The publishing arm of Persephone Books, a bookshop on Lamb’s Conduit Street in London, revives novels, mostly by women, that have fallen out of print and dropped out of public consciousness. The books are bound in gray covers, with endpaper fabric in patterns dating to the year of first publication. For Peter Fawkes, this project highlights the trouble copyright extension . . .
In 1985, Raymond Carver wrote “Dostoevsky: A Screenplay, which, alas, never found its way onto the big screen.”
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, with the date in the . . .
The PEN World Voices festival happens in New York this week. My itinerary would look more like The Elegant Variation’s if I didn’t have to work. (Each year the passage of New York budget legislation ushers in six weeks of day-job torment that make the Seventh Circle of Hell seem like an appealing place to vacation. At least this time . . .
James Baldwin on Paris of the late ’40s: “One soon ceased expecting to be warm in one’s hotel room, and read and worked in the cafes.” See also Giovanni’s Room.