Selected publications of Thomas Christensen 
   
      ("selected" through the filter of forgetfulness, mainly)   
     
   
 

homeward bound

 

 

books | selections in books | periodical publications | book reviews

1. Books

Selected Poems of Jose Angel Valente. Forthcoming from Archipelago Press, fall-winter 2012.

1616: The World in Motion. Counterpoint Press, March 2012.

New World/New Words: Translating Latin American Literature (Center for the Art of Translation), fall/winter 2006-2007

The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (Art Spaces Series), Scala, 2004

Bridge to Understanding: The Art and Architecture of San Francisco's Asian Art Museum--Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture, Asian Art Museum, March 2003

Vida Clandestina: My Life in the Cuban Revolution by Enrique Oltuski (translation from Spanish), Jossey-Bass, October 2002*

Noctural Butterflies of the Russian Empire by José Manuel Prieto (translation from Spanish), Grove Atlantic, November 2001*

Ballets Without Music, Without Dancers, Without Anything by Louis-Ferdinand Céline (translation from French), Sun & Moon / Green Integer, January 2000 (finalist, PEN USA West 2000 Literary Awards)*

The U.S.-Mexican War (co-author), Bay Books, February, 1998*

In Few Words / En Pocas Palabras: A Compendium of Latino Folk Wit and Wisdom by José Antonio Burciaga (co-editor), Mercury House, January 1997*

The American Promise: Adventures in Grass-roots Democracy (ghost written with co-editorial credit), KQED Books, October, 1995*

The Discovery of America and Other Myths: A New World Reader (co-editor), Chronicle Books, October 1992.*

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel (co-translator from Spanish), Anchor Doubleday, August 1992*

Galíndez by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán (co-translator from Spanish), Atheneum, June 1992*

Mexico the Beautiful Cookbook by Susana Palazuelos (co-translator from Spanish), Weldon Owen, August, 1991*

The Harp and the Shadow by Alejo Carpentier (co-translator from Spanish), Mercury House, June, 1990*

Constancia and Other Stories for Virgins by Carlos Fuentes (translation from Spanish), Farrar, Straus & Giroux, March 1990

Cold Tales by Virgilio Piñera (editor), Eridanos Press, October 1988

Around the Day in Eighty Worlds by Julio Cortázar (translator from Spanish and French), North Point Press, 1986.

(* = with Carol Christensen)

2. Selections in Books

"To Dress a Shadow" by Julio Cortázar (translation) in The Oxford Book of Latin American Essays, Ilan Stavans, ed, forthcoming, 1997.

"A Horace Reading" (essay) in Horace Walpole, Hieroglyphic Tales, Mercury House, 1993.

Selections from translations of Alejo Carpentier, The Harp and the Shadow, and Julio Cortázar, Around the Day in Eighty Worlds, in three anthologies:

(1) A New World Reader (see above);

(2) Reading Jazz, an anthology edited by David Meltzer; and

(3) a jazz anthology to be published by Coffee House Press [details of these publications to come]

"Getting Henry" (essay) in Henry Handel Richardson, The Getting of Wisdom (Mercury House, 1993.

Translation of a story by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán in an anthology of literary detective fiction [publication details uncertain]

"Dodgson's Dodges" (essay) in Lewis Carroll, The Complete Sylvie and Bruno, Mercury House, 1991

"Discovering Alejo Carpentier" (essay) in The Harp and the Shadow (see above)

"Pierre Klossowski" by Juan García Ponce (translation) in Pierre Klossowski, The Baphomet, Eridanos Press, October 1988

"The Fever Heroes" by Eduardo Bahr (translation) in Clamor of Innocence: Stories from Central America, edited by Barbara Paschke and David Volpendesta, City Lights, October 1988

"We Bad" by Salazar Arrué (translation) in Clamor of Innocence (see above)

"Regarding the Eradication of Crocodiles from Auverne," by Julio Cortázar (translation) in Carol J. Verburg, ed., Ourselves Among Others: Cross-Cultural Readings for Writers, St. Martin's, 1988

"Para Llegar a Julio Cortázar: Enormisimo Cronopio," (essay) in Around the Day in Eighty Worlds (see above) )

3. Periodical Publications (other than reviews)

"#occupychristmas," Salon.com, Dec. 24, 2011.

"Pocahontas in London," Rosebud 50, spring 2011.

