Reviews
Wednesday, December 7 2011
The First True Celebrity of the Arts: Jane Smiley's 'Charles Dickens: A Life'
Jane Smiley's Charles Dickens: A Life is a beautifully written, wonderfully surprising look at the thoroughly modern Charles Dickens.
Monday, November 1 2010
'The Man Who Invented the Computer' Was Not Steve Jobs or Bill Gates
John Atanasoff's invention -- 74 inches long, 36 inches deep and about 40 inches tall -- was a milestone, but also only a steppingstone to the personal computers we depend on today.
Wednesday, June 9 2010
Janes Smiley’s Excellent Prose and Sly Humor are Here in 'Private Life'
Smiley never writes a book without placing her characters amidst upheaval; here it's war, along with scientific advances and technologies like the telephone, the 1906 earthquake, and the Spanish Influenza epidemic.
Thursday, February 15 2007
Ten Days in the Hills by Jane Smiley
What should you do when war starts? Visit a friend! Talk! Have sex!
Wednesday, November 15 2006
13 Ways of Looking at the Novel by Jane Smiley
You might argue with her judgments, as I did with her criticism of Conrad's Heart of Darkness, but you can't help but sense that hers is the more grounded point of view.
