KNOWN AND STRANGE THINGS Essays

Peter Jay Fernandez's near flawless performance combines a clear and resonant voice with an ear for language. His gift for mimicry shows in his portrayals of the great Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka, the famed French philosopher Jacques Derrida, and the Trinidadian writer V.S. Naipaul, among many other luminaries quoted in this thoughtful volume of essays. Cole wanders the world and reacts to literature (he's especially insightful on James Baldwin and Derek Walcott), politics (he is hard on Obama's foreign policy), and photography (he himself is a practitioner). Cole's prose can be sublime; his essays truly investigate ideas and images. While his opinions are sometimes infuriating, this audiobook is always worth listening to. A.D.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2021]