America's Most Critical Journal since 1999
by Dan Geddes It will probably be impossible for future generations to understand the special place that J.D. Salinger held in the minds of readers in the mid-to-late twentieth century. The Catcher in the Rye remains a classic statement of youth alienation, an... More »
Thomas Pynchon Review by Dan Geddes 5 January 2010 See also: Inherent Vice (2014) (movie) The Crying of Lot 49, Gravity’s Rainbow, Vineland, Bleeding Edge and Dys, an imaginary Pynchon novel Inherent Vice is a pleasant surprise. After Against the Day’s... More »
Review by Dan Geddes Vineland (1990) Thomas Pynchon See also: The Crying of Lot 49, Gravity’s Rainbow, Inherent Vice, Bleeding Edge and Dys, an imaginary Pynchon novel Contents Infiltrating the Resistance Movement The Repression: America as Garrison Stat... More »
Pynchon’s Dystopia Dys by Thomas Pynchon Imaginary review by Dan Geddes A new Thomas Pynchon work is always an event, and his devoted readers will treasure his latest effort, Dys. Dys is clearly dystopian fiction, but it is still a Pynchon work more than any... More »
BUFFALO—After years of speculation, rumors that the classic folk song “Puff The Magic Dragon” contains allusions to marijuana use, seem confirmed today, after a Buffalo woman found a scrap of paper believed to be penned by the song’s author, Pe... More »
The Conquest of Cool Thomas Frank Review By Dan Geddes Thomas Frank’s The Conquest of Cool successfully reframes the traditional perception of the Sixties counterculture: that it represented a rebellion against the consumption-oriented values of “m... More »