Author Archives: Stephen Jaeger

Enlightenment Man: An Academic-Superhero Action-Adventure Thriller

SEASON 1, PART I: “The Deth Ray” The city is in a state of frenzy; wild enthusiasm spreads from one block to the next.  Cheering crowds fill the streets whenever Enlightenment Man appears. The city shuts down and people come out of their apartments, speak to neighbors they’d ignored for years.  They understand each other;Continue reading “Enlightenment Man: An Academic-Superhero Action-Adventure Thriller”

What’s So Good About ….?

“Whats so good etc” (containing Thomas Man’s Joseph in Egypt, a Love Story–and other essays to follow) What’s so good about Thomas Mann’s Joseph and his Brothers? Thomas Mann’s Joseph in Egypt: A Love Story Suppose I told you that one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century wrote a vast four-volume novel thatContinue reading “What’s So Good About ….?”

James McBride, Deacon King Kong

James McBride, Deacon King Kong (2020) is the best American novel I’ve read in years. What’s so good about it? The characters, the language, the wit, the strong sense of place, the original take on drug-infested ghetto life, the humanizing effect of the story. (If this is too much to read for a Facebook post,Continue reading “James McBride, Deacon King Kong”

John Patrick Shanley, Wild Mountain Thyme (review)

We watched “Wild Mountain Thyme” twice this weekend. It’s such a good movie,—and getting beat up so badly in reviews—I want to sing its praises. You’ll want to watch the lead-in to the titles repeatedly: camera sailing over Irish coastline, god-carved cliffs, mild surf, turns in to green fields, a long narrow road to aContinue reading “John Patrick Shanley, Wild Mountain Thyme (review)”

Steven Soderbergh, Contagion (2011)

Brilliant story-telling/editing, big-time stars in virtually every speaking role, a story about various wrenching and very ugly deaths by a contagious disease, also about the social chaos produced by fear of the novel virus that dispatches millions world-wide in less time than it takes to apply for and get unemployment compensation—but also about the musteringContinue reading “Steven Soderbergh, Contagion (2011)”

Watching Rear Window during the Pandemic

Watching Rear Window during the Covid pandemic and the Trump reign of terror helps understand what the movie is about. It’s a political allegory, among other things. The little society of Rear Window (1954) consists of seven different apartment windows that look out onto a rectangular courtyard from the four bordering apartment buildings; each isContinue reading “Watching Rear Window during the Pandemic”

Ingmar Bergman, The Seventh Seal (1957)

Plagues and pandemics concentrate the mind. Imagine that you have a week or a month before you die rather than the ten, twenty, or fifty years you have been vaguely counting on. Practically speaking your planning gets urgent. But at another level, philosophy comes crashing in on you, and you ask, what have you accomplished?Continue reading “Ingmar Bergman, The Seventh Seal (1957)”

Somerset Maugham, The Painted Veil (1925)

Another plague book. This one has taken me by surprise. It’s an excellent novel, one of the best by Maugham. In earlier years I read him a lot, but not Painted Veil until now. There is a movie version from 2006 starring Naomi Watts and Robert Norton. Well worth seeing. Watts is superb. The 1934Continue reading “Somerset Maugham, The Painted Veil (1925)”