Mark Slouka

Mark Slouka is an American liberal humanist author ^[1] and academic.^[2] The son of Czech immigrants,^[3] he is Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Columbia University and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowships in 2005.

The subject matter of his 1996 book "War of the Worlds: the assault on reality" encompasses the extent to which virtual reality and blurring of real life with corporate fantasy has become a "genuine cultural phenomenon".^[4]

In 2003 his first novel "God's Fool" fictionalised the life of Siamese twins, Chang and Eng.^[5] and his 2006 short story "Dominion", originally published in TriQuarterly, was including within the anthology Best American Short Stories 2006.

In his book "Essays from the Nick of Time," Slouka argues that "The humanities are a superb delivery mechanism for what we might call democratic values" ^[6] In one of the essays, "Quitting the Paint Factory," he states "idleness is ... requisite to the construction of a complete human being;... allowing us time to figure out who we are, and what we believe; by allowing us time to consider what is unjust, and what we might do about it."

His second novel, "The Visible World", tells the story of a son uncovering his flawed parents earlier life in the Czech resistance.^[7] It gained notability in the UK following its inclusion in the 2008 Richard & Judy Book Club list.

References

1. ^ HONIGMANN, DAVID. Jihad versus McWorld The Independent 21 January 1996
2. ^ Mitchell, ChrisCONNECTED: Get a grip on reality Review: The Daily Telegraph 2nd December 1997
3. ^ Ferrier, Morwenna. Review: BOOKS: The Visible World Mark, The Observer, 8th July 2007
4. ^ Slouka, Mark: The illusion of life is bought dearly, New Statesman, 12th January 1996
5. ^ Dillon, Cathy, God's Fool Irish Times 13th September 2003
6. ^ Heitman, Danny. How can Obama save our economy and our democracy? Humanities education The Christian Science Monitor 18 February 2011
7. ^ Ferrier, Morwenna. Review: BOOKS: WAR: The Visible World, The Observer 8th July 2007

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