Marilynne Robinson on teaching fiction writers
I don’t try to teach technique, because frankly most technical problems go away when a writer realizes where the life of a story lies. (Via.)
Zora Neale Hurston’s childhood home
Eatonville, Zora Neale Hurston’s hometown & the first all-black incorporated town in the U.S., is profiled. (Via.)
In case there was any doubt re: privacy at Facebook
Facebook hires Alberto Gonzales’ former chief of staff as General Counsel. (Via.) Side AT&T spying deal to be kept under wraps.
Chivalry & superheroes
Laura Miller argues that the comic book superhero descends from the knight hero of the chivalric romance.
Bookslut TV
How did I miss this? Bookslut’s Jessa Crispin is doing video interviews. First up: Eddie Campbell.
Celebrating the OED’s 80th (at OUP’s expense)
When Oxford University Press invited me to attend the Oxford English Dictionary’s 80th anniversary celebrations in Oxford, I was thrilled, but declined. Traveling to England would be fun, but impossible. (Have you looked at the exchange rate lately?) Then they offered to foot the bill.
As a rule I’m careful to [...]
The Smart Set: Lauren Cerand’s weekly events
The Smart Set is a weekly feature, compiled and posted by Lauren Cerand, that usually appears Mondays at 12:30 pm, 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 Ms. Cerand at lauren [at] maudnewton.com [...]
Nemirovsky exhibit
Leaf through the manuscript of Suite Francaise online, as part of a Museum of Jewish Heritage Nemirovsky exhibit.
DeLillo blogs (at The Onion)
Don DeLillo: part of The Onion’s election blogging team. See also DeLillo on computers, circa 2005. (Via.)
Monday morning bailout fun
Your plans may vary, but I’m sitting down with the text of the bailout legislation and a vat of coffee.
Sunday was always red for Thomas Hardy
Hardy, like Nabokov, was a synaesthete. Monday was colourless, and Tuesday a little less colourless, and Wednesday was blue…
“Les Miserables has survived worse translations”
Why the new English translation of Victor Hugo’s masterpiece is 100,000 words longer than its best-known predecessor.
Adam and Eve in the pre- and post-lapsarian state?
Among the events planned to mark John Milton’s 400th birthday (12/9) is a Grand Paradise Lost Costume Ball, in Williamsburg this weekend.
Google brings searchable books to your site
Google’s Book Search Feature now allows anyone with a website to embed books so readers can browse and search inside without ever having to leave the site. (Via.)
New Ugresic essays
Dubravka Ugresic’s Nobody’s Home, an essay collection, is out from Open Letter today. BOMB has a (print-only) excerpt.
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