Artists of the Verb and Vision

Ask any student of American history what year the enslavement of African Americans ended in the United States and she or he will answer with cheerful confidence, "1865." Ask that same question of author Douglas A. Blackmon, who recently picked up a very cool 2009 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction for his book Slavery by Another Name, and he will suggest a different date: "I ...

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I think I've figured out why I am just now learning about the fantabulous works of author Carlos Ruiz Zafón. At the time that his novel The Shadow of the Wind enjoyed a year-long run on the bestseller lists in Spain in 2001, and then later duplicated that success in corners all around the global village, I was eyebrow-deep in research for Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. That means I ...

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Already a dedicated advocate for the empowerment of women, a world traveler, successful real estate agent,  and author of the scandalously irreverent Scarlett O'Hara Can Go to Hell, Miriam K. Center recently added the title of playwright to her list of things to accomplish while living on earth. Center has long been a fan of theatre who lists  Edward Albee, Neil LaBute, Sam Shepherd, "and ...

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Author-Poet Aberjhani reviewed:

Works by Premier Artists Make Children's Bible Uniquely Collectible, December 23, 2009 "My Holy Bible for African-American Children" was edited by Cheryl and Wade Hudson, who have won national acclaim as the authors and publishers of their Just Us Books (designed for a young multicultural reading audience). It is recommended for children aged 7-10 and is the first title in Zondervan Publishing's planned ZonderKidz series. Like all children's and standard new international version Bibles, the language in this one has been simplified and made more accessible for modern young readers than that included in a standard King James edition. Moreover, it includes such strategically placed supplemental texts as lyrics for the classic hymn, "Wade in the Water," and an excerpt from Kirk Franklin's more modern gospel standard, "Stomp." A major plus for this Bible--and one that makes it uniquely collectible-- is the fact that it features the work of seven artists whose paintings bring to life both traditional biblical stories and empowering scenes from African-American history. The artists include: Pat Cummings, Nancy Devard, Shane Evans, Cathy Ann Johnson, Anna Rich, and Javaka Steptoe, and Michele Wood. Wood, the award-winning illustrator for the children's books Going Back Home: An Artist Returns to the South and I See the Rhythm, is represented by a half dozen richly painted illustrations in the new Bible ranging from images that combine Christian faith and hip hop culture to that of Civil War abolitionist Harriet Tubman leading escaped slaves across a river. More abstract works by the artist serve as color frames for additional writings about "The African-American Worship Experience" and for "Inspirational Quotes." by Aberjhani National African American Art Examiner and author of The Bridge of Silver Wings (Songs of the Angelic Gaze)

Author-Poet Aberjhani reviewed:

Ray LaMontagne's TROUBLE Demonstrates Rare Musical Artistry, December 22, 2009 The rainforest-rawness of Ray LaMontagne's voice and the music he makes with it, accompanied by his guitar, is so unexpectedly honest and unpretentious that it's hard to imagine TROUBLE as an album that was "produced" at all. It sounds more as if the singer performed each of these 10 songs in their original inspired forms, giving himself with a complete lack of self-consciousness to the smoldering intensity of the opening track, "Trouble," and gently coaxing from strings and his voice the lyrical beauty of the last two songs, "Jolene," and "All the Wild Horses." LaMontagne is clearly what we like to call an American original. According to IMDB, his first name at birth was Raycharles, as in the late great singer's two names made into one, and LaMontagne seems to possess the same kind of private relationship with music that Charles' did, one that turned him into a public phenomenon. Whether listening to the story-telling artistry of "Narrow Escape" or the jaunty hopefulness in "Forever My Friend," we hear both LaMontagne's own uniquely styled delivery as well as the accumulated legacies of the great blues singers Robert Johnson and folk icons like Bob Dylan. What seems to make the music distinctly LaMontagne's, however, is his individual respect for the creative gift placed in his capable hands. He is as passionate a poet as he is a singer and two combined make a rare and beautiful kind of musical artistry. by Aberjhani author of ELEMENTAL: The Power of Illuminated Love and Christmas When Music Almost Killed the World

Author-Poet Aberjhani reviewed:

