Tag Archives: Review

China Girl on an Italian Motorcycle

Posted on March 16, 2013 by carto

The opening scene of The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner takes place near the Isonzo River in northern Italy during the First World War, 1917. An Italian motorcyclist called Valera is fighting an anonymous German trooper hand-to-hand after the cyclist stopped … Continue reading →

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London – The Twilight of the Gods

Posted on August 24, 2012 by carto

Summer reading takes us to London.  Something is not quite right in London’s beautiful Hampstead Heath Park. Is a dog-walker hugging that majestic English Oak? No, she is talking to it. How odd. Oh the infamy of it all – … Continue reading →

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Orpheus and Eurydice in the Rain Forest of Brazil

Posted on November 3, 2011 by carto

Imagine! The opera Orpheus and Eurydice by Gluck is playing at the restored Teatro Amazonas opera house deep in the heart of the Brazilian rainforest. Three foreigners enter the theater lobby: Marina (an American doctor looking stylish in a long … Continue reading →

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DeLillo: The White Noise of Civilization

Posted on September 28, 2011 by carto

It’s September and the year is 1984. Students are moving into college dorms. They bring with them their entertainment: stereo sets, radios, personal computers, cartons of phonograph records and cassettes. Today, of course, there would be no phonographs or cassette … Continue reading →

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Georgia: An Echo of Chain Gang Justice

Posted on September 20, 2011 by carto

On Saturday, tenants and sharecroppers from local farms would come to town to swap goods and talk, but the rest of the week was pretty dull. It was a lonesome, isolated place. The nearest bus stop was 3 miles away … Continue reading →

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Oedipus—A King in Torment

Posted on August 1, 2011 by carto

The lights dim in the tiny Nitery Theater on the campus of Stanford University and the packed house hushes. The lights come on again; dimly. Chorus appears at the edge of the empty stage and we hear Seneca’s lines of … Continue reading →

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Harold Pinter: Tense Memory Play Recalls Old Times

Posted on July 11, 2011 by carto

There is no proscenium curtain at the Pigott Theater on the Stanford University Campus. The 200 or so seats in this intimate theater look directly onto the stage. When I attended the Summer Theater 2011 production of Harold Pinter’s Old … Continue reading →

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Books to look at—no reading allowed

Posted on June 9, 2011 by carto

A historical photo of the B&M Copper Smelter in Great Falls, Montana forms the backdrop for the illustration DeadFall in the handcrafted book Nature Morte by Peter Koch. The book is now on display at the Cantor Center for the … Continue reading →

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Hairspray al fresco on Mt. Tamilpais

Posted on May 30, 2011 by carto

Hairspray, the musical, fit the day like a glove. It was sunny and warm in the gorgeous amphitheatre atop Mt. Tamalpais where Mountain Play is bringing the Broadway hit to the outdoor stage in its 98th annual production. On this … Continue reading →

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