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CAL Pal

A Web Companion to Contemporary American Literature

– Michael Wutz

 

Please remember: In sync with the ethos of the web, the list below is always in the making. Please let us know if you've made new discoveries as you make your excursions into cyberia, and please check out related web pages on this site as well.

Note as well that, while many websites may be informative and useful, they are typically no substitute for the more sustained scholarly discussion of a book.

To be updated and expanded periodically — please stay tuned!

  • MAL PAL, MEDIA HUB and THEO PAL in the navigation menu above, as well as the dividing membrane between modern and contemporary/postmodern literature/culture/theory, is, much in the spirit of postmodern forms of destabilization, fluid and permeable.
  • Reel Web and JAZZ PAL, also in the navigation menu above, might lead you to useful web resources on film & film criticism.
  • , a comprehensive learning environment and scholarly forum for the study of modern and contemporary American poetry, is also a most useful beginning resource.

General

 
  • (Terry Tempest Williams)

  •  


  • Fiction Collective 2 (authors/interviews)
  • Contemporary American Literature Archive
  • African-American Literature Chronology
  • American Literature on the Web
  • (Library of Congress)
  • Image Database US and World History
  • Contemporary Jewish-American Authors
  • Irving Howe, (2015)
  • (NYT)

  • (French)
    Klaus Benesch, ""
  • RelicRadio.com/Old Time Radio
  • Is Science Fiction Dying?
  • Author-on-Author insults :)
  • (PBS), PC video
  • (PBS)
  • (MAP)
  • (Aug 2014)

  •  
  • Cognitive Science -- a Hodgepodge
    -
    - (NPG Interview
    -
    -
    - (ebr special)
    - (NYT)
    -
    -  (NYT)
    -

    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    => ;
    -
    -
    - s
    -
    - (Wired 08)
    - Stephen Jay Gould, (review, sort of, of Edward O. Wilson's Consilience): Evolutionary Biology meets the (Scientific) Humanities . . . :)
    -
    - N. Katherine Hayles,
    -
    -
    -
    -
    - (12/22)
    - (4/24)

 

 

 

  • Chris Ware, (image processing)
  •   (October 15)
  • (June 14)
  • Zadie Smith,
  • (Oct 2019)
  • (Oct 21)
  • (2/23)
  • ,
  • ? (PBS, 1989);  (2022)
  • Masha Gessen, (June 2018)
  • UBUWEB: Sound: (Poetry) MP 3 Archive
  • Grove Art Online
  • Stewart Library CAL Page
  • Postcolonial Literature
  • (2023 91¶ÌÊÓƵ)
  •  
  • (7/24)

    India Links
  • Vijay Prashad, (Minnesota 2001)
  • (NYT), (NYT 5/14)
    - Muse India, the literary ejournal
    - Bruce Robbins, (n+1)
    -
    -
    - (MMA)
    -
    -
    - Changing Face of Religion in India?
    -

    -
    -
    -
    -
    - Siddartha Deb,
    - (New Yorker)
    -

    -
    -
    - (Arundhati Roy) 
    - (New Yorker, 12/19)
    - (The Wire, 12/19)
    -  (Wired 2/20)
    - Rafia Zakaria, : On the links between colonialism & sexual control (The Baffler, 9/20)


    - (1977)
       ("Don't educate, amputate")
    -
    - (12/21)
    - , , , ,
    -
    -
    - (3/23)
    - (4/23)
    - , ,
    - (10/23)
    -
    - "? (NYT, 1/24)
    - (Con 4/24)
    -  (Con 4/24)
    - Abraham Verghese,

 

  • (good for book covers)
  • ,
  • Geoff Dyer,
  • The Legacy Project -- Consequences of 20th-Century Historical Tragedies
  • A Poet Tries to Write 9/11
  • (2011)
  • ? (2015)
  • What Happened to the Novel of Ideas?
  • Joseph Luzzi,
  • , , III
  • -- Joseph Pieper, David Steindl-Rast, Theodor Adorno, Margaret Mead
  • - The Great Amerian Read
  • Glenn Albrecht,
  • ,

 

African-American History & Culture

  • (YouTube, Clint Smith)

  • - (24 Sept 2016)
  •  => 
  • , , (4/18)

