An artist visitor from France

Dominique stopped by on his way back to Paris from Shanghai, China
and had tempura lunch with us at Ten-ichi, Jiyugaoka.
Mom at the Starbucks
Chinoyo getting ready to take a Halloween flight in front of
Dominique's painting

"It is well known that nature exists only insofar as it blends
in the contrary rhythm of life and death, of genesis and
entropy. The infinite universe brings these throbs together
in a totality. Dominique Thinot's canvasses, large or small,
depict this infinite space, teeming with contradictions.
Here one's glance gets caught in the trap of representation:
one believes for a while in the truth of these fragments of
nature. There, in cntrast, as if swelling from the depth of
the sea, blue beaches straddle each other and simulate order
in the middle of storm."
(Jacques Leenhardt in D. Thinot, Nature & Fragments)

Visiting Seoul for the 44th ASAK Int'l Conference

After the closing ceremony
Fall colors from my room in the Hoam Faculty Guest House, Seoul
National University

Enjoying coffee during the break
Beautiful Seoul National University Campus in fall colors

The 44th ASAK International Conference "The Future of America" was
held at the Seoul National University, Korea, from October 23 to 24.
Americanists gathered from within and without Korea gave excellent
papers in the Conference. I read my paper "Rethinking Puritan Studies in
a Transatlantic Context" in the session "Rethinking American Literature"
and enjoyed exchanging views with other participants. I was struck by
high-quality papers at the conference.