Fellow Poe fan A.N. Devers won the trivia quiz I handed out at last week’s Readings from New Work event. (Actually, she tied with Joseph Clarke, but I disqualified him because he’s my brother-in-law. He says he guessed on every answer and hopes his triumph bodes well for the architect exam.) For fun, the questions: 1. Which writer’s first . . .
The multilingual World Digital Library posts primary materials — manuscripts, maps, photos, etc. — from various countries. (Via.)
Art in the face of poverty: Jill Lepore’s essay on Edgar Allan Poe is oddly, blithely withering, but it’s informative.
“Not that I care. I don’t want to be a professor.” J.M. Coetzee reads Samuel Beckett’s letters.
I’ve been looking forward to my friend Laila Lalami’s first novel since her story collection, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, was published back in 2005. Secret Son is finally out today, and — although, having witnessed its transformation over a couple of drafts, I’m not entirely objective — it’s well, well worth the wait. Youssef, who’s grown up in a . . .