Today, I chanced upon an alternative American history text book with the rather provocative title “Lies My Teacher Told Me.” Based on 10 years of research partly spent comparing 12 different common US high school history textbooks with the more or less accepted historical “truth” as it is decided in academic circles, the author, James [...]
The French literary theorist and philosopher Paul Ricoeur died this Friday, aged 92. Ricoeur worked dialectically, drawing upon hermeneutics, phenomenology, existentialism, as well as historical and literary theory, not so much to create theoretical synthesis, but rather to juxtapose the differences of the various ideas. He combined these ideas through what he called a hermeneutic [...]
Despite all of my exam induced disciplinary reading of only the most relevant of materials, I still managed to find to read Tom Wolfe‘s latest book I am Charlotte Simmons which was recommended to me by my stepfather. It’s a novel telling the story of one young ms. Charlotte Simmons, arriving from her outback North [...]
Yesterday, I saw Wim Wenders’ documentary about the Buena Vista Social Club, the record made by a rag tag collection of old Cuban musicians and singers under the gentle supervision of travelling musician and producer, Ry Cooder. The film contains concert and studio footage, interviews with the musicians and atmospheric footage from the streets of [...]
Yesterday, I finished reading “Nonfiction” by the American author Chuck Palahniuk. Palahniuk is probably best known for his book “Fight Club”, a violently nihilistic and entertaining novel about young men fighting to find a meaning in their lives. It didn’t really sell well until it was made into a film starring Brad Pitt and Edward [...]
Dr. Gonzo bites the bullet as my friend Kristian puts it: “Så er der snart kun røvhuller tilbage….” what consequences this will have for his cartoon alter ego remains to be seen…
Yesterday, I had time to finish reading A Scanner Darkly, a novel by the american Science Fiction writer Philip K. Dick. I’ve read some of his stories and books many of which have been made into films. A few weeks ago, I read that there was coming yet another film based on one of Dick’s [...]
I’ve been packing away my Science Fiction books before leaving for England. I have a not-so-secret passion for Science Fiction, and I especially like the sub-genre called “social science fiction”. Instead of focusing on the technological aspects of science, the genre mostly focuses on the social, politic and cultural implications that the future may bring. [...]
Having read “The God of Small Things”, I decided to give some of Arundhati Roy’s essays a try. I found a neat little book called The Cost of Living containing two essays: One on the massive dam-building projects in India, and one on the nuclear bombs that both India and Pakistan now have in their [...]
I just finished reading Arundhati Roy’s “The God of Small Things” – which I remember hearing of when it was published 7 years ago, but never got around to look at. Since then, I’ve tried reading Salman Rushdie’s rather daunting prose (both Midnight’s Children and The Satanic Verses) but developed an intense dislike to his [...]