  •    (Inherently Unequal, Lawrence Goldstone, 2018)
  • Ken Burns,
  • The Civil Rights Movement I, , , , V and I'll Make Me a World
  • , ; Timony B. Tyson,  ; ,  (2/20),  (4/23)
  • Malcolm X I, , III,
  • , , ;  (PBS, Feb 23)
  • (2015, NYT Review);  2021; see )
  • ; (1964)
  • , , III, IV
  •  
  • , , , Sambo Axle Grease Drapetomania
  • James Hampton, Jr., The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nation's Millenium General Assembly I,
  • (NYT 2018)
  • Zora Neale Hurston, (2018),
  • Sarah Diver, (5/18)
  • (NYT); ;  (2021);  (2022)
  • ("Top" 35, powerful)
  • 2020); (2023 91¶ÌÊÓƵ),
  • Clint Smith, "" (The Atlantic, Dec 22)
  • (ca. 1913-1930)
  • (8/20)
  •  => Ogden
  • (NYT, 10/20)
  • Nikki Giovanni, , (podcast; 1/21)
  •  (PBS Newshour 2020)
  • (Henry Louis Gates, Jr., PBS 2021)
  • (PBS 2020)
  • : From Sandman to Black Panther.
  •  (4/23)
  • (2/24)
  • (6/24)



    The Vietman War 
  • , II, III, , , VI, , ,
  • , II,
    =>; (including Vietnamese Songs, pdf);
  • , II, III

  •  (Time magazine)
  • (Viet Thanh Ngyuen)
  • Lorrie Goldensohn,
  • (The Atlantic 2016)
    =>
    =>
  • Nguyen Phan Que Mai, (2020),
  • Beth Nguyen,
  • Spike Lee, (2020)
  • , , (29 Nov 23)
     

World War II & context

  • Red Scare Image Database,  (2014)
  • , WW II in Photos
    ,

    " (1946), now fully online, , ,
  • (2022)
  • Elizabeth Samet, (2021), ,
  • Johnny Mercer, "" (1942); ; 

 

 



  • (on the 40th anniversary of the moon landing. Political opportunism, with a twinkle in the eye)
     
  • The Long View:  - Jon Meacham on the "Literature of  Our Discontent" (The 1930s)
  • Journalism, ;
    (see also essay in Slate, 30 Aug 2010)

  • -

     
  • The "Map": Mo/Pomo binary
  • Eero Saarinen I, ,
  • The Fifties Site
  • , ; ,
    - ; d
    -
    -  
    -
    - (1959)
    -  (Centre George Pompidou)
    - Allen Ginsberg, (2017)
    - Lawrence Ferlinghetti, (2019);

Historical Developments, Related Figures and Such

  • )
  • (Harper's 2019)
  • (NPR)
  • Tom LeClair, 
  • McCarthyism I, , , McCarthyism– Red Scare
    (YT)
  • ,
  • Hollywood and the Red Scare I, , ,


    Ayn Rand, , 
  • Folkmusic Archives
     
  • ,
  • Black Mountain Poets I, , III
  • ,
  • The Psychedelic 60s, Magic Trip I, II
  • , II, ,
  • Marshall McLuhan I,
  • Robert Frank I, ,
  • , II
  • , ,
  • Germans and Native Americans
  • ; (On the Media)
  • ,
  • ,  
  • (1950s-1978) 
  •  (The Daily Dot)




    Climate Change -- The Anthropocene -- A Sampler
  • (2022); The "" (2022)
  • ,  (2024)
  • Edward Burtynsky, Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier, (Photos) 
  • (April 2020)
  • , ,
  • Noam Chomsky,
  • Donald Worster, (RCC)
  • ,
  • Ginger Strand, "" (2006)
  • (2022)
  •  (NYT, 6/22)

  • (From Levittown to Scotts Co.'s "Weed and Feed")
  • : Beef as a birthright? 



  • COVID-19 Pandemic & Precursors
  • ;  
  • Arundhati Roy, 
  • ,  
  • Viet Than Nguyen,
  • Charles Yu,
  • John Keats,
  • Carol Ann Duffy,
  • Katherine Sharp Landdeck, 
  • Donald Worster, (Humans / Animals / Corona)
  • ,
  • Gabriela Wiener,  
  • Maya Alexandri,
  • Michiko Kakutani,
  • Carl Newport,  (New York, 6/20);

Individual Writers and Artists

 

For 20th/21st-century American poets, the Modern American Poetry site (above) is generally useful. Many contemporary writers are also featured per audio and video on, among others, National Public Radio and YouTube. See ReelWeb for sites on film.

