on Jews and Fantasy Literature
The January 1938 issue of Weird Tales, in addition to such fare as a poem by H. P. Lovecraft, a reprinting of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Ethan Brand,” and a typically sensuous Margaret Brundage cover illustration, offered readers a story under the title “Roads.” The author was Seabury Quinn, better known for his Jules de Grandin occult … Continue reading The Pulp Fiction Santa of Seabury Quinn
New England, for Peter Kindred, the eponymous protagonist of Robert Nathan’s first novel, is a magical place, with its “fragrance of farm houses and apple orchards.” When Peter meets Joan, a Radcliffe student and his wife-to-be, he moons: “I can hear all New England talking in her voice—orchards, rocks, villages and churches.” In general, Peter … Continue reading Robert Nathan Readthrough: Autumn (1921)
Robert Nathan’s debut novel Peter Kindred is not one of his fantasies, but it makes good reading for its quirky earnestness and lyric touches. A semi-autobiographical story of a Harvard student and his first steps in life after leaving the Ivy quad, the novel deflates its eponymous protagonist’s precious theories about society, nation, and economics. … Continue reading Robert Nathan Readthrough: Peter Kindred (1920)
investigations and fantasies 