October 2015 - seanvansickel.com

Infinite Jest… I think I can recommend this book? Depending on who is asking?

By seanvansickel October 31, 2015Uncategorized

Since barrels of academic/Internet ink have already been spilled in discussion of Infinite Jest, I’ll keep it brief. This is a long book, and many sections of it are damn…

The Case Studies of Oliver Sacks: Hallucinations and The Mind’s Eye

By seanvansickel October 28, 2015Reading, Reading Journal

I read these two books after being completely taken in by Sacks’ wonderful memoir, On the Move. The thing I found most compelling in that memoir was his naturalistic…

Sam Lipsyte’s “The Ask” and the problem with ironic distance

By seanvansickel October 22, 2015Reading, Reading Journal

Sam Lipsyte’s novel The Ask is very funny. It’s also sufficiently dark and morbid. And it lacks something that I can’t seem to define, so I don’t think it’s really…

Flashman at the Charge, The Flashman Papers, and my spotted history with historical fiction

By seanvansickel October 18, 2015Reading Journal

I had never heard of George MacDonald Fraser’s “Flashman” books before picking a few up on a recommendation. I’ve got an innate suspicion of historical fiction borne out of an…

P.G. Wodehouse and the Role of Humor (vs. Comedy)

By seanvansickel October 16, 2015Reading Journal

The writings of P.G. Wodehouse might suggest themselves as antithetical to everything I cherish in literature, but that suggestion would be erroneous. In spite of my rabid disliking of golf,…

Tender is the Night and Re-reading Gatsby, or “Yes, Francis, We Know You Want to be Old Money”

By seanvansickel October 5, 2015Reading, Reading Journal

I almost didn’t make it through Tender is the Night. I think I only pushed through the god-awful first act because the book is considered Fitzgerald’s best, and I wanted…

Literary Privilege, MFAs, and that Marxist chip on my Shoulder

By seanvansickel October 3, 2015Uncategorized

Writing is less and less a thing that people can do as a job, and the price of admission is getting higher. With their spreading proliferation, MFAs in Creative Writing…