“With Mr. Upward’s death, on Feb. 13 in Pontefract, England, the last living link was broken to writers like [Christopher] Isherwood, W. H. Auden and Stephen Spender who shaped English literature in the 1930s. In reporting Mr. Upward’s death, London newspapers said that at 105 he was Britain’s oldest author. “His influence on his contemporaries was both [...]
Archive for February, 2009
R.I.P. – Edward Upward (1903-2009)
Posted in Books, Literature, Obituaries, Poets & Poetry, Writers & Writing on February 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Cream of the Crop: “Best Sex Writing 2009″
Posted in Book Reviews, Books, Literature, Popular Culture, Sex & Gender on February 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In a posting earlier this week on his New York Times blog about books, David Kelly included an excerpt from Daphne Merkin’s essay, “Penises I Have Known,” one of the 23 pieces in the recently released compilation, “Best Sex Writing 2009,” edited by sex commentator and erotic author Rachel Kramer Bussel. Merkin’s essay, previously published in Playboy, considers Norman Mailer‘s and [...]
The Bruce Kahn Collection & The Venerable Book Catalog
Posted in Books, Collectors & Collecting, Ephemera, Literature, Writers & Writing on February 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“We’ve all gotten pretty used to looking for books electronically . . . with the result that most dealers, for one reason or another, but usually because of the considerable production costs involved, have moved away from the printed catalogs, which is a shame, because there is still nothing like getting a lively new list [...]
Today’s Sign of the Apocalypse: “No Kissing” in the Railway Station
Posted in Crimes & Misdemeanors, Europe, Sign of the Apocalypse on February 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
A “No Kissing” sign in the Warrington Bank Quay railroad station, Cheshire, England. The sign was installed by Virgin Rail. (via The Guardian) [And Don't Sleep in the Subway, either!]
Travel Photo of the Day: Can Tho, Viet Nam
Posted in Asia, Foreign Travel, Photography on February 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Near Can Tho in the south of Viet Nam, along one of the smaller canals feeding into the Mekong River, an elderly woman transports ashes bought from one family to be sold to another that will use their purchase as fertilizer (December, 2006) (Full photo)
Islam, Gender & Censorship: Margaret Atwood Withdraws from Dubai Literary Festival
Posted in Books, Literature, Middle East, Politics, Religion, Sex & Gender, Writers & Writing on February 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“The acclaimed Canadian author Margaret Atwood has pulled out of a Dubai literature festival after the blacklisting of the British novelist Geraldine Bedell for potential offence to ‘cultural sensitivities’. “Bedell’s novel The Gulf Between Us, a romantic comedy set in a fictional Gulf emirate, was due to receive its official launch at the event, which claims to be the [...]
Netanyahu & the Future of Israeli-Arab Relations
Posted in Current Events, International Affairs, Jewish Life, Middle East, Politics, Religion on February 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“Can a hawkish Binyamin Netanyahu . . . surprise the world and sprout dovish wings?” ( via Foreign Policy) Related Netanyahu Tapped to Form Israel’s New Government Binyamin Netanyahu targets Iran after he is appointed Prime Minister Netanyahu: ‘Let’s join hands in wide unity government’ Netanyahu, Once Hawkish, Now Touts Pragmatism
Truth in Numbers: “Harper’s Index” Turns 25
Posted in American History, Bush, Cheney, Magazines & Newspapers, Media & Advertising, Politics on February 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Venerable Harper’s Magazine, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the “Harper’s Index,” its popular listing of unexpectedly revealing numerical data, has made the entire index available for searching and browsing by categories. The index database includes all 12,058 lines from all 300 issues, with more than one thousand linked categories. Found when searching “Dick Cheney“: (9/03) Year [...]
And the Winners Are: The National Review’s “25 Best Conservative Movies”
Posted in Cinema, Magazines & Newspapers, Movie Reviews, Politics, Popular Culture on February 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
On the eve of the Academy Awards announcements, the National Review has released its list of the “25 best conservative movies of the last 25 years.” The list, chosen from nominees submitted by National Review readers, includes, among others, The Lives of Others, The Incredibles, Juno, Forrest Gump, Ghostbusters, The Dark Knight and Gran Torino, films conservatives [...]
Joking Matters, or: What Made the Greeks Laugh?
