Y.S. Fing
Y.S. Fing is the second son of D. Selby Fing. He has a B.S. from Boston University and an M.A. from Portland State University. He has taught English in Boston, Silver City, NM, Portland, OR, Istanbul, Bangkok, Nagasaki, and the DC area. He has collaborated with his brother in annotating his father’s epic poem, “The Profane Comedy,” by D. Selby Fing (please visit www.dselbyfing.com) and written “Event Horizons: Aphorisms on the Life of D. Selby Fing.” He is a man of letters and very happy to be involved with the Washington Independent Review of Books, where he writes a regular column, "Finglish."
96 entries by Y.S. Fing
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Learning to express myself in another medium.
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Saidiya Hartman seeks to recover the women buried under white supremacist history.
Kraft: A Novel
By Jonas Lüscher; translated by Tess Lewis
An aging German scholar flees his complicated life to write a prize-winning essay in Silicon Valley.
A long-ago lesson from my father still resonates today.
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It’s up to us to resist — and repudiate — agit-prop.
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An introduction to D. Selby Fing’s Perdition: Part One of the Profane Comedy.
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Untangling the incendiary ethos of the n-word.
Lou Gehrig: The Lost Memoir
By Alan D. Gaff
An unnecessary repetition of famed sports agent Christy Walsh’s myth-building mission.
The absurdist genius of Matei Călinescu and Jung Young Moon.
Newspapers, education, and critical thinking.
And I’ve got the sense to prove it…
Prisoner
By Jason Rezaian
An American journalist recounts his ordeal suffered at the hands of the Islamic Republic.
How Edmund Spenser really viewed the Emerald Isle.
Thoughts on navigating the dark days of the Yuletide.
How Jefferson’s Bible interpreted — and improved — the Gospels.
Two columnists contemplate The Haunting of Hill House.
Embracing poetry’s power to illuminate a dim destiny.
Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil
By Susan Neiman
How a nation atones for its historical sins.
The fantastical path of Brazil’s Pedro II
How identifying with angry protagonists changes over time.
How Firesign relentlessly rejected the status quo.
Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society
By Nicholas A. Christakis
Conclusions both sobering and hopeful from a lifelong exploration of human nature.
Revisiting the comments section
The journalist talks Plessy, segregation, and the lingering power of a sole dissenting justice.
Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, and America’s Journey from Slavery to Segregation
By Steve Luxenberg
The seeds of racial discord were sown long before the Civil War.
The perfect guide for an imperfect Buddhist
Educated
By Tara Westover
This debut asks the age-old question, “Can you go home again?”
An American journalist recounts his ordeal suffered at the hands of the Islamic Republic.
The Splendor Before the Dark: A Novel of the Emperor Nero
By Margaret George
This second installment of a two-volume “fictional biography” is remarkably compassionate toward the scandalous Roman.
An idealistic Zionist sees his utopian dream collapse.
A pair of columnists contemplate The Haunting of Hill House.
The Last of the Tsars
By Robert Service
What happened to the Romanovs as the noose tightened around their necks?
What Dumas Malone refused to believe about Thomas Jefferson.
So, Jack and Upton walk into a bar…
The meditative wonder of Planting Dandelions
Mad Boy: An Account of Henry Phipps in the War of 1812
By Nick Arvin
The plight of a young would-be looter touches on the ineffable sadness of battle.
The visionary best friends who interpreted the design of the natural world
The enduring — and often private — language of tattoos
Revisiting Foucault’s treatise on the flow of power
The Button Thief of East 14th St.
By Fay Webern
A powerful memoir of growing up in Depression-era Manhattan.
Samuel Johnson's biographer set a high bar for the rest of us.
Educated: A Memoir
By Tara Westover
This debut asks the age-old question, “Can you go home again?”
The 13th-century visionary was so much more than a poet.
Through her many books, journalist Gessen shines an unsparing, incisive light on Russia
The famous rhymes are a gift to language
The People Are Going to Rise Like the Waters upon Your Shore: A Story of American Rage
By Jared Yates Sexton
Reflecting on the ins and outs (mostly outs) of the 2016 presidential campaign.
The Last of the Tsars: Nicholas II and the Russian Revolution
By Robert Service
What happened to the Romanovs as the noose tightened around their necks?
Do drugs open the door?
Beyond Tristram Shandy
A conflicted idealist details the lessons learned while working with a disadvantaged young man.
A loving letter to James Agee
Exploring Ta-Nehisi Coates’ thoughts on the incendiary issue
Seeking solace in the Beatles
Writers of the world, unite!
The genius of Portuguese poet Luís Vaz de Camoes
The Button Thief of East 14th Street: Scenes from a Life on the Lower East Side 1927-1957
By Fay Webern
A powerful memoir of growing up in Depression-era Manhattan.
Pondering recent works which have stuck with me.
How a pseudonym can reveal, not mask, the man behind it.
Weighing the value of anonymous public discourse in the age of Trump.
A look at titles that have stayed with me.
A meditation on Zachary Lazar’s Sway.
Praising Toni Morrison’s clear-eyed view of a national crisis.
How being alone informs writing and life
I’m Fascinated by Sacrifice Flies: Inside the Game We All Love
By Tim Kurkjian
Discovering a trove of mystical beauty through a lifelong obsession with baseball
The immortal genius of Bowie and Reed
Why you should’ve been at Books Alive 2016!
The countless rewards of heading the Washington Writers Conference
Don’t let research destroy your story’s soul
How Buddhism informs my writing
The wisdom of embracing the unexpected
Recognizing the stripped-down version of Christmas.
Appreciating inspiration both in its presence and during its absence.
Resist corporate overlords' attempts to steal your boredom!
There’s no “I’m better than you” in team.
We are all part of the universe; the universe is a part of all of us.
It’s okay to glance backward while looking ahead.
Why brainstorming ideas makes for better writing
Using the small to reveal the all.
Appreciating the genius of Gertrude Stein.
Why authors should embrace the power of lyrics
An education in accuracy
Perspective and Learning.
Thinking In Numbers: On Life, Love, Meaning, and Math
Daniel Tammet
With his capacious heart and intellect, the author presents an assortment of thought-provoking essays for those oblivious to the numbers everywhere around us.
Good Kids
Benjamin Nugent
The sins of the father are revisited on the son in this debut novel by the author of American Nerd.
