Blog

Far from workaday

“The movie Keats [talks] the way the real Keats wrote. But does he talk the way the real Keats talked?” (Via.)

Read more



Outrage over the intrusion versus burning curiosity

I’m in the minority, I gather, but my favorite of Henry James’ novellas is probably The Aspern Papers, what with all the narrator’s scheming, the old woman’s secrecy, and the delicious melodrama of the finale. (The book centers on a biographer who’s determined to uncover a dead poet’s rumored love letters.) So I got a kick out of this passage . . .

Read more



Artifact casts doubt on Christian God’s homophobia

Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker created the Significant Objects project earlier this year to prove the theory that a writer could invest an otherwise worthless object with value by making up a story about it. That’s my object, above, and you can find out its (invented) provenance at the Significant Objects site. A preview: This astonishing “Cracker Barrel” artifact appears . . .

Read more




The Habit of Art

“An author is sometimes surprised by what he or she has written.” The great Alan Bennett on his new play about W.H. Auden.

Read more



Newsletter Signup

For regular updates, subscribe to my free newsletter.