Topic: May 2006
LOTS OF NEWS THIS WEEK!
Contributor News
Stephen Siciliano (Vedette) continues his "La Danza" through New York on Thursday, May 18 at The Wine Room of Forest Hills [718.520.1777] and on Saturday May 20 at the home of documentary film maker Vincent Liotta in Greenwich [212.227.O240 or 646.515.5743]. Siciliano will give readings from his novel to musical pieces from Omar Torres' albums "Dynamisto" and "La Danza." Writes Siciliano: "Come swill some flamenco wine and catch the flamenco groove." Both of these performances are open to the public.New magical realist titlesJan Steckel writes: "I wanted to let you all know that the first print run of 200 of my new poetry chapbook, The Underwater Hospital, sold out in three weeks. Copies of the second print run are now available for $5 from Zeitgeist Press and at Amazon.com." Editor's note: They list her chapbook as a pamphlet… Would somebody please educate the folks at Amazon on the difference between a chapbook and a pamphlet? Sheesh.
Between the Bridge and the River, by Craig Ferguson [yes, the Late Show host].Check out these performances
Malinche, by Laura Esquivel
Refuge, by Dot Jackson
Matters of Life and Death, by Bernard MacLaverty
Almost, Maine, Friday, May 19, Caribou Performing Arts Center in Caribou, ME; Penobscot Theatre Company, playwright John CarianiFilm newsThe Ventriloquist, through Sunday May 21, 125 Bathurst in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; director Keith Turnbull, playwright Larry Tremblay
Check out El Doctor, an animated film by Suzan PittMagical Realist MiscellanyBoohoo: The recent film release of The Mistress of Spices is not getting great reviews. I'm too sad about that to add the links to all the critics' pans in London. Just suffice it to say that, as Garrett Rowlan points out in our upcoming edition of Margin, magical realism might not truly be capturable for the big screen. (Any arguments to this theory can be sent directly to me, but you might first consider reading Rowlan's upcoming thesis on the subject in the June 9th edition.)
Another film that's not getting great reviews: Just My Luck. But who expected that one to be great? James Rocchi for Cinematical suggests a better film based on the concept of luck: Intacto. Thanks for the tip, James. Intacto sounds like a keeper, even if JML isn't.
Here's a terrific comparative book review on political writing in The Nation—critic John Banville spotlights Roberto Bola?o's Last Evenings on Earth and The Successor, Ismail Kadare's latest effort. While his references to magical realism are secondary, Banville's discussion itself is thoughtful and germaine to any dialogue about MR.And while I'm on a tangent…why not check out Rebecca Solnit's commencement address for U-Cal Berkeley's English Department, "Welcome to the Impossible World"? Solnit: "Books matter. Stories matter. People die of pernicious stories, are reinvented by new stories, and make stories to shelter themselves. Though we learned from postmodernism that a story is only a construct, so is a house, and a story can be more important as shelter: the story that you have certain inalienable rights and immeasurable value, the story that there is an alternative to violence and competition, the story that women are human beings. Sometimes people find the stories that save their lives in books." Another relevant excursion into the roots and reasons for magical realism, methinks.