Historical novel set during Taiping Rebellion cultivates a richly textured English, while another captures Sir Robert Hart’s love for a Chinese woman.
Living the Taiping
Isham Cook
American essayist and novelist based in China since 1994. Writing philosophy: downmarket, big concept, provocative, discriminating, outrageous. Ballard, Beckett, Borges, Dick, Kafka, Hesse, Melville, Mishima, Sade are influences.
From Van Gogh to the Camino de Santiago: Symbolic travel and the modern pilgrim
The exponential growth in international tourism seen in the context of European travel and tourism stretching back a millennium.
The literature of paralysis: The China PC scene and the expat mag crowd
What happens to writing when it’s fed through the political correctness machine.
John Dowland and the lost English Consort School of chamber music
England was home to the first great school of classical chamber music, preceding the Viennese School of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven by two centuries.
Why Airbnb ain’t my cup of tea
The ambiguous host/guest boundary in many Airbnb households makes for most inhospitable stays.
Macau and the writer: A photo essay
Photo essay of old Macau with nudes and choice literary quotations.
American rococo
The rococoesque beauty of the American ghetto and the obese.