 
  • Edward Albee, (17 Sept. 2016)
  • Edward Abbey, [to be done :)]
    David Owen, (2017)
  • Meena Alexander, , (Doodle)
  • Paul Auster, , Man in the Dark (NPR), (NPR), , []; (30 April 2024); ; Lucy Sante, 
  • Paolo Bacigalupi, The Water Knife,   podcast (Radio West, 2015); (NPR); ,  (Bryan Alexander); ; ; (June 24)
    => Marc Reisner, ;   (1922); CAP (Central Arizona Project);  (Circle Blue); ; ;  (2022); (PBS, 13 March 2023 91¶ÌÊÓƵ);  (SLT, March 2023 91¶ÌÊÓƵ);  (NYT, 11 April 23); (NYT, 12 April 23); (NYT, 22 May 23);  (Con, 12 Sept 23)
    => The Other Side of the Same Coin:  (WP, 12/23)
     
  • James Baldwin, Sonny's Blues, JB Teacher Resources, , ,  (Raoul Peck 2017);  (NY 2020);; James Baldwin's 100th Birthday:
    - of related interest:
  • Russell Banks, , , Salon Inter I, , , , , ; ;  , (2021)
  • Amiri Baraka, The Dutchman I, , , Democracy Now:; Why Is We Americans? (documentary, 2022); (2023 91¶ÌÊÓƵ)
  • (Amy) Quan Barry, (2022)
  • John Barth, , , Scriptorium
  • Saul Bellow, , 
  • Elizabeth Bishop, "
  • Boyle, T. C., ;  (2011), , , 
  • David Bradley, ,  , ,
  • Gwendolyn Brooks, , , , ; , ; ;
  • Sterling Brown,
  • Charles Bukowski, , CB II, , , Factotum (Sundance 2006), (2020)
  • William Burroughs, (2010, documentary)
  • Octavia Butler
  • Robert Olen Butler, (including online texts), ROB at Work, ROB Interview, Good Scent I, Good Scent II, Perfume River (Sept 2016)
  • Raymond Carver, ,
  • Michael Chabon, "The Imaginary Jew" (The Nation), MC on Cormac McCarthy's ;  (2016)
  • (NYT Obituary)
  • Ta-Nehisi Coates,  l (2017), (7/18).
  • Mark Danielewski, (Oct 12)
  • Don DeLillo, Jeffrey MacIntyre on DD, (2011), (film review), (including numerous links); , ; ; ; (2020), ; "Baader-Meinhof" I (short story), ;  (1985, movie);  (1997, review by Martin Amis)
    - (Noah Baumbach, 2022), , ; (5/24)
  • Junot Diaz,
  • Philip K. Dick, (2017), (2022)
  • E. L. Doctorow, , , John Leonard, "(NYRB),  (NPR audio), T; ; (2022)
    - ELD on Bush, (review), ELD on The March (NPR audio), ,
    -  (NPR audio), (NYT), , H&L (Diane Rehm), (NYT), ELD on YouTube;   , ; "" (Guardian 2010)
    - , II, , . ;
     
    - City of God:  Paul Tillich, , , , AE IV;  ;
    - , , , , V, , ; (LARB); (LARB), (New Republic); "Tt" (Counterpunch); George Saunders, "" (New Yorker); (The Nation); (NYT); (Graduation speech at Bronx HS of Science 2011)
    - The Waterworks, Ron Soodalter,  ""; Sarah Weicksel,
    - (Bruce Weber, NY, 1 July 2024)

