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Review of Diary of the Fall

February 26, 2019

book, Brazil, fiction, Holocaust, literature, Michel Laub, review

I was at the local library, desperately searching for something interesting to read. I found a copy of Michel Laub’s Diary of the Fall and I was attracted by the concept: Three men from different generations, each facing different problems (and yet with an underlying similarity). Sounded interesting for someone who likes literary fiction, right? Well, that’s what I thought too. But, unfortunately, as this review of Diary of the Fall will reveal, sometimes all the ingredients are there but the recipe is a failure.

review of diary of the fall — The art cover of *Diary of the Fall* is very similar to this stock photo. But here’s a little problem: Despite the author’s (and the protagonist’s) efforts to convince the reader the fall described in the story was some sort of threshold, the result is thoroughly unconvincing.

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Authors Talk: a Discussion with Bryce Paradis and Evan Coupland

February 20, 2019

Author Interview, Literature

author, Bryce Paradis, Evan Coupland, fiction, interview, literature, writing

This article is a part of a series of blog entries, which I refer to as “Authors Talk”. You can think of it as an author interview and, indeed, that is the name of the blog category. However, I prefer to see it as a friendly chat between fellow authors. Today I’m having this virtual chat with Bryce Paradis and Evan Coupland, authors of Stories from the Nation of Wisland.

Or, to be more precise, I’m having a chat with them having a chat; an interview of them interviewing each other; a meta-interview. I don’t know what to call it, things are never simple with Bryce Paradis and Evan Coupland. Of course, this is what makes Stories from the Nation of Wisland such a remarkable text to begin with.

You can find a detailed list of useful links to their work at the end of this article.

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Anapest Generator: a JavaScript Poem Maker

February 17, 2019

Programming

anapestic generator, computer, javascript, literature, poetry, programming, technology

My JavaScript iambic pentameter generator is among the most popular articles on this blog. If you liked that, you’re gonna love today’s article. I decided to make an anapest generator with a rhyme! It’s a JavaScript poetry generator using an anapest, that is, a poem with anapestic meter.

anapest generator — Could the pen really write with the might of the sword?
(see what I did there?) 😉

An anapest, or anapestic meter, is a metrical foot consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed one. Perhaps the most famous example of an anapestic poem (also mentioned in my article on poetry) is Lord Byron’s “The Destruction of Sennacherib”.

The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.

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