Although the essential element of our lives is time, we generally pay little attention to the long-term perspectives that open up to us at every moment. We only start drawing connections between them—if our curiosity survives—when we have already made it a long way down the path. We have always known our time is limited, but, at a certain point, this starts to become a certainty: we cannot keep searching indefinitely. In literature, this search turns into an immeasurable abyss. This is one of the reasons why I believe in critical observation as part of the book world’s ecosystem: the need to discern, to not be deceived in the midst of this vastness—a vastness that, these days, is algorhythmically multiplied into a sort of unguided, directionless chaos.
With the boom of online publication came the measurement of performance per article. These “success” metrics showed that book reviews and critical essays enjoyed scant readership. Criticism once lived through a golden age, from when it witnessed the birth of romanticism to when it found its place in the depths of the turbulent twentieth century. At that time, an essay by Eliot, Ortega, Simone de Beauvoir, or Paz was a newsworthy event. Today, on the other hand, the dictatorship of opinion and speed reigns supreme: social media has replaced argument with affront, deep reading with the 140-character decree. Out-of-context quotes, our obsession with lists, booktubers and bookstagrammers, and the book clubs of actresses and singers have turned into a deceitful extension of sales-obsessed publishing PR. And this is not the only flank on which criticism finds itself threatened: it seems the fire is coming not only from without. A sector of the academy has decontextualized criticism to an extreme degree, pushing it to a place where representation is crucial, but quality is not; to a “presentism” that refuses to converse with the past and sometimes shuns it completely. The figure of the literary critic, which seems to be disappearing or fading into a thing of the nineteenth or twentieth century, is therefore unavoidably necessary, as are conversation, judgment, disagreement, and mutual understanding.
“What is a literary critic?” Christopher Domínguez Michael asked in his address upon being accepted into Mexico’s Colegio Nacional in 2017. This question leads to others, and his effort to answer each of them gives us an idea of the kind of critic he is.
After leaving university, Domínguez Michael came up in the world of Mexican magazines and literary supplements created by Octavio Paz and Fernando Benítez. This world—one of financial modesty but intellectual richness—was his real school, where he confirmed that, for him, political, intellectual, literary, and artistic criticism—which Paz practiced as something akin to breathing—was an enthralling passion. He learned to distinguish between boldness and bravado; he learned that intellectual freedom is a matter not of caprice, but rather of judgment undergoing a constant exercise of doubt and risk. The critic must be brave without being reckless, and combative without turning his adversaries into personal enemies.
«The Last Words» by Lynn White Just a postcardenclosed in an envelope,enveloped for youas your love enveloped me.I expect no reply,there can be no replywhen…
Ah!WildernessMan’s natureThe spew of desolationOft the epileptic spitting sandThat retches storm! Alone the causelessCause that loves the lungTo spit its blood upon the ginger cloud.…
And they danced and they bouncedwispy sparkles that flounced all around they spunold legends undonearms flung in the gloomcontouring the doomnocturnal whirl,magical swirl dream and…
Amazon Book Description «Memories are like leaves on a tree… and they fall at different times, at different speeds, in different ways… eventually, no matter how they fall, they end…
Now, about this author interview. My first victim, er, “featured author,” is writer and artist Loralee Clark, whose first book of poetry, Solemnity Rites, is out now from Prolific Pulse Press. Loralee…
Praise for Serpent’s Tooth In SERPENT’S TOOTH, «Sterling’s poems witness texture and digging into memory and imagination, something for everyone: to make us laugh and cry and ponder—a voice that…
hatched in smoky vapors of opium from a mystical brazen beast she saunters like dated brown molasses dripping gentle, tuneful notes parasol, held skyward, hollowed out but its sturdy frame holds at least
thick and tall the fedora upon her head amid dwindling tapestry, pale blue glorious her face, such splendor aroused by daring dreams of sailors elongated body floats through the village where subtle sounds melodiously flew
never a word uttered, disappearing into the shadows of battles won and lost comprised of secrets shared in village corners amongst murky moments in shadow box intact, though armless, she endured the heartfelt spirit of the painful cost strolling for centuries where silence fell on stone buildings as she kissed the night salty tears fell gently, stinging scars where rubble once lay waste on bodies raw her songs soared, penetrating boundaries and sadness bringing forth moonlight
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Author’s Bio
Joni Caggiano
Joni Karen Caggiano is an internationally published author, poet, and photographer. Her debut poetry book, “One Petal at A Time,” (Prolific Pulse Press, LLC) was an Amazon bestseller. She is a three-time Pushcart Nominee and 2024 Best of The Net Nominee. Joni is a regular contributor to Hotel Masticadores and has collectively contributed to four additional Masticadores Magazines. On Spillwords, she won Socialite of the Year 2023, 2024, and Publication of the Month for November 2022 and June 2024, and has been a regular contributor
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