The Nujazz New Millennium Soul of Maxwell's BLACKsummers'night, August 14, 2009 Upon its release the first week of July, "BLACKsummers'night" matched the success of Maxwell's 2001 CD, "Now," by debuting at number one on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. (Reportedly, only Michael Jackson's "Number Ones" CD had more sales for the week but was not eligible for the chart.) This is possibly Maxwell's most ambitiously creative album since 1998's "Embrya." Many found that particular set of music too abstract in comparison to his mega-hit 1996 debut, "Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite," which established the artist as one of the pioneers of New Millennium Soul. "BLACKsummers'night," on CD and vinyl as in concert, has drawn and likely will continue to draw strong approval from the singer's fans and critics worldwide. Those critics who feel obligated to lean in the opposite direction may wonder out loud what the results might be if Maxwell chose one day to channel some of the intensity of his romantic compositions into a collection of songs dealing with serious social and political issues? Such an effort, some critics might wager, could produce a modern version of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On," or Club Nouveau's undervalued classic, "Listen to the Message." Speculations to the side, the nine songs on "BLACKsummers'night" stand better than well enough in their own right. The set opens with the trip-hoppish and uniquely Maxwellian groove titled "Bad Habits," a song that seems to place listeners at the brink of a break-up that moves back and forth between barely controllable ecstasy and overwhelming regrettable sorrow: "This is the highest cost, take you and make you off/ Love you and leave you lost, will you forgive me..." The erotic angst grows even deeper in the second song, "Cold," in which we hear the first overt hint to the meaning of the album's title: "As God as my witness, my summer's gone frigid, my summer's gone frigid/ I know you can hear this." The third track is the immensely popular "Pretty Wings," which spent a month at the top of the singles' chart, and a snippet of which Maxwell first introduced on the web in 2008. "Pretty Wings" lends strong support to the singer's statements in recent interviews where he asserts that he matured a great deal while out of the public spotlight for the past eight years. At a time when too many people resort to violence or stalkerish behavior at the end of a difficult relationship, the singer croons with altruistic serenity: "If I can't have you let love set you free/ To fly yo' pretty wings around..." Each of the first eight songs is a stand-out with vocals that are more powerful than ever. They take listeners through an odyssey of love lost, love discovered anew, and then explored straight through to the burning screaming hilt. The ninth track is a jaunty instrumental appropriately titled Phoenix Rise, courtesy of Maxwell's creative alter ego Musze, that provides the perfect punctuation to the entire set. A major component of the Maxwell's success from the beginning has been a spiritual quality within his music that enhanced its appeal to no small degree. It was easily evident throughout the Embrya CD, and in his cover of Kate Bush's "This Woman's Work." On BLACKsummers'night, the spirituality comes through most dynamically in "Help Somebody" and "Playing Possum." The former drives its point home with the echoing plea, "Give a little mo-o-o-o-o-o-orrrrrrrre!" and this chilling request: "If you see the future, ask it if I'm there,/ Ask him if I'm there/ Ask it to tell you, did I ever make a stand..." Moreover, while the title of "Playing Possum" may sound lighthearted, it is performed as a tearful elegy that calls for a loved one to "Come back from the dead" and ends with the final weeping sob of "Yeeeeeeaaaahhhhhh..." The CD throughout is flavored heavily tastes of nujazz, the distinct smooth sounds of what the world embraces as neosoul, and elements of world music. For this, in an interview on [....], Maxwell acknowledged his band members: "I made this album and these albums with the assistance of so many great people. Musicians on this album are at the top of their game. To be in that zone or that place where you're just making music because you really love it... you can tell the difference I think." by Aberjhani co-author of ELEMENTAL: The Power of Illuminated Love and Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Facts on File Library of American History)

Author-Poet Aberjhani reviewed:

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: Three Reasons to Celebrate Woody Allen: Vicky Cristina Barcelona, July 11, 2009 The idea of naïve innocent Americans abroad in the world and preyed upon by charming seductive Europeans is a favorite theme in classic works by cosmopolitan novelist Henry James. Celebrated director and writer Woody Allen, whose greatest hits include such notable movies as Annie Hall (1977), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), and Mighty Aphrodite (1995) gives that theme a very modern, humane, and somewhat wicked twist in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. He accomplishes that entertaining feat with a stellar cast featuring Rebecca Hall as Vicky, Scarlett Johansson as Cristina, Javier Bardem as Juan Antonio, and Penelope Cruz in her Academy Award-winning role as Maria Elena. Woody Allen is a film master of complex character studies and social entanglements that lend themselves to philosophically absurd interpretations. Through his quirky brilliant perspective and the film's laid-back narration by Christopher Evan Welch, we meet best friends Vicky and Cristina. Two beautiful talented young women at crossroads in their lives, Vicky has recently received her master's degree in the somewhat improbable subject of Catalonia and is preparing to get married. The more free-spirited Cristina is a budding filmmaker who recently completed a twelve-minute short about "why love is so hard to define," and is now trying to determine which direction her life should take next. Barcelona, one of Spain's most beautiful cities, provides the perfect cultural retreat--rich as it is with history, poetry, music, and the art of Antonio Gaudi and Joan Miro--where they hope to gain some inspired perspective before moving on with the next chapter in their lives. The women's planned idyll seems both innocent and sophisticated enough until they meet the calmly intense painter Juan Antonio Gonzalo. In less than five minutes after meeting them, even before learning their names, Juan Antonio invites Vicky and Cristina to fly with him for the weekend to a small town called Oviedo where, he proposes, "I'll show you around the city, we'll eat well, we'll make love." Vicky is shocked by this proposal while Cristina is intrigued. Both ultimately accept the offer for different reasons and the weekend concludes with some surprising results. After Cristina is sidelined by an inflamed ulcer, the cautious Vicky finds herself more intimately involved with Juan Antonio than probably any engaged woman should be with a man other than her fiancé. The threesome get their romantic priorities in order when Vicky's fiancé Doug (Chris Messina) comes to Barcelona; and Cristina ends up moving in with Juan Antonio. All seems to progress as it morally should when Juan Antonio's ex-wife Maria Elena re-enters his life like a storm whirling in from the desert. Surely it testifies to the magnitude of Penelope Cruz's dramatic gifts that she is physically absent from almost the entire first half of the film and then practically dominates the second half with her captivating portrayal of Maria Elena. Though Juan Antonio and she are officially divorced, he feels obligated to take her in following an attempted suicide. As a character, Maria Elena is a cluster of contradictions and paradoxes, part madwoman and part genius, insufferable enfant terrible and seductive beauty. To her, it makes sense when she confesses to searching through Cristina's personal items to make sure she had nothing that could harm her, Vicky, and to be certain as well that she is "the right one" for her ex-husband. Nor does she see anything incongruous about her assessment of her relationship with Juan Antonio: "Our love will last forever but it just doesn't work." Oddly, she seems less prone to jealousy than she is to impatience with artistic mediocrity. According to her, Juan Antonio "stole everything from me, his whole style." Yet she screams at him with the exasperation of a dedicated mentor, "Do you realize what it is like for me to realize you will never reach your full potential?!" Her eventual acceptance of Cristina goes a lot further than tolerance and she actually throws a tantrum when Cristina decides it is time for her to move on. Vicky and Cristina's involvement with Juan Antonio and Maria Elena at first seems like exactly the kind of slightly taboo, and very neurotic adventure that both women might desire for a temporary diversion. But with such a volatile mixture of characters all hungry to experience life's most pleasurable and daring possibilities, something disastrous is bound to happen. And it does. Just when any number of critics had started to proclaim the end of Woody Allen's career as a filmmaker of any real consequence, Vicky Cristina Barcelona shows him right at the top of his ingenious game with some very strong hints of more great work to come. by Author-Poet Aberjhani co-author of ELEMENTAL: The Power of Illuminated Love and Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Facts on File Library of American History)

Author-Poet Aberjhani reviewed:

