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Conversations in Tusculum

Tusculum, a town in the Alban Hills, fifteen miles southeast of Rome, is home to many country villas owned by wealthy and politically well-connected Romans. More

The Maias

One dreary December day of heavy rain, Afonso da Maia was sitting in his study reading, when the door flew open; he looked up and saw Pedro standing before… More

The Clean House

CHARACTERSLane: A doctor, a woman in her early fifties. She wears white.Matilde: Lane’s cleaning lady, a woman in her late twenties. She wears black. She is Brazilian. She has… More

Two Lives: Gertrude and Alice

Stein’s acceptance of the punishment inflicted on her poem by the infuriated Toklas is almost beyond understanding. How could a serious writer agree to such a crazy demand? But… More

Ulf Stolterfoht: Lingos I-IX

(8) beautiful like: latent snap decayward —because abstract. horrible like the deathscreams of hedgehogs as they fade intothe night. that’s what the new poetryis like. there was a time when… More

The Septembers of Shiraz

CHAPTER 27Isaac stretches his legs, tapping them with his fingers to help his blood circulate. He is glad to have a sink in his room; he rinses his face… More