The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
From the Veranda of the Room of the Last Chrysanthemum at the MagistracyThe Ninth Day of the Ninth Month Gulls wheel through spokes of sunlight over gracious roofs and dowdy thatch, snatching entrails at the marketplace and escaping over cloistered gardens,...
Flowers for Algernon
“I have a right to know everything that pertains to the experiment, and that includes my future.” “No reason why you shouldn’t know.” He paused and lit an already lit cigarette. “You understand, of course, that from the beginning we...
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
‘This is about’ – the Irishman balances his hat on his thigh – ‘what we’d call, at home, a “skeleton in the cupboard”.’ ‘On Walcheren we say, “a body in the vegetable patch”.’ ‘Monster turnips, then, on Walcheren. May I speak in English?’ ‘Do so. If I need your help,...
How to Write the Great American Indian Novel
All of the Indians must have tragic features: tragic noses, eyes, and arms. Their hands and fingers must be tragic when they reach for tragic food. The hero must be a half-breed, half white and half Indian, preferably from a horse culture. He should often weep alone....