Notes from Source: 74 worldliteraturetoday.org reviews equally tentative prose that make his autobiographical books engaging on so many levels. The Report is divided into four sections, the last of which, “Album,” features dozens of photographs. The other chapters concern Auster’s adolescence , his enduring experience of cinema, and the unexpected delivery of a stash of long-forgotten love letters. Figuring out how the sections coexist and echo one another is half the fun of this volume, although the reader should also be prepared to take things as they come, so to speak, for while Auster’s design might indeed hold all the reminiscences together, ultimately it is Auster’s slow-paced delivery that acts as the proverbial glue that holds the reminiscences together for us as much as for the author himself. Toward the end, Auster tells us that he writes because writing makes him feel human, and we couldn’t agree more. We overlook his occasional repetitiveness and instead celebrate his wish to position the process of remembering where it belongs: at the forefront of the human experiment. Piotr Florczyk Santa Monica, California Anne Carson. Red Doc>. New York. Knopf. 2013. isbn 9780307960580 Anne Carson’s Red Doc> is a brilliantly conceived hybrid both in form and content. Boldly mischievous in tone and risk-taking in spirit, it is like no other book you have ever read. The story drifts somewhere between the time of ancient Greek mythology and modern life; the characters are half-monstrous, half-human; and the format is a witty genre-crossing mix of poetry and prose. Visually, the book looks different, too, its text abruptly narrowing into long, thin columns that resemble rows of newsprint rather than pages of a book. Then there is the accelerated pace of the narration, the words spaced but not punctuated into brief sentences and phrases that tumble down the page at breakneck speed. There are no chapters, but at intervals pauses in the narration occur in sections inexplicably titled “Wife of Brain,” which provide a kind of ceremonial seal to the units of action. Finally, there is the playfully offhand title of the book that evokes a casually created computer file, a work in progress that is ready to be modified. The central story of Red Doc> condenses around a phantasmagoric road trip in which the two mythical protagonists of Carson’s earlier verse novel, Autobiography of Red, reappear. Geryon, a red-winged cattle herder now known as G, and his former lover, Heracles, a war veteran now known as Nanao Sakaki How to Live on the Planet Earth Blackberry Books Japanese nomad, nature-lover, and poet Nanao Sakaki gives us a collection of poems from his global travels. Each piece captures the observation of a simple beauty provided by the earth and catches the reader’s breath, leaving one wishing to have been in Sakaki’s shoes every step of his incredible journey. Zeeshan Sahil Light and Heavy Things Faisal Siddiqui et al., tr. BOA Editions Translated from Urdu, the short poetry collection Light and Heavy Things is remarkable in its combination of simplicity and achingly beautiful imagery. War and poor health besieged the Pakistani poet Zeeshan Sahil (1961–2008), but his spirit continues to shine brightly through these poems, illuminating a path of steadfast hope and affirmation of life. Nota Bene Sad, drive by car with their madcap artist friend, Ida, through a surrealistically glacial landscape studded with ice mountains like “panels of torn planet” and replete with ice bats “the size of toasters” on a journey that includes stops at a body shop and a psychiatric clinic. Their alternately breezy and dispirited conversations along the way give the characters an eccentric, passive air that at times can make their state of mind seem almost posthumous: “Whatever / happened to your / autobiography says Sad / . . . I / gave it up says G / nothing was happening in / my life.” This makes for an exasperating but compelling read—we advance, tantalized by our own uncertainty of what the characters will do or say. Ultimately, the whimsical odyssey has a serious destination—the room where G’s mother lies dying in a bed “as / big as a speedboat.” Until now, Carson ’s use of…

Further Notes: Publisher: University of Oklahoma