Posted in Ancient History, Europe on February 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“One of the most famous one-liners of the ancient world, with an afterlife that stretches into the twentieth century (it gets retold, with a different cast of characters but the same punchline, both in Freud and in Iris Murdoch’s The Sea, The Sea), was a joking insinuation about Augustus’ paternity. “Spotting, so the story goes, [...]
Franz Kafka & Our “Kafkaesque” Times
Posted in Book Reviews, Books, Literature, Writers & Writing on February 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In his fine essay published earlier this month in The Nation, Alexander Provan considers the recent literature on the life and work of Franz Kafka and argues for a more expansive appreciation of the novelist and short story writer than the impression of him in ”the popular imagination [which has] been subsumed by a one-word slogan: [...]
A Different ‘Toon: “On the Money” Cartoon Exhibition at The Morgan Library
Posted in American History, Business, Collectors & Collecting, Economy, Magazines & Newspapers, Museums & Exhibitions, New York City, Politics, Popular Culture, U.S. Travel on February 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
With the stir over the New York Post’s economic stimulus cartoon unlikely to die down any time soon (unlike the stimulus bill-writing chimp), there may be no better time to visit the ongoing exhibition at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York, “On the Money: Cartoons for The New Yorker From the Melvin R. Seiden Collection.” [...]
Monkey Business, or: Is Obama The New York Post’s Dead Chimp?
Posted in American History, Economy, Magazines & Newspapers, New York City, Obama, Politics, Race on February 18, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Published in today’s New York Post, Sean Delonas’ cartoon linking a chimpanzee with the economic stimulus package signed by President Obama is being roundly criticized for implicitly comparing the President with the primate and evoking a history of racist imagery of blacks. Post editor-in-chief Col Allan defended the cartoon as “a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of [...]
Today’s Sign of the Apocalypse: Joe The Plumber, Author
Posted in American History, Books, Joe the Plumber, Politics, Sign of the Apocalypse, Writers & Writing on February 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Is Caryl Churchill’s “Seven Jewish Children” Anti-Semitic?
Posted in Books, Jewish Life, Literature, Middle East, Plays & Playwrights, Politics, Religion on February 18, 2009 | 1 Comment »
The New York Times earlier this week reported that the New York Theater Workshop is considering mounting Caryl Churchill‘s controversial new play, “Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza,” which is critical of Israel’s recent military offensive in Gaza. The play, which runs for only ten minutes, is currently being performed at the Royal Court Theater in London [...]
McCulture, or: The Fate of Literary Translation in America
Posted in Books, Literature, Writers & Writing on February 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“Americans have developed an admirable fondness for books, food, and music that preprocess other cultures. But for all our enthusiasm, have we lost our taste for the truly foreign?” (via The Wilson Quarterly) Related PEN American Center
Travel Photo of the Day: Hoi An, Viet Nam
Posted in Asia, Food & Wine, Foreign Travel, Photography on February 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Cao Lau, the celebrated Vietnamese noodle dish (usually served with pork and fried rice paper bits), according to local legend can only be made authentically in the ancient port town of Hoi An with water drawn from wells such as the one pictured here dug hundreds of years ago by the Cham people (December, 2006) (Full photo)
Better Than Millard Fillmore: Bush 43 Ranked 7th Worst President
Posted in American History, Bush, Politics on February 16, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Timed for Presidents Day, “C-SPAN released its second Historians Survey of Presidential Leadership, in which ’65 presidential historians ranked the 42 former occupants of the White House on ten attributes of leadership.’ Coming in first was Abraham Lincoln, followed by George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, and Harry Truman. Finishing last was James Buchanan. George [...]
R.I.P. – Alfred A. Knopf Jr. (1918-2009)
Posted in Books, Business, Obituaries, Writers & Writing on February 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“Alfred A. Knopf Jr., who left the noted publishing house run by his parents to become one of the founders of Atheneum Publishers in 1959, died on Saturday. He was 90, the last of the surviving founders, and lived in New York City.” (via NY Times)
Out-of-Print John Cheever Story Serialized Online
Posted in Books, Literature, Writers & Writing on February 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
John Cheever‘s long out-of-print short story, ”Of Love: A Testimony,” one of a dozen Cheever stories not included in the 1978 Pulitzer Prize-winning anthology “The Stories of John Cheever,” is currently being serialized online at FiveChapters.com. (via New York Observer) [Last week, on his New York Times blog "Talk Show," Dick Cavett reminisced about the October 14, 1981 [...]
