Desolation Kerouac: Wrestling with Demons in ‘Desolation Peak’
Jack Kerouac’s posthumous Desolation Peak establishes that Kerouac was more than a road warrior out for kicks. Or some wayward beatnik.
Buddhism
Horror Video Game ‘Silent Hill’ Explores Dark Paradoxes in Normalcy
Inspired by Japanese Buddhism and American pop culture, the grotesque is a metaphor for normalcy in the horror video game Silent Hill.
‘The Departure’ Casts a Loving Gaze Upon an Unconventional Buddhist Priest
The Departure is a searching study of a universally relatable character who has seen a great deal of sorrow in this world.
Each Song Is a Thought, Flying Across the Ocean for Do Make Say Think’s Charles Spearin
Charles Spearin discusses the themes and processes behind Do Make Say Think's latest album Stubborn Persistent Illusions.
The Politics of Happiness: ‘Kushuthara: Pattern of Love’ and Bhutanese Cinema
In Bhutan's Kushuthara, happiness becomes a pronounced theme, one discussed and conceptualized in emotionally and ethically complex ways.
‘The Fate of Rural Hell’: A Field Trip to a Bizarre, Religious Disneyland
Anderson gives just enough about the history of Thailand and the perspective of Buddhism to let a reader’s imagination take flight.
A Message Carefully Wrapped and Sealed in a Ziploc Bag
Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being is an enormous step forward from her prior novels, taking on nothing less than the meaning of time itself.
“The Goodness of Privacy in a Warm Room with Books”
We all search for escape, and while music, drugs, radicalism, or fame may ease the monotony, the protagonists of so many of these tales find themselves at the end of their narratives still constrained.