Conundrums

As much as they

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As much as they deny it, I think people want to be scared. It’s a phenomenon, why people want to be scared when there is so much violence and craziness in the world. People still really enjoy being scared. It’s a conundrum to me. It’s hard to explain. It’s an unconscious thing, really, why people … Read more

Americans have an interesting

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Americans have an interesting conundrum, a black and white line: You’re on one side or the other of Puritanism or licentiousness. But that gray area where people abide, between their ears or on the Internet, needs to be fleshed out more in terms of permission granted. I think a lot of women are contained within … Read more

Of course the sands

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Of course the sands of Present Time are running out from under our feet. And why not? The Great Conundrum: ‘What are we here for?’ is all that ever held us here in the first place. Fear. The answer to the Riddle of the Ages has actually been out in the street since the First … Read more

If Murakami’s novels are

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If Murakami’s novels are grand enigmas, his stories are bite-sized conundrums. (…) The great pleasure of the new story collection, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, is watching Murakami come at his obsessions from so many different angles. There’s a panoply of strangeness between these covers (…..) This collection shows Murakami at his dynamic, organic best. As … Read more

The puzzle and conundrums

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The puzzle and conundrums of Emily Dickinson’s poetry or The Cantos, by Ezra Pound, is infinitely pleasurable. Or Ronald Johnson’s Ark. And the experience extends a whole lifetime. But the intensity of certain vocalized language affects our bodies in a particular way, and that further actualization propels me. The Greeks explored this; there were very … Read more

America’s the great conundrum

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America’s the great conundrum and the great dream and the great fascination: the new land, the new world, the new temple, the new city, and the great mess. The most handguns, bombs, weaponry, violence, the cop of the world etcetera. All the contradictions. Mediocrity versus something like indigenous jazz, one of the most evolved sophisticated … Read more

Most of us don’t

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Most of us don’t have mothers who blazed a trail for us–at least, not all the way. Coming of age before or during the inception of the women’s movement, whether as working parents or homemakers, whether married or divorced, our mothers faced conundrums–what should they be? how should they act?–that became our uncertainties. Anne Roiphe