Archive for March, 2010


Why translation matters

Edith Grossman is one of the finest literary translators working today, says Jessa Crispin, but her new book on the art is disappointing.

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Why Muriel Spark switched publishers

I’ve been gearing up for Martin Stannard’s Muriel Spark biography by revisiting (and reading more of) her own fiction, which was evidently treated as unsaleable for much of her career. In 1999, she told Janice Galloway: “I used to be sold the idea that what I was writing was some little cult and people wouldn’t buy the things. Publishers used . . .

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Barry Hannah has died

R.I.P. Barry Hannah. His reluctant rules for writing. Crews on Hannah. 2008 profile. Paris Review interview. 1993 audio interview. Three-bean soup. His protégé, Jack Pendarvis.

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