Monthly Archives: May 2022

A Parenthesis Utopia

Posted on May 29, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

One of the difficult lessons I learned from COVID and beyond (because the world won’t be the same, at least not for us) was how futile efforts at utopia are. When COVID hit in February 2020 I was living in … Continue reading →

Posted in International Affairs, Travel | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Dr. Zhivago

Posted on May 15, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

The fulcrum around which Dr. Zhivago turns occurs about 3/4 of the way through the novel. Yurii Zhivago is holed up in Varykino, a rural Ural estate where his family has onetime lived. He is on the run from the … Continue reading →

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In Venezuela the Church Still Endures

Posted on May 13, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

Yesterday I had coffee with a new friend, who is himself Catholic, and in a wide-ranging conversation you have when you are surprised by stumbling upon a kindred spirit, I recalled this article I wrote about the Catholic Church in … Continue reading →

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On Writing

Posted on May 12, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

It’s difficult to be a writer in America in 2022. Of course, it’s always been difficult to be a writer. Anywhere. It requires a measure of sacrifice; a Sisyphean sense of the futile; and an overinflated perception of self. Writers … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature | Tagged | 2 Comments

American Writers in Istanbul

Posted on May 12, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

“Everybody is writing their Turkey books” Rose Macaulay once wrote in her lovely travel book Towers of Trebizond. This one is Kim Fortuny’s. Kim, it seems, is a professor of American Literature at a university in Istanbul. I love Istanbul … Continue reading →

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