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Hawthorne and the Veil of Sin Part 2
Sins real and imagined, inherited and acquired are the limitless fountain of many of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s best works. In my second reflection on his famous parable, The Minister’s Black Veil, …
Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Veil of Sin
“What is this secret sin; this untold tale. That art cannot extract, not penance cleanse? Horace Walpole, 1768 On that bright, crisp Wednesday morning, there was the lingering smell of …
Fleming, Bond and Casino Royale.
If you have a spare $5,000 or so in your pocket, you can spend an evening in the villa where James Bond was born. On a balmy morning in January …
David Long and the art of writing
I discovered David Long in the pages of a tattered copy of GQ carelessly tossed among week-old newspapers in a laundromat in Maine. The story was called Eggarine and it …
Melville and the Leviathan. Random thoughts on his masterpiece.
“Canst thou draw out Leviathan with a hook?” Job 41:1 Melville’s great creation,Captain Ahab, would have a defiant answer to God: Yes. Biblical scholars debate whether this mighty Leviathan is …
The Window of Richard Ford
Like many writers, Richard Ford is definitely a “regarder par la fenêtre” — one who “looks through the window.” In his short story Privacy and his novella-length story Occidentals, Ford’s protagonists …
A Multitude of Sins. The Stories of Richard Ford
Age bestows its many gifts with a kind of mysterious grace. My father, a witness to the many horrors of World War II, developed a passion for gardening when he …
We tell ourselves stories in order to heal.
We tell ourselves stories in order to heal. I know a writer who suffered from frequent headaches, insomnia, and bouts of depression so debilitating, he contemplated suicide. His parents sent …
A writer’s mind. Thoughts on Orhan Pamuk.
Culture grants no monopolies on great writing. While Europe has grabbed the lion’s share of the Nobel Prizes in literature — over 70% since 1901, more recent winners include writers …
John Updike, Racism and The Doctor’s Wife.
Preface 18 years ago, I spent a day at a long, scuffed wooden table in the Barbados Archives. The table was stacked with baptism records of 11 parishes – a …
BakerMuse Essays 