Remainders: the “yes, I will put out my cigarette — on your face” edition
Like most of the bars in [expurgated] after 11:30 p.m., Kurt Vonnegut doesn’t give a damn about New York City’s smoking ban. Especially not when he just wants a smoke in a public park on a fine, sunny afternoon.
In the Telegraph, Mark Sanderson says: “The latest annual sales figures from Nielsen BookScan reveal why so many authors are taking up writing for children. The top five authors, according to the amount of money their work made in 2004, were Jacqueline Wilson (£8,347,573), J.K. Rowling (£5,392,239), Julia Donaldson, creator of The Gruffalo – (£4,797,459), Lemony Snicket (£4,633,296) and Philip Pullman (£3,964,892).” Bloomsbury is already tallying its profits for the latest boy wizard book, which doesn’t appear until July 16.
The American Society of Journalists and Authors, the Authors Guild, and the National Writers Union have filed “a motion for court approval of an $18 million settlement in a class action suit they and 21 freelance writers filed on behalf of thousands of freelance writers whose stories appeared in online databases without their consent.” (Thanks to GMB for the link.)
B.R. Myers suggests that, with the appearance of Jonathan Safran Foer’s latest book, the postmodern novel may have gasped its last breath. Says Myers, “the guilelessness that once had to be willed is now reflexive; and the self-styled literary reader laughs out loud at a farting dog.”