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful: Blessed by the Company of Dream Reachers, June 11, 2009 I've been lucky enough and survived long enough to share pages, via such outlets as anthologies and magazines, with some fairly extraordinary company, including luminous folks like Amiri Baraka, Pearl Cleage, Sean "Puffy" Combs, the singer Maxwell, Eugene Redmond, Kalamu ya Salaam, Susan L. Taylor , John Edgar Wideman, Tiger Woods, and quite a few others I greatly admire and respect. But if someone had given me 100 chances to guess that an interview profile of me was destined to occupy pages in the same book as profiles of Hollywood icon Clint Eastwood and political powerhouse Ted Kennedy, I'm pretty sure I would have missed that particular target every single time. If they had then given me clues in the form of actual names, I likely would have smiled at the sweetness of their naiveté and gently hugged them for beings so kind to an ever-striving author like me. In the end, however, the error would have been mine because Dream Reachers, the surprising new book by Betty Dravis and Chase Von, does indeed serve as literary host to this author and certified legends like Eastwood and Kennedy. What makes Dravis and Von's book work so well is the wide spectrum of personalities and eras presented in their very entertaining book, with Dravis drawing on early-career encounters to showcase a number of bonafide stars and political heavyweights-- while also employing along with Von more recent interviews with "legends in the making." Among the latter are actress/singer Kiara Hunter, entertainment reporter Crystal Myrick, nujazz singer Nhojj, country music star Tanya Tucker, and several dozen more dream chasers who managed to transform hope and determination into measures of achievement and fulfillment. Hopefully, the greater part of my measure is still ahead of me and not behind. The different voices, diverse perspectives, and varied nature of individuals' journeys presented in Dream Reachers make the book as fun as it is inspiring. Here, in closing, is an excerpt from my chat with Chase Von: Chase: How did your time spent in the military [U.S. Air Force] enhance your writing? Aberjhani: Thank you for that question! My time in the military marked my beginnings as a professional writer. I was very fortunate in that I was able to serve as a military journalist/editor with the base public affairs office. And the thing about being a journalist with a weekly deadline in the military is that you learn how to write whether inspired by a particular muse or not. You know there's a job to be done and an entire base population counting on you to get it done because they need the information you're providing--so you do it, period. Chase Von: Your list of awards is astounding! Your name is listed in a byline besides the great W.E.B. Du Bois himself! You have also won the Best Poet and Spoken Word Artist in the 2006 Connect Savannah Readers' Poll. The Poet of The Month January 2007 at THE WRITING FORUM. You're the recipient of the Irene Tromble McAlister Literary Prize! The "Critic's Pick" for "Best Savannah Author" in the CREATIVE LOAFING Entertainment Magazine's "Best of Savannah Year 2000" poll. And you have also been selected for inclusion in CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS (published by Gale), which since 1962 has been the most authoritative reference on World Authors! Did I miss any, and do these things just happen with you putting yourself out there? Or do you have to enter into contests and win to be recognized? Aberjhani: I don't enter literary contests because I tend not to win them [laughs]. The awards that have come my way--including the CHOICE Academic Title and Best History Book awards--have all been bestowed by people and organizations who decided that my work provided something valuable for the reading public and for that reason deserved greater recognition. But I have to tell you that I received my greatest award when I gave a presentation for the Poetry Society of Georgia. It's the oldest literary organization in the state and many of its members at that time were senior poets who used to joke about needing `new blood' to stay alive, so they were happy when I was an active younger member. Anyway, after my presentation, I got a standing ovation which by itself was deeply moving. But then this one poet (the great Patricia Robinson King) who at the time I think was almost 80, sitting in the front row, looked at me and said, "I don't usually stand because these old legs of mine make it difficult, but I'm going to stand for you." I shook my head and said, "Oh please don't," because she used a walker and I knew it was painful for her. She couldn't clap her hands because she was holding onto her walker but that great poet insisted on standing and nodding to acknowledge her approval of my work. I cried over that for a year. Aberjhani author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Facts on File Library of American History) and The American Poet Who Went Home Again

Author-Poet Aberjhani reviewed:

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: Poet David Coney's Inspiring Journey through Grace and Genius, June 4, 2009 The word "genius" is a risky and bold one to use in the title of anything, especially a book, but author David Coney can get away with it in his debut collection of poetry mainly for two reasons. The first is because the title of his book was gifted to him long ago when he was the student of one Dr. Abigail Jordan, a long-time civil rights activist who led the way for the installment of the African-American Monument that stands so regally on Savannah's (Georgia, USA) River Street. The second reason Coney can utilize the word with some assurance is because of the disarming simplicity, powerful folk wisdom, and inspired unabashed accessibility that give his poetry its beauty and appeal. Considering his professional background in electronic engineering technology, it would have been understandable--maybe even expected--if Coney had chosen to present his readers with a book filled with the kind of dense imagery and cryptic metaphors that provide some poets' work with its literary flavor and texture. The Savannah-born author, who now makes his home in Atlanta, chose instead to draw on inspiration derived from his days as a youth growing up in public housing; as well as from his experiences as an adult surveying the nature of personal relationships, and the spiritual and social conditions of individual human beings. As poets often do, Coney takes us inside the nuances and lessons of romance in such poems as "Midnight Interlude," Love You Down," and "No Time for Love." However, in poems like "Femininity," "Sacrifice," and "Grace," he goes beyond the romantic to honor the lives and contributions of women. In "Grace" in particular, he explores the deeper consequences of what he sees happening to the souls of women forced to shoulder the full weight of family households when their spouse are either absent, or otherwise disengaged: "...With the absence of man, she becomes what is needed/ Her softness takes a back seat, because she will not be defeated..." A similar and yet different message comes through in "Freedom." Ironically and surprisingly enough, the great prize this poem offers is not a treasure of wealth, sexual acrobatics, or political power and influence. His is a somewhat enigmatic mystical offering in the form of personal liberation: "...For the first time you can enjoy your rhythm/ Enjoy your flow without any criticism/ You are now witnessing my perfect evening/ I'll give you what you want; it's called freedom." Among the most compelling values that Coney champions in his work are expressions of gratitude for positive influences in his life and remembrances of simpler--as in less technology- and fear-dominated times--framed in postcard stanzas. One such acknowledgment may be found in "People of the Soil," a heartfelt homage to Savannah State University (an Historically Black College/University (HBCU) that opened doors to higher learning for America's minorities at a time when many others would not). Likewise, "What I Remember about Fellwood Homes" is Coney's tribute to a childhood that clearly was not impoverished by life in public housing, but enriched by a daily culture that fed the poet's mind, body, and spirit: "...I remember women mixing up starch to put on their doilies/ I remember drinking powdered milk/ I remember the smell of McWillie's boiling crabs/...I remember making lifelong friends." Some of the references in "What I Remember about Fellwood Homes" are so specific that only those who share Coney's memories can appreciate the full significance of the lines (which in fact was demonstrated during Coney's reading at The Book Lady Bookstore in May 2009 when former neighborhood residents attended and joined Coney in a call and response as they added their own memories to the lines of his poem). Yet, at the same time, the flow of his nostalgia at moments is so lyrically sweeping that it transcends the restrictions of geographic or personal boundaries and achieves the welcomed warmth of human universality. Moreover, this particular poem is historically significant because the housing project Coney writes about was once Savannah's oldest but in recent years was demolished. It has now been replaced by "sustainable Fellwood," a modern environmentally-friendly project designed to accommodate both low and moderate income families. The seventy-five poems that comprise YOU ARE A GENIUS accumulated over a period of some twenty years. That means the degrees of intensity and angles of perspective they reflect can sometimes fluctuate and flutter like butterfly wings of unfolding time. Each poem is a quiet marvel unto itself, the lines and syllables illuminated by wisdom and compassion from the heart of one generation and presented with love to the soul of the next. by Aberjhani author of The American Poet Who Went Home Again and Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Facts on File Library of American History)

Author-Poet Aberjhani reviewed:

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful: A Fun and Informative Guide to the Coastal Southeast, May 28, 2009 It is doubtful there's another writer around who could have done this timely and precise guide to Savannah quite as much justice as Jim Morekis has. From his work as a former editor for the now defunct Savannah Creative Loafing, to a notable stint at the Savannah News Press, and now as editor-in-chief of Connect Savannah, he has come to know the ins and outs of his native Southeast to a degree that few people do. That extensive knowledge and intimate familiarity with the area serve him and readers extremely well in Moon Charleston and Savannah. Take, for example, the simple fact that he provides would-be visitors to Savannah with a wealth of insights both on how to reach it as well as how to get around and thoroughly enjoy its food, entertainment, special events, and rich cultural diversity once they arrive. Included in the sports' department is a true insider's guide to a "Kayaker's Paradise." Moreover, Morekis' writing is a pleasurable experience in itself. Note the excited and informative manner with which he describes the impact of Charleston upon one's contemporary senses: "What may surprise you the most about this incredibly historic city is how alive it is, how young in spirit despite the length of its chronology." This 350-page guide is one which natives of Georgia's and South Carolina's great coastal cities, and tourists to it alike, can learn from, utilize, and generally treasure for a very long time to come. by Aberjhani author of The American Poet Who Went Home Again and ELEMENTAL: The Power of Illuminated Love

Author-Poet Aberjhani reviewed:

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful: The Shadow of the Wind and the Power of Carlos Ruiz Zafon's Literary Magic, May 15, 2009 It would be easy to say that THE SHADOW OF THE WIND, at its core, is a compelling historical drama that explores the mystery of why someone is making it his business to seek out and destroy the final remaining copies of books by a writer who never achieved much success with them in the first place. But that would be too much of an understatement and far too inaccurate. The story begins when an antiquarian bookseller introduces his ten-year-old son, Daniel Sempere, to "The Cemetery of Forgotten Books," a gargantuan warehouse of seemingly endless shelves of books no longer read and in danger of eternal obscurity. Daniel is allowed to wander through the corridors and choose a book that he must "adopt," and promise "that it will never disappear, that it will always stay alive." He chooses The Shadow of the Wind, written by Julián Carax, and with that one choice his life changes forever. In addition to falling in love with the novel, Daniel also falls in love with the mystery behind the life of the man who wrote it. Far from being the celebrated author that he presumes Carax is, Daniel learns that despite the brilliance of his work and the fact that he published as least three novels, Carax is about as uncelebrated and obscure as a writer can get. Even Daniel's father, who owns the bookshop where Daniel works with him, knows nothing about the author, despite the fact that he apparently was born in their very own hometown. Daniel's fascination with Carax seems peculiar because he is only ten when he reads The Shadow of the Wind, described as "a ghostly odyssey in which the protagonist struggled to recover his lost youth, and in which the shadow of a cursed love slowly surfaced to haunt him until his last breath." But whether the boy's fascination is weird or not, it develops over the next decade into a full-blown obsession that impacts every aspect of his life, and evolves even beyond that into something more like divine destiny. The Shadow of the Wind (Zafón's novel, not Carax's) is set in mid-1900s Barcelona, Spain, with flashbacks to earlier days and visits to Paris as well. With its sometimes brooding dark skies, rich cultural landscape, and classic architecture, the setting includes elements of the Gothic that serve Zafón's story well. In fact, from the moment readers walk with Daniel into the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, we enter a labyrinth, which following pages reveal as a major motif and literary technique applied throughout this absorbing masterwork. Daniel's description of Carax's novel turns out to be an accurate one of Zafón's as well: "Step by step the narrative split into a thousand stories, as if it had entered a gallery of mirrors, its identity fragmented into endless reflections." With each year that passes as Daniel grows from boyhood into adolescence and young adulthood, he collects an assortment of clues about Carax and meets a number of characters worthy of supporting roles in a novel by Charles Dickens or Ralph Ellison. A beautiful blind woman who breaks his heart, a homeless man who becomes his best friend, a corrupt policeman who becomes his worst enemy, and a reclusive author who takes on the identity of one of his own most terrifying characters: these are just a few of the people who come to play definitive roles in his quest to solve the enigma known as Julián Carax. Each has a story that guides the reader into one branch of the novel's labyrinth even as it leads you into the next. We also begin to see the "endless reflections" hinted at in the above quote as Daniel discovers scenes and developments within his life beginning to mirror those in Carax's. Just as characters in a New Millennium novel might do, those in The Shadows of the Wind sometimes debate the prophesized demise of literature due to the development of technology. In contemporary times, educators and parents debate the popular tendency to access information via the Internet rather than acquire knowledge via the study of books; in the era of Daniel Sempere and Julián Carax, those who took their daily instructions for living from the printed word questioned the impact of such innovations as the radio, movies, and television. When Daniel asks his friend Fermn whether he likes the cinema, he describes it as, "...a way of feeding the mindless and making them even more stupid. ...The cinema began as an invention for entertaining the illiterate masses. Fifty years on, it's much the same." Then he experiences a silver-screen epiphany in the form of Hollywood bombshell Carole Lombard and gains a deeper, albeit mostly erotic, appreciation for what he calls "the seventh art." It makes you wonder what Fermn might have to say in this day and age when so many classics of literature, in addition to the ultra-modern graphic novel, have been successfully adapted to film. If this novel truly is a triumph of the storyteller's art as many have described it, then it is also one of the literary translator's art. The original Spanish edition, titled La Sombra del Viento, came out in 2001, and translator Lucia Grave's English version was published in 2004. Since then, Zafón's work in general has been translated into more than forty languages and The Shadow of the Wind in particular has sold 12 million copies plus around the globe. One has to give props to the translators because, experts or not, it had to prove considerably challenging to capture the finer nuances of the author's style, the subtleties of his humor, and the quiet brilliance of his universality. by Aberjhani author of The American Poet Who Went Home Again and ELEMENTAL: The Power of Illuminated Love

Author-Poet Aberjhani reviewed:

Love and Evil Collide in Andre Gide's THE IMMORALIST, May 12, 2009 One of great surprises when reading French author Andre Gide's classic novel, THE IMMORALIST, is discovering the light it shines on the study of balanced and imbalanced demands sometimes made on women within the context of marriage. The novel is largely the story of Michel, a man who emerges from a long bout with tuberculosis only to realize that he is a social clone who now yearns for a more individual identity and complete life. Illness generally provides the framework for transformation and the study of loyalty in The Immoralist. The first part of the book finds Michel suffering gravely from tuberculosis and his wife, Marceline, battling triumphantly to save him. However, once Marceline contracts the same disease, Michel becomes too enchanted with his own evolving consciousness to save his wife's life as she did his. With this single brilliant stroke of irony, Gide poses a number questions still challenging for men and women to contemplate. Namely, are the qualities inherent in a woman's love necessarily more capable of sustaining life than those inherent in a man's? And if so, why? Moreover, what personal sacrifices or changes must men make in order to generate a more life-affirming sensibility? What are the likely consequences--social, individual, political, spiritual--if men fail? And mostly, to what degree, and why, do women so often participate in their own oppression? The element of mysticism in The Immoralist is subtle but significant, with Oscar Wilde, in the form of the character named "Menalque," providing encouragement to live beyond established social restraints. The Immoralist abounds with the kind of literary, historical, and philosophical allusions that by 1917 had convinced numerous admirers that Gide was a prophet for the 20th century. It also demonstrates why his Nobel Prize-winning voice still commands attention all over the world in the 21st century. by Author-Poet Aberjhani author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Facts on File Library of American History) and ELEMENTAL: The Power of Illuminated Love

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful: Author Toni Morrision Writing outside the Fiction Box, February 17, 2009 One of the most frequently uttered phrases in the United States during the month of February, Black History Month, is the United Negro Scholarship Fund's slogan: "A mind is a terrible thing to waste." While reading Toni Morrison's powerful nonfiction collection, What Moves at the Margin, I found myself considering the opposite of that slogan: an exceptional mind is a beautiful thing to develop. That Morrison commands one of the most remarkable creative talents of our era is a celebrated fact. Her journey to iconic literary status began in 1969 with the publication of The Bluest Eye. Each of her novels since then--currently totaling nine, the latest being A Mercy--have consistently won critical acclaim, ultimately culminating in such extraordinary honors as the National Book Circle Critics Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and the Nobel Prize in Literature. With an illuminating introduction by Carolyn C. Denard, founder of the Toni Morrison Society, What Moves at the Margin stands as a self-defining commentary on Morrison's overall cultural vision and as a singular extension of her literary output. What Moves at the Margin presents almost thirty works of short nonfiction--written from 1971 to 2002-- to bring us the Toni Morrison who lives, breathes, thinks, and acts outside the fictional boundaries established by her novels. The book is divided into three categories that include: Family and History; Writers and Writing; and Politics and Society. They may be described alternately as personal essays; tributes to fellow warrior authors in the form of eulogies, forewords, and reviews; and cultural criticism that leaves neither a political nor a literary stone unturned. The African-American tradition of honoring ancestors is well represented in section one. It is particularly interesting, in light of Barack Obama's election to the U.S. presidency, to note the dialogue on race relations between her grandparents in the opening essay: "A Slow Walk of Trees (as Grandmother Would Say), Hopeless (as Grandfather Would Say)." Equally compelling are Morrison's writings about her classic work on African-American history: "Behind the Making of The Black Book" and "Rediscovering Black History." The value of recognizing and claiming one's historical roots is not just academic, she offers, but imperative because "When you kill the ancestor you kill yourself." The writers to whom Morrison pays tribute in section two stand among the handful of late-Twentieth Century authors whose works expanded the presence and acceptance of African-American literature in the U.S. publishing industry. (It should be noted as well that Morrison herself assisted that process early in her career in her role as an editor for Random House.) They include the great Toni Cade Bambara, whom she describes as "a writer's writer, an editor's writer, a reader's writer." Also present is her moving tribute to Henry Dumas, whose work she describes as "some of the most beautiful, moving, and profound poetry and fiction that I have ever in my life read." It is largely due to Morrison, the poet Eugene Redmond, and Dumas' widow that the world knows anything at all of this brilliant author whose life ended at the age of thirty-three when he was killed by a transit policeman in a New York City subway station. Her eulogy for James Baldwin, whose collected essays and fiction Morrison edited for The Library of America, is a deeply personal and profound one in which she observes: "Yours was the courage to live life in and from its belly as well as beyond its edges to see and say what it was, to recognize and identify evil but never fear or stand in awe of it." In the final section, "Politics and Society," Morrison engages contemporary issues with clarity, compassion, and unyielding conviction. "The Dead of September 11" reveal her to have been as stunned as any by the savage events of that history-altering day. Boldly lobbying on behalf of fellow writers in "For a Heroic Writers Movement," the author asserts "competitiveness and grief are the inevitable lot of a writer only when there is no organization or network to which he can turn." The book concludes with two speeches that demonstrate Morrison's commitment to political and cultural responsibility. The first, "How Can Values Be Taught in the University," was delivered in April 2000 at Princeton University and in it the author delivers some of her most potent social criticism: "If the university does not take seriously and rigorously its role as guardian of wider civic freedoms, as interrogator of more and more complex ethical problems, as servant and preserver of deeper democratic practices, then some other regime or ménage of regimes will do it for us, in spite of us, and without us." Appropriately enough, the very last text is her famous Nobel Lecture in Literature. In the lecture, she uses a parable about a blind old woman challenged by a group of young people to state her concerns for the state of language in the modern world: "Sexist language, racist language, theistic language--all are typical of the policing languages of mastery, and cannot, do not permit new knowledge or encourage the mutual exchange of ideas." Morrison long ago identified as one of her primary goals the production of "word-work" grounded in the African-American experience and worthy of inclusion in the greater American literary canon (as represented by books regularly studied on the high school and college levels). To entertain such a noble vision is one thing; to actually achieve it is quite another. In What Moves at the Margin, readers get a good strong sense of the family influences, literary culture, and passionate political dynamics that made Morrison's achievements possible. It also illustrates that by striving so mightily to accomplish specific goals on behalf of one segment of humanity, she went beyond them to create literary wonders capable of enriching the lives of not just her own people, but of all people. by Aberjhani author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Facts on File Library of American History) and The American Poet Who Went Home Again