ISHAM COOK

Question everything 切問而近思 – Confucius

Wednesday, January 27th, 2021|
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Multiply, cascade, explode: A theory of literary fiction

By Isham Cook on June 16, 2012 • ( 3 Comments )

“Monsters cannot be announced. One cannot say: ‘Here are our monsters,’ without immediately turning the monsters into pets” — Derrida

Questioning China’s “5,000 years” master trope

By Isham Cook on May 7, 2012 • ( 35 Comments )

When measured against other ancient civilizations, China is not 5,000 years old but more like 3,000-3,500 years old.

A modest proposal regarding sex work: Why all sex should be paid for

By Isham Cook on April 3, 2012 • ( 7 Comments )

The sexual fees levied on hubby would compensate working wives for the housework they do on top of their day job.

A Shakespeare sex-and-violence starter kit

By Isham Cook on January 29, 2012 • ( 4 Comments )

It was not just Shakespeare’s obsession; we can assume virtually the entire audience attending his plays was syphilitic.

On harpsichords and white pianos: The challenge of music in China

By Isham Cook on January 11, 2012 • ( 26 Comments )

Our distaste for the white piano stems from certain associated stars of the Easy Listening school (Liberace, Clayderman, etc.): music for people who don’t like music.

Theatrics of Japanese Noh, Kabuki, and the mixed-bathing Onsen

By Isham Cook on January 11, 2012 • ( 20 Comments )

A visit to a nude mixed-bathing Onsen revealed more than passing resemblance to the traditional Japanese dramatic stage.

The Chinese-Japanese cultural chasm on display at Starbucks

By Isham Cook on January 1, 2012 • ( 11 Comments )

Profound cultural differences epitomized by Chinese and Japanese Starbucks.

The high priests of medicine: U.S. and Chinese hospitals

By Isham Cook on November 30, 2011 • ( 2 Comments )

The USA and China both bear the distinction of having the worst health care systems in the world not attributable to national poverty.

Black forest cake blues: The customer service problem

By Isham Cook on November 30, 2011 • ( 1 Comment )

The idea of cake, a jokester’s cake for flinging in the customer’s face.

From struggle sessions to public dressing-downs: China’s continuity of psychological control

By Isham Cook on November 30, 2011 • ( 2 Comments )

At the Revolutionary University, students vie with another to express how much they enjoy hauling night-soil feces.

The old Chinese bathhouse, circa 2000

By Isham Cook on November 29, 2011 • ( 1 Comment )

That Chinese bathhouses draw families and their children while operating simultaneously as brothels is a phenomenon found nowhere else in the world.

Advanced love: An essay

By Isham Cook on November 28, 2011 • ( 1 Comment )

We are taught not to be misers with our money. But when it comes to the body, we are misers through and through.

Newsex. A dramatic farce

By Isham Cook on November 27, 2011 • ( Leave a comment )

X-rated dramatic farce set in a sexual re-education camp in a future Liberated California Republic.

Gu Cheng, selected poems (trans. Isham Cook & Zhao Shufen)

By Isham Cook on November 26, 2011 • ( Leave a comment )

China’s mad poet who savagely murdered his wife.

August Stramm, poems (trans. Isham Cook)

By Isham Cook on November 26, 2011 • ( Leave a comment )

Poems like teeth grinding away grammar: Germany’s Expressionist poet who died on the front in WWI.

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The Mustachioed Woman of Shanghai. A novel: “Readers who enjoy quirky, erotic mysteries will savor this tale.” — BookLife Reviews by Publishers Weekly


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Confucius and Opium — China Book Reviews: “An offbeat, erudite work of China-centered literary criticism.” — Kirkus Reviews


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The Kitchens of Canton. A novel: “An insightful, unconventional, and risqué view of present-day culture.” — Kirkus Reviews


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American Rococo — Essays on the Edge: “Food for thought, elegantly prepared.” — Kirkus Reviews


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At the Teahouse Café — Essays from the Middle Kingdom: “Insights into a culture that is notoriously opaque to outsiders.” — Kirkus Reviews


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Massage and the Writer: “Fascinating portrait…into the titillating establishments the world has to offer.” — Kirkus Reviews


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The Exact Unknown and Other Tales of Modern China: “A surreal compilation of tales about sex, love, and money in the Far East.” — Kirkus Reviews


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Lust & Philosophy: “A visceral novel that explores many different lusts and cultures.” — Kirkus Reviews


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The Exact Unknown (Chinese):


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