by Cyrus | Aug 30, 2013 | Books
As Bryan pointed out in last Monday’s post, Teju Cole’s novel Open City is about wandering: Cole’s Nigerian-American narrator, Julius, is a fl
by Bryan | Aug 28, 2013 | Books, Odds and Ends, Writing New York
Teju Cole reads from Open City and discusses urban experience at Harvard Graduate School of Design, 2012. More book club discussion from Cyrus on Friday.
by Bryan | Aug 26, 2013 | Books, Writing New York
From its first sentence I had a hunch that Teju Cole’s Open City (2011) would have been a perfect fit for the Writing New York syllabus Cyrus and I tinkered with for almost a decade, and when we eventually take up the course again — Inshalla — I take...
by Bryan | Aug 22, 2013 | Books, Writing New York
Looking for one last, fantastic read before summer ends? This year I’ve been pitching Teju Cole’s 2011 award-winning novel Open City to anyone who’ll listen. It’s brief but still feels bursting with detailed observation, beautifully written,...
by Cyrus | Mar 11, 2013 | Cultural History, This Day in New York History
Today is the 365th anniversary of the famous “goats and hogs ordinance” passed in New Netherland under the governorship of Peter Stuyvesant. Here’s the text of the ordinance: Whereas the Honble Director General and Council of New Netherland have...
by Cyrus | Feb 4, 2013 | Books, Events
Last week, I had the privilege of participating in “The Final Pursuit,” a panel discussion at Plymouth University celebrating the “Moby-Dick Big Read” project. My co-panelists were Peninsula Arts director Sarah Chapman; “Big Read”...
by Cyrus | Jan 29, 2013 | Books, Events
And so, finally, we reach the end. When Moby-Dick was published in London by Richard Bentley on October 18, 1851 (using Melville’s original...
by Cyrus | Jan 28, 2013 | Books, Events
And so we reach the climactic confrontation between Ahab and the white whale, Moby Dick. It’s a beautiful morning, which prompts Ahab to meditate on the way that feeling often overrules thinking: “What a lovely day again! Were it a new-made world, and made...
by Cyrus | Jan 27, 2013 | Books, Events
In “The Tail,” Ishmael refers to the phenomenon of breaching, when the whale bounds out of the water and elevates itself into the air before plunging down again: As in the ordinary floating posture of the Leviathan the flukes lie considerably below the...
by Cyrus | Jan 26, 2013 | Uncategorized
Like a dog following a scent, Ahab detects “that peculiar odor, sometimes to a great distance given forth by the living sperm whale” as the chapter opens. As he is hoisted to his perch atop the main royal-mast head, he spies his prey: “There she...
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