Happy 59, Lolita!
Today marks the fifty-ninth anniversary of the US publication of Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita, and we’re celebrating by watching this video of Nabokov discussing it on Canadian TV, in a setting that… well,… Read more »
The campus novels (and movies) that get it right (and wrong)
The “campus novel” is one of the few things with the word “campus” in it that is beloved by many. (Did you love the “Campus Police” when they confiscated your… Read more »
Science has now proved that poetry gives us the feels
I was the shadow of the waxwing slain (Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire) A splash quite unnoticed this was Icarus drowning (William Carlos Williams, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus) Jenny,… Read more »
London bookshop offers one lucky reader free books for life
London’s Heywood Hill bookshop is turning eighty, and to commemorate, they’ve launched a new Library of a Lifetime contest. One lucky winner will get a newly released hardcover, every month,… Read more »
Don’t judge a book by its… title?
We’ve all heard the old cliché “don’t judge a book by its cover.” But how about judging a book by its title? As publishers, we spend long, agonising meetings brainstorming… Read more »
Two for Tuesday: Wacky Wednesday: What’s the deal with Go Set a Watchman?
Topics discussed: Harper Lee, Go Set a Watchman, Barnes & Noble, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Bryan Burrough, Barbarians at the Gate, RJR Nabisco, Powerhouse Arena, Choire Sicha, William Giraldi, Neely Tucker, Alice… Read more »
From Kafka to DeLillo: A small list of writers who rejected their own work
It’s not so surprising that admirers of a famous person’s work can become interested in that person’s personal life. Maybe they want to further explore what makes their favorite playwright… Read more »
The Red and the White: Russian literature’s general theories of the moon
The most memorable moon in Russian literature is no moon at all. It appears—like the most memorable everything else in Russian literature—in Alexander Pushkin’s novel-in-verse Eugene Onegin as the face… Read more »
Russia’s children’s ombudsman: Forget about sex education, just read Russian literature
It’s not the first thing that comes to mind when you consider Russian literature, but Pavel Astakhov, Russia’s children’