In a shocking twist, I read another depressing book by an American author. Something is wrong with me. I think I need a good dose of something safe and saccharine after this. So: Maggie Johnson is a beautiful and innocent girl growing up in a city slum. Her parents are drunks and her brother Jimmie is a fighter, not a lover. What’s a girl to do? Apart from trying to clean up after her mother and keep Jimmie from fighting, she falls in love with […]

I am currently preparing an American literature survey course for future job materials, so I am on this 19th/20th century American fiction kick. I’ve never read The Red Badge of Courage, and I know it’s a staple of American fiction. So, I decided I would need to read it. . . . What do I do with this book? I don’t know. Someone tell me. There are parts I liked, and parts I *hated* with fire. Let me try to work this out: Henry Fleming […]