Derrida on love, and Learning to Live Finally
Melville House’s Summer of Love sale gives you a copy of Meet The Beatles — and me an excuse to mention Derrida’s last interview, and his comments on love.
Print-on-demand at the New York Public Library
The NYPL has installed an Espresso book-on-demand machine and will print, for free, selected public domain titles for any patron.
Help preserve the right to film in NYC’s public spaces
Independent films shot in New York City could soon become a rarity.
Rules proposed by the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting would require any group of two or more people who want to use a camera in a public place for a half hour or more to obtain a city permit and [...]
For the love of Twain
Why is Twain neglected in Britain? And how can he be so beloved in the U.S. when his satire attacks so much that is still wrong with America? (Via.)
A young Duras on her childhood
Adolescent diaries of Marguerite Duras reveal that she was “utterly alone, idolizing her unpredictable mother, indifferent to anyone else.” (Via.)
The genesis of Fitzgerald’s “failed masterpiece”
The Murphys, who inspired Dick & Nicole Diver of Tender is the Night, recall their time in Paris with Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald.
Nowhere to change into your tuxedo, and other newsroom inconveniences
Is the Times‘ new “sea of cubicles partitioned by wood-veneer cabinets” what a 21st-century newsroom should look like?
Interviewing Rupert Thomson at McNally Robinson
All of a sudden I’m going to be doing a public interview with Rupert Thomson — a literary hero I’ve never burned out on — at McNally Robinson on Friday, August 17, at 7 p.m.
The scheduling dovetails with the U.S. publication of his latest novel, Death of a Murderer. A more stripped-down, [...]
ZZ Packer, fiction editor
Excellent news from a friend at Algonquin: ZZ Packer will guest-edit the 2008 edition of New Stories From the South.
The Smart Set: Lauren Cerand’s weekly events
The Smart Set is a weekly feature, compiled by Lauren Cerand, that usually appears Mondays at 12:30pm and highlights the best of the week to come. Special favor is given to New York’s independent booksellers and venues, and low-cost and free events. Please send details to lauren [at] maudnewton.com by the Thursday prior to publication, [...]
When Henry James sought directions
Henry James slept here: Terry Teachout visits Wharton’s house and recounts her hilarious anecdote about James asking for directions.
Sarvas, Cummins to read at Los Angeles event
On the other coast: Mark Sarvas, Ann Cummins, and Mishna Wolff read for Swink tomorrow night at Tangiers Lounge in Los Feliz.
Kips, corf-batters and arse-loops
Pitmatic, an obscure miners’ dialect “so dense that it held up social reforms,” finally gets a dictionary.
Edinburgh to memorialize Dame Muriel Spark
The Scottish Writers’ Museum is set to grant permission for a Muriel Spark memorial in Edinburgh’s Makars’ Court, where Stevenson & others are commemorated.
Hilary Mantel on Orpheus & Euridice — and ghost stories
Hilary Mantel reflects on the enduring relevance of Orpheus and Euridice, arguing that, in the era of modern rationalism, we banish the ancient gods at our peril.
For some years I lived in Africa, in Botswana, and people there used to say that to see ghosts you need to look out of the corners of your [...]