Two for Tuesday: Wacky Wednesday: What’s the deal with Go Set a Watchman?
Topics discussed: Harper Lee, Go Set a Watchman, Barnes & Noble, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Bryan Burrough, Barbarians at the Gate, RJR Nabisco, Powerhouse Arena, Choire Sicha, William Giraldi, Neely Tucker, Alice… Read more »
From Kafka to Delillo: A small list of writers who rejected their own work
It’s not so surprising that admirers of a famous person’s work can become interested in that person’s personal life. Maybe they want to further explore what makes their favorite playwright… Read more »
The Red and the White: Russian literature’s general theories of the moon
The most memorable moon in Russian literature is no moon at all. It appears—like the most memorable everything else in Russian literature—in Alexander Pushkin’s novel-in-verse Eugene Onegin as the face… Read more »
Russia’s children’s ombudsman: Forget about sex education, just read Russian literature
It’s not the first thing that comes to mind when you consider Russian literature, but Pavel Astakhov, Russia’s children’s ombudsman (aka Children’s Rights Commissioner for the President of the Russian… Read more »
A grammar of laziness
In his newest post for the New York Review of Books blog, Charles Simic muses on “Summertime.” He fears the loss of laziness as skill: “To my great regret, I… Read more »
Short story stamp catches “the essence of Dublin”
Dublin, Ireland has unveiled a 60¢; postage stamp printed with the full text of a short story by Eoin Moore (cue headlines with puns related to “licking”). Moore’s story was… Read more »
How to fake your way through a quiz by Prof. Vladimir Nabokov
Decades before Edward Jay Epstein started investigating Hollywood account books, he was a student at Cornell, padding threadbare pockets with cash he earned reviewing the latest movies for a Cornell… Read more »
Nabokov Museum vandalized by group unable to separate fact from fiction
The Nabokov Museum in St. Petersburg has been vandalized in recent weeks by a group calling itself the “St. Petersburg Cossacks.” The group, according to Russian news outlet RIA Novosti,… Read more »