Grappling with a Timeless Problem

Grappling with a Timeless Problem Matthew Olshan Author of Marshlands

The early drafts of Marshlands read like a classical tragedy: Gus, a well-intentioned military doctor, is deployed to a war zone where his allegiance to his own empire is tested by a deep affinity for the tribal people he finds there. Torn between the conflicting demands of duty and conscience, he makes a choice that proves to be his undoing. Sophocles' Antigone was one of my early touchstones. I admired the devastating symmetry at the play's core: the way a body left unburied on the dusty Theban plain was counterbalanced with Antigone's live burial. I studied the technique with an eye toward stealing it for my novel. Read on...

Marrying Libraries Anne Fadiman Book Keeping

Anne Fadiman's Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader has been standard fare for many bibliophiles since its publication in 2000. Her essay "Marrying Libraries," about her marriage finding its way onto her bookshelves, is a must-read for any book lover - and anyone in love with a book lover - around Valentine's Day. A few months ago, my husband and I decided to mix our books together. We had known each other for ten years, lived together for six, been married for five. Our mismatched coffee mugs cohabited amiably; we wore each other's T-shirts and, in a pinch, socks; and our record collection had long ago miscegenated without an incident, my Josquin Desprez motets cozying up to George's Worst of Jefferson Airplane, to the enrichment, we believed, of both. But our libraries had remained separate, mine mostly at the north end of our loft, his at the south. We agreed that it made no sense for my Billy Budd to languish forty feet from his Moby Dick, yet neither of us had lifted a finger to bring them together. Read on...