September 10, 2009
“I’m Now Going to Make My Vice-President Weep” [Pause for Applause]
Obama stands at the doorway. He’s a boxer — a cruiserweight, maybe — about to enter the ring. Then he’s announced. He beams, moves forward — all smiles and shoulder […]
July 13, 2009
59 Across: Gandhi Punched Him
Dean Olsher, whom you may know from public radio, has written a book: From Square One: A Meditation, with Digressions, on Crosswords. The book’s publication coincides with my own burgeoning […]
June 1, 2009
Location, Location, Location
Nabokov wrote The Real Life of Sebastian Knight under unusual circumstances. In a 1941 letter to Edmund Wilson (penned long before their famous feud), he tells his new friend, “I […]