American author Paul Auster, prolific and experimental man of letters and filmmaker, dead at 77

Paul Auster, a prolific, prize-winning man of letters and filmmaker known for such inventive narratives and meta-narratives as The New York Trilogy and 4321, has died at age 77. Auster’s death was confirmed on May 1 by his literary representatives, the Carol Mann Agency, which did not immediately provide additional details. Auster had been diagnosed … Read more

When it comes to prisoner exchanges with Russia, silence is golden, says U.S. special envoy

U.S. Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens says he agrees with the Kremlin that silence is essential when it comes to public discussions about prisoner exchanges.  “This might be the one time that I’ll agree with the Russians,” Carstens said during an interview on Rosemary Barton Live broadcast on Sunday. He explained that fact checking every … Read more

The Boy and the Heron has a beautiful, secret backstory

There’s something Aristotle said in his Poetics about the effective use of metaphor. Boiling it down, he observed that while coming up with metaphors takes genius, overstuffing your story with beautiful — but confusing — symbols doesn’t leave you with a timeless piece of art. Instead, you end up with “nothing but riddles or gibberish.” Apparently, … Read more