  • Anthony Doerr, (2021); , ,

  • Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad (2010), , ,  ; ; , ; ; 
    - ","  Footnote: Gilbert Sorrentino, (2011)
    -  , , (2017), By the Book.
    - (2022), (podcast), 
  • Steve Erickson, , , , , ,, , Zero R II, , Dreams of You R I, ; ; (2/17)
    -
  • Ralph Ellison, , , The RE Project/Ellison and Jazz, , (2019)
  • Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides, Middlesex, The Marriage Plot, " By the Book"
  • Everett, Percival, ); (2024); ;
  • Frantz Fanon (novel by John Edgar Wideman, NYT)
  • Raymond Federman, , , RF III, , RF Interview II, RFblogspot, (2010)NYT Obits & Reviews (not yet hyperlinked), Shhh: The Story of a Childhood
  • Jonathan Franzen, (Colm Toibin), , (2018), "?" (2019)
  • William Gaddis, ,
  • Cristina Garcia, (2018)
  • William Gibson, Cyberpunk, etc., Neuromancer and Bladerunner, Gibson & SciFi Resources,
     WG Interviews, Study Guides I, Neuromancer, Bladerunner, and SciFi Novels I (audio); F Jameson on Gibson; Irish Times Interview (2003); (audio)
  • Allen Ginsberg, ; footnote to Howl; ; (2017);  see Beat pages above
  • Amitav Ghosh, ; ; ; (2019); ;
    -  (2019) , , ; ;
      => - (5/19), ; ; ; ();  (7/21);
    - Ibis Trilogy: , , , ,
    - The Nutmeg's Curse (2021),  , 
    - The Living Mountain (2022), ,
  • Louise Glück , ; ; , :);  (10/23);
  • Andrew Sean Greer, ; 
  • Gil Scott Heron, (You Tube)
  • Michael Herr,
  • Patricia Highsmith,  (wiki entry); see links to (1) Todd Haynes in FilmPal for Carol and (2) to the site, McCarthyism and the Red Scare
    of related interest:
    -
    -
  • Skip Horack, (2010)
  • Langston Hughes, LH Teacher Resource File, LH and his Favorite Music, , LH and the Harlem Renaissance
  • Hughes, Rian. ,
  • Ha Jin, , m,  Map-, , , (2016);  (2019)
  • John Irving, , (NPR audio), JR interview I,
  • Jack Kerouac, ,  ; ; see Beat pages and Look Back at the Typewriter above,  (NPR, 2007)
  • Stephen King, , , 
  • Maxine Hong Kingston, ,
  • Phil Klay, , Redployment I, II,  
    - , I-II
    -; 
  • Rachel Kushner, I, ,  , ,  , ; ;
    - Contemporary Art & The Flamethrowers: ","  , , , , , , , , (1953) , , , ;
            (women's faces & compression algorithm)
  • Tony Kushner, , AA II,
  • Jhumpa Lahiri,
    - Interpreter of Maladies, , , ,
    "" (> "The Third and Final Continent"), , 
    - The Namesake, , , (Critique),  (MLS); ; ( ;  
    - ,
    Isaac Chotiner, ), (NYT Video),  ;
    - , , , => Neel Mukherjee, (2014); i
    (NYT), (NYT 5/14); ; , , , ; (text/audio); (extracted from In Other Words, The Guardian), , (2019)
    - (2021), ; (2022), (NPR); ; 
    - (2023 91¶ÌÊÓƵ, NPR), ;  4; 
    - (9/24)
  • Harper Lee,  , , , , ,
  • Jonathan Lethem,  (2016), (2018), (2018), (Edward Norton, 2019), (2019); (2020)
  • Ursula K. LeQuin, (1/2018), ""; ;
  • Norman Mailer, , II, III, , , "The White Negro" I, II, , ,  , II
  • Ayana Mathis, "" (NYT, 3- . . / 2023 91¶ÌÊÓƵ)
  • Peter Matthiessen, (April 2014),
  • Colum McCann, (Aljazeera)
  • Cormac McCarthy, , , (essay by Michael Chabon for NYRB), , film I; ; (2022), (2022), , , 
  • Carson McCullers,
  • Joseph McElroy, (2011), , "" (2018),
  •  W. S. Merwin, , (podcast, in German), , , ; ; ; Mark Olival-Bartley, ;  (Immersive Art Installation, 2017)
  • Arthur Miller, , , , , , ,
  • Steven Millhauser, , (BOMB), , " ," (10 Best Books 2008), (2012)
  • Marianne Moore, , (2017)
  • Toni Morrison, , TM on Beloved, TM on Paradise, , II, ,  , , T2017), (August 2019), (August 19), (August 19); (Nov 19); <=> Toni Morrison; 
  • Peter Morgan,
  • Viet Thanh Nguyen, ; ,
    - , , , , , (11/22) => (trailer)
    - (2017), NPR); (2018); " (2019); ; ; (PBS, 2021)
    -
     (2021), , (NPR); , , , 
    - (2023 91¶ÌÊÓƵ); ; <=> Salman Rushdie,
    -

    - , , ; " (NYT, 8/21)
    - Of related interest:  (Celeste Cg); ; ; ; , ; 
  • Tim O'Brien, , TOB Interivew, , , , "" (NYT)
  • Flannery O'Connor, (2009)
  • Jenny Offill, (2020)
  • ,  (1/19)
  • Tillie (Lerner) Olsen, , , , "I Stand Here"
  • Ruth Ozeki, , ; , ; ; ; ;  (film reviews);
    -  (J Gleick); ; ; ; ;
    - (2021)
  • Cynthia Ozick, (2010)
  • Robert M. Pirsig,
  • Sylvia Plath, , , The Bell Jar I, , , Plath & Father, ; (2020);  (2022); (Guardian 2023 91¶ÌÊÓƵ)
  • Jackson Pollock, JP at the NGA, JP in Guggenheim,
  • Richard Powers, , RP,
    - Three Farmers . . . (FAZ, April 2014),
    - Galatea 2.2: Essays, Reviews, Interviews, Another Brief Interview (G 2.2), G 2.2: Probing the Posthuman,  , (NPG Interview), (Ted Talk), Your Brain on Metaphors;  (The Verge), ;  ;  (2022); (Atlantic, Dec 2022)
    - The Echomaker, , EM Brief Interview, , (NYT), , (NYT),
    -
    Generosity;  Nicholas Carr, (2/2018). ; 
    - (NYT),
    - , ,   (+ other links); , (The Atlantic)  (2019); Tom LeClair, (April 18); ;  , The Atlantic (April 2019);  (podcast, Feb 2020);  Suzanne Simard, - TED talk (June 2016); ;  ; ; ; ; (including links, PBS); ; ; 
    - , ,,   ,
    - of general interest (not only for Richard Powers): (2023 91¶ÌÊÓƵ); Stephen Jay Gould, (review, sort of, of Edward O. Wilson's Consilience, 1998): Evolutionary Biology meets the (Scientific) Humanities . . . :); ; 
    - (2021) ; RP's NEW BOOK -- on viruses, ; , , (podcast), 
    - (2024)
  • Thomas Pynchon [would require a separate page -- for a future star date ].  Here, ; Robert Harris, (2020)
  • Ayn Rand, , 
  • Adrienne Rich, see also ,  (2018)
  • Kim Stanley Robinson, , , ; ; 
  • Phillip Roth,  , PR Society, , A Plot Against America(Review), I Married a Communist (Review), , Everyman (AS Byatt review), , (NPR audio), ), (Film 2016), Plot Against America (NPR, audio), , , (Documentary 2013), ,  Fifty-Five, Do we Know Phillip Roth?, (Film 2016); ; 
    - ; , , PR on Fresh Air I + II (audio), , ; (3/2020), (5/2020); (review of biography, 3/21); (review by Cynthia Ozick, 4/21); (4/21)
  • J. D. Salinger, , , , , ,
  • George Saunders,  (Interview); ;  ;  ; "" (2010) => (Netflix, 2022)
  • Ruta Sepetys, 
    => of interest: (Economist 2024); ; 
  • Clint Smith, , 
  • Wallace Stegner,  (June 2020)
  • William Styron, ,
  • Amy Tan,  (2017, memoir)
  • Hunter S. Thompson, Gonzo Journalism, ,
  • David Treuer, (2022)
  • Dalton Trumbo, , (2010), (1989); (2015, film)
    , Watches II
  • John Updike, , , , Rabbit Run (Diane Rehm),
  • Jeff VanderMeer,
  • William T. Vollmann,  , (2018)
  • Kurt Vonnegut, The Vonnegut Veb, , , , KV Blog (focus on locations in V's work), (Bio 2011), (Oct 12), (2017);  (March 2019); 
  • ; ; 
  • David Foster Wallace, , , ,  ", ,  + NYT review of (DFW and Adrienne Miller); 
  • Jesmyn Ward,   (PBS),  (9-20),
    => ""
    ,  and Book Bans (MSNBC Book Club, 1-24)
  • Andy Warhol,  The Warhol, W Foundation, AW
  • Wendy Wasserstein, NY-Times Obituary, Appreciation, and Reviews
  • Robert Penn Warren, [to be developed], 
  • Charles Webb, (6/20)
  • James Welch, , ;  (2014 film),
  • August Wilson, AW at Dartmouth, ,  , Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Play Guide  ; (2020, film, last film with Chadwick Boseman); ; ; ; (2020, documentary)
  • Colson Whitehead,  (2001).   (2016), (2019), , ,   (2021); ;  (2016);   (2018); , ), ; (7/24)
    - (2021), , 
    - (2023 91¶ÌÊÓƵ)
    - , ,
    - Barry Jenkins, , II, ; ; ;  (plus other links; Sight & Sound),
    Of interest: (PBS, plus useful links); ;  ;  <=> UGRR; 
  • Tom Wolfe [to be developed], , ,  , , ,
  • Richard Wright, , , ; (film 2019, Sundance); 
  • , , ;  (2021), , 
  • Malcolm X, , , Keenan Norris, "," LABR;
  • Qui Xiaolong,
  • Yamashita, Karen Tei, , , , ,
    Disturbed, "";

    last updated,17 October 2024

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mwutz@weber.eduPhone  801-626-7011
Skype  michaelwutz007

LebenslaufCurriculum Vitae
Weber – The Contemporary West

Mailing Address

 

Michael Wutz, Brady Presidential Distinguished Professor
Editor, Weber - The Contemporary West
Department of English, 1404 University Circle
91¶ÌÊÓƵ
Ogden, UT 84404-1404 USA