2/04/2008

Spiegelman covers

February 15, 1993: Valentine's Day

July 8, 2002: Fears of July, 2002

November 26, 2001: Enduring Freedom

August 24, 1998: Private Lives

February 16, 1998: The Low Road

April 17. 1995: Theology of the Tax Cut

2/02/2008

notion of linear time is artifice

Liz Seeley, a sensitive reader of The Writing on the Wall, when asked whether the end of the novel is hopeful, wrote the following:

Earlier, when I thought about Jack, I saw a time line, past, present, future, with Jack trying to stay in the present and Renata spending her energies on the past, while all the time components of the past and future moved, confused, randomly, back and forth along the line influencing the present. When I read the last chapter again I knew why. LSS, in an elegant phrase, says it precisely when she discusses the fall of the twin towers and how it seemed to have happened yesterday..." It refused to assume its proper location in the artifice of linear time - three weeks ago, six weeks ago, eight, demonstrating just how artificial is the notion of linear time."

I interpret the end of the novel as Renata, finally, coming to grips with the artificiality of the "notion of linear time" and all that that implies.

2/01/2008

Spiegelman on "Fresh Air"

Here is a link to an interview with Spiegelman conducted by Terry Gross for her radio show Fresh Air. The interview took place in 2004, not long after In the Shadow of No Towers was published. The file is a downloadable mp3 (right-click, save as); you can stream it by clicking on the encircled triangle.