"News That Stays News: Object Rotations at the Asian Art Museum," Treasures vol 6 no. 4, summer 2003

"The City That Knows Tao: Transforming the Former Library Building into the New Asian Art Museum," Treasures vol 6 no. 2, winter 2003

"On the Move: The Asian Prepares for Its New Home" (as Fiona Brewster), Treasures vol. 5 no. 2, fall 2001

"Taoism and the Arts of China," Treasures vol. 4 no. 3, winter 2000

"The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People's Republic of China," Treasures vol. 3 no. 4, spring 2000

"Alienation and Assimilation: Contemporary Images and Installations from the Republic of Korea" (as Fiona Brewster), Treasures vol. 3 no. 3, winter 2000

"Planning an Exhibition," Treasures vol. 3 no. 2, fall 1999

"From Guru Nanak to the Sikh Kingdoms: A Punjabi Journey," (with captions by Kristina Youso), Treasures vol. 3 no. 1, summer 1999

"The Amateur: A Portrait of Avery Brundage," Treasures vol. 2 no. 4, spring 1999

Seuel Paz, "The Wolf, The Forest, and the New Man" (translation), Conjunctions, summer 1996

"Who Owns the West?: an Interview with William Kittredge" Cune (an on-line magazine)

"Arlecchino Exercises" (original fiction), ZYZZYVA, Spring 1994.

Translation of a story by Felix de Azua, Grand Street [details of publication uncertain]

"Master Latin Writer Reflects on the Americas" (interview with Carlos Fuentes), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 10/29/89

"New Role for a Supple Critic" (profile of Hugh Kenner), ComputerLand Magazine 4:6, September/October 1989

New Stories (special issue guest editor), Fiction Network, Fall/Winter 1988-89

"A Conversation with Luisa Valenzuela," San Francisco Chronicle Review," 12/25/88

"We Bad" by Salazar Arrué in ZYZZYVA, Fall 1988 (see above)

Cortázar stories and essays (translations):

  • "This Is the Way It Begins," "Melancholy of Luggage," and "Advice for Tourists" in TriQuarterly, Summer 1986

  • "Two by Cortázar" in Harper's, April 1986

  • "With Justifiable Pride," in Twilight Zone, May/June, 1986

  • "The Witnesses," in Parabola, Spring 1986

  • "The Writer in a Trance: Anguish, Anxiety, and Miracles," New York Times Book Review, 1/26/86

  • "Your Most Profound Skin," in Playboy, February 1986

  • "Your Most Profound Skin" in Normal

  • "The Most Profound Caress," in Omni, November 1985

4. Book Reviews (partial)

"She Blinded Them with Science" (Susan Gaines, Carbon Dreams), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 3/4/2001

"King David: Underdog, Playboy, Despot, Hero" (Jonathan Kirsch, King David: The Real Life of the Man Who Ruled Israel), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 12/31/2000

"This World Makes Trickster" (Lewis Hyde, Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art), Terrain: A Journal of the Built and Natural Environment no. 8, Autumn 2000 (on-line magazine)

"Friends' 'Final' Night in Buenos Aires" (Julio Cortázar, Final Exam), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 4/2/2000

"Calvino Takes Readers on a Tour of (Mostly) European Classics" (Italo Calvino, Why Read the Classics?), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 10/24/1999

"Children of the 'Dirty War' (Lawrence Thornton, Tales from the Blue Archives), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 2/7/1997

"Details of Swamp Murder Rise to the Surface" (Peter Matthiessen, Lost Man's River), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 11/16/1997

"The Horror of Ethnic Hatred" (Starling Lawrence, Montenegro), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 8/10/1997

"Vargas Llosa Stirs Up the Literary Waters" (Mario Vargas Llosa, Making Waves), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 7/6/97

"Kidnapped in Colombia" (Gabriel García Márquez, Notes from a Kidnapping), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 6/1/97

"A Voyage to Nowhere" (Francisco Goldman, The Ordinary Seaman), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 2/23/97

"Boys on the Border" (Diego Vázquez, Jr., Growing through the Ugly), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 3/23/97

"Beyond Taxonomy" (William Bartram, Travels and Other Writing), Terra Nova vol. 2 no. 1, Winter 1997.

"The Mysterious Life and Strange Death of Eva Peron" (three books on Eva Peron), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 11/3/96.

Laura Esquivel, The Law of Love, San Francisco Chronicle Review

Fernando del Paso, Palinuro of Mexico, San Francisco Chronicle Review

Starling Lawrence, Legacies, San Francisco Chronicle Review, ca. 7/29/96

The Spirit of the Bulls, San Francisco Chronicle Review

Carlos Fuentes, new book, San Francisco Chronicle Review

Mario Vargas Llosa, new book, San Francisco Chronicle Review

Hugh Thomas, Conquest, San Francisco Chronicle Review

"A Thriller Sans the Letter E," (Georges Perec, A Void), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 2/12/95.

John Updike, Brazil, San Francisco Chronicle Review

Alfredo Véa, La Maravilla, San Francisco Chronicle Review

Abel Posse, Daimon, San Francisco Chronicle Review

Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Some Clouds, San Francisco Chronicle Review

Douglas Day, novel, San Francisco Chronicle Review

"Double Murder among the Navajo" (Tony Hillerman, Sacred Clowns), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 9/12/93.

"Harsh Australian Lives Shot Through with Dreams" (Tim Winton, Cloudstreet), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 4/26/92.

"Shards of Reality" (Eduardo Galeano, The Book of Embraces), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 4/7/91.

"Perec Bends the Rules, " (Georges Perec, Things: A Story of the Sixties and A Man Asleep), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 12/30/90.

Milorad Pavic, Landscape Painted with Tea, San Francisco Chronicle Review [ca. October 1990]

Jacobo Timmerman, Cuba, San Francisco Chronicle Review [ca. October 1990]

"The Crumbled Dreams of Simón Bolívar" (Gabriel García Márquez, The General in His Labyrinth and Collected Novelas), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 9/16/90.

"Liberation of a Spanish Soul," (Juan Goytisolo, Realms of Strife), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 9/2/90.

Wallace Stegner, Two Rivers, and James Laughlin, This Is My Blood, Fine Print, Spring 1990

"A Mythical Take on Columbus' Adventures" (Abel Posse, The Dogs of Paradise), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 1/14/90

"A Negative Experience" (The Adventures of a Photographer in La Plata), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 12/24/89

"Masks and Roles of the Storyteller" (Mario Vargas Llosa, The Storyteller), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 12/24/89

"A Cat-and-Mouse Tale of Cuban Intrigue" (Alejo Carpentier, The Chase), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 9/10/89

Rockwell Gray, The Imperative of Modernity, Chicago Tribune Book Review, ca. July 1989

"Grammar's Spicy Underpinnings" (Karen Elizabeth Gordon, Intimate Apparel), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 8/13/89

"Brazilian Saga" (Joao Ubaldo Ribeiro, An Invincible Memory), Chicago Tribune Book Review, 4/9/89

"A Collaborator Finds His Voice" (Adolfo Bioy Casares, The Dream of Heroes and A Plan for Escape), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 2/5/89

"Details of a Fictional People" (Milorad Pavic, The Dictionary of the Khazars), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 1/1/89

"A Passion for Passion" (Luisa Valenzuela, Open Door), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 12/25/88

"The Facade Squad" (Ariel Dorfman, Mascara), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 12/18/88

"A Romp Through the Realm of the Senses" (Italo Calvino, Under the Jaguar Sun), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 12/4/88

"Teller of One Thousand and One Tales" (Isabel Allende, Eva Luna), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 10/9/88

"Oh What a Knight" (Fernando Arrabal, The Tower Struck by Lightning), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 7/17/88

"Drawn to the Wilderness" (John Muir, Travels in Alaska and The Yosemite; Peter Browning, ed., John Muir in His Own Words) San Francisco Chronicle Review, 7/7/88

"Century of the Wind" (Eduardo Galeano, Memory of Fire: Century of the Wind), San Francisco Review of Books, Fall 1988

"Writing as a Perfect Crystal" (Italo Calvino, Six Memos for the Next Millennium), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 5/1/88

"The Lost Boys of Brazil" (Jorge Amado, Captains of the Sands), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 4/10/88

"Conducting Bodies" (Claude Simon, Conducting Bodies), Los Angeles Times Book Review, 7/26/87

(Mario Vargas Llosa, Who Killed Palomino Molero?), San Francisco Chronicle Review, ca. 6/87

"Against the Grain" (Robert Dana, Against the Grain: Interviews with Maverick American Publishers), Fine Print 13:2, April 1987

"Portraits of a Land in Transit" (E. Bradford Burns, Eadweard Muybridge in Guatemala, 1875), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 3/8/87

"The Passionate Pursuit of a Literary Orgy" (Mario Vargas Llosa, The Perpetual Orgy: Flaubert and Madame Bovary), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 1/25/87

"Something Fishy about a Sardine" (Stefan Themerson, The Mystery of the Sardine), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 10/16/86

"Literary Legacy from Brazil" (Clarice Lispector, The Hour of the Star and The Foreign Legion), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 6/15/86

"Forgotten Female Voices" (Alberto Manguel, Other Fires: Short Fiction by Latin American Women; Evelyn Picon Garfield, Women's Voices from Latin America; Marta Ester Sanchez, Contemporary Chicano Poetry; Betty LaDuke, Compañeras: Women, Art, and Change in Latin America), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 2/23/86

"A Most Versatile Critic" (Roger Shattuck, The Innocent Eye), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 1/27/85

"An Erotic Novel of Havana in the '40s" (Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Infante's Inferno), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 7/8/84

"Fantasy, Farce, and Much Fun" (Julio Cortázar, A Certain Lucas), San Francisco Chronicle Review, 6/17/84

 

 

 
 
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