What really happened? Editing our memories
“Memory actually works more like a Wikipedia page,” says [forensic psychologist Elizabeth] Loftus. “You can go into your page and change things. But so can other people.” I’ve known or suspected this since I was very young and became aware that I couldn’t really trust my own memory, and had to be equally suspicious of … read more »
Attack on New York
On this 14th anniversary, I’ve reposted my 5-day journal on the “Attack on New York” — witnessed from close by. You can read the five entries here: Attack on New York, from Unsolicited Comments, 2001.
A useless crime and collapsing illusions
I just finished reading Leonardo Padura’s tremendously disturbing novel, El hombre que amaba a los perros (click on link for my review), which is three stories in one: Leon (Lyev Davidovich) Trotsky’s final years, from his exile from the USSR in 1929 to his murder in Mexico in 1940; how an idealistic young Communist from … read more »
The sociological imagination — in fiction
I was startled recently by the recommendation that authors “brand” ourselves to sell our work, which I first saw in a symposium in the Spring/Summer 2015 issue of the Authors Guild Bulletin. It has also become commonplace in blogs I found quickly by a Google search (author + brand). It sounds crass, as though we … read more »