about a newspaper that said he had died, this particular “death” too may be somewhat exaggerated. 1. … Continue reading →

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What Should I Do With the Dead Turk in the Bedroom? Class, Sex, and Otherness in Downton Abbey

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Peter Schmidt

Julian Fellowes’ Downton Abbey is fun and fascinating TV for lots of reasons.   It has an excellent script and superb acting, and the detailed development it gives just about all the major and minor characters is smartly set against a … Continue reading →

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Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the Tony award-winning Broadway musical _In the Heights_, visits Swarthmore

Posted on October 1, 2011 by Peter Schmidt

The two opening cuts from the musical, Usnavi’s opening rap introducing all the characters and Nina’s first song, were featured in my English 53/ “modern American poetry” course last year, which had a 3-week module on the lyrics and music … Continue reading →

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