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The blog of The Mantle's founder, Shaun Randol, is a mixed salad. You'll find quick book reviews, pithy thoughts on culture, and musings on international affairs. In short, anything that doesn't neatly fit into the rest of the site. There's no rhyme or reason or theme. As Editor I have a lot on my plate, so cut me a little slack!
Filming the Bolivarian Zeitgeist
In many ways, Oliver Stone’s latest documentary film South of the Border is a mirror image of the 2004 film adaptation of The Motorcycle Diaries. In this latter film, based on the journals of a young Ernesto “Che” Guevara, two young idealists strike out across the South American continent on a motorcycle in search of adventure, but instead find passion, resilience, and a Latin American identity that transcended all political borders.
A Cold Dish
A stalwart advocate for freedom of speech, Taslima Nasrin is an exiled political and artistic refugee who has had her share of literary revenge. Despite her work being banned in Bangladesh and India, and even as multiple fatwas have called for her head, she continues to write, speak out, and win awards around the world. Her latest North American release, Revenge (Feminist Press, 2010), is a short novel whose title, in keeping with the life of its author, promises struggle and ready action.
Utopia is Not a Game: A Response to Paul La Farge
For the Jun/Jul/Aug issue of Bookforum magazine, Paul La Farge published a sketch of the utopian ideal, and the conceptions of utopia today. This is a quick response I shared with the editors of BF.
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Mr. La Farge’s sketch of a utopian ideal as analogous to a game is intriguing, but the claim is misleading. The underlying premise for his game concept is distinctly Western (and especially American?), thus leaving the experiences of much of the rest of the world out of the conceptualization.
World Science Fest 2010: Keeping the Faith
The "Faith and Science" event was so popular that World Science Festival had to move it to a larger venue. NYU’s Kimmel Center played host to a provocative discussion on the relationship between faith and science, two seemingly intractable opposites. Or, are they actually two sides of the same coin? While much of New York City melted in balmy weather, the esteemed panelists on stage were cool in the assessments of their own passions and crafts. Faith, it seems, is what both science and religion have in common.
World Science Fest 2010: On Violence
The amphitheater and stage at Baruch College glowed blood red. Space age, frenetic pop music percolated in the background. The tone was set for World Science Festival’s panel on “Brutality and the Brain.” A sold-out, attentive audience came to learn about humans and our propensity toward violence. Is violence hard-wired in our brains? What is the psychology behind violence? Why are we drawn to violence in entertainment? These and other questions were addressed by a very brainy panel. Here are some highlights.
One Story, Many Voices (Part 2 of 2)
Interview with Writers for In My Dreams, It Was Simpler
(Part 2 of 2) (read Part 1 here)
One Story, Many Voices (Part 1 of 2)
Interview with writers for In My Dreams, It Was Simpler
(Part 1 of 2) (Part 2 of 2 here)
PEN 2010: War of the Words
War. What is it good for? Writing. PEN World Voices Festival lined up two war-themed panels on the afternoon of April 30, one featuring a bevy of novelists, the other filled with a squad of journalists. Politics remained resolutely to the side of the two discussions. No talk about whether the Iraq invasion was a good or bad idea, no discussion as to whether or not overthrowing oppressive regimes with violence is necessary. Panelists across sessions have been witness to conflict, and they have used it for inspiration in writing. But why? And how?
PEN 2010: Utopian Dreams
Sometimes PEN World Voices Festival offers sporting opportunities. After the critics finished being critical at the Austrian Cultural Forum, I had thirty minutes to complete a mad dash from 53rd and Fifth Avenue to 37th and Fifth Avenue, a.k.a. CUNY’s Graduate Center, for the Orwellian-sounding panel, “Utopia and Dystopia: Geographies of the Possible.” Along the way I had to suck down supplements: an iced coffee and granola bar. Aside the race against time (and hunger), PEN WVF also includes the Olympic feat of having to switch mental gears suddenly.
PEN 2010: The Critical Moment
The Austrian Cultural Forum (ACF) is eye-catching. The building’s zigzags penetrating and receding from the brick facades vertically paving 53rd St. Manhattan exudes a bit of swagger. This afternoon, I finally had the pleasure of exploring the tantalizingly narrow building, to listen in on the workings of the critical mind. My adventure through PEN World Voices Festival 2010 continued, but this time I heard from the critics, rather than the writers.
