Tag Archives: American Literature

The end of writing and reading will be the end of freedom

Posted on August 3, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

I recently read the impassioned defense of literature and reading (below) which was excerpted in the Washington Post from a commencement address by the American author Nicole Krauss. The end of writing and reading will be the end of freedom … Continue reading →

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Rediscover Your Childhood Reads

Posted on July 13, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

The books that we read in our childhood often guide us through the world all of our lives. They make us reflect upon our actions and how they can impact those around us; and, perhaps most of all, they outline … Continue reading →

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The Lottery

Posted on June 27, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

In 1960, five years before her death, Shirley Jackson recorded readings of “The Lottery” and “The Daemon Lover” for an outfit called Folkways Records—the only time we know of that she ever recorded performances of her own work.” Set on … Continue reading →

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How could they leave it out

Posted on March 18, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Last week, the Atlantic magazine published a list of great American novels — 136 of them. I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve only read 60 or so novels on the list. However, when I took a closer look at the … Continue reading →

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The water was black and warm

Posted on June 21, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

Much has been written about the great American novelist Cormac McCarthy since his recent death. I have long admired his writing, but often found his books to be grim. Ironically, my favorite work is The Road, which is about a dark a … Continue reading →

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A screaming comes across the sky

Posted on March 1, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

A screaming comes across the sky. It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare it to now. It is too late. The Evacuation still proceeds, but it’s all theatre. There are no lights inside the cars. No light … Continue reading →

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The Great American Novel ?

Posted on October 19, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

During this week in 1851, Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick was first published as The Whale in three volumes by Richard Bentley in London. Almost one month later in November, the first American edition was published in New York by Harper & Brothers. Although many think of … Continue reading →

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All Good Books Are Alike

Posted on July 7, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

“All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you: the … Continue reading →

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Happy 200th Herman

Posted on June 19, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

With all of the hullabaloo about local literary star Walt Whitman’s 200th anniversary celebrations, I completely missed the fact that it is also the 200th birthday of Herman Melville. To celebrate the anniversary, Chronicle Books has published this splendid pop-up … Continue reading →

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Why Vonnegut Matters

Posted on December 10, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

Like many Kurt Vonnegut fans I became a devoted reader during my early adolescence. If memory serves, the first of his novels that I read was Sirens of Titan, but it could have just as well been Cat’s Cradle. Of course they weren’t teaching … Continue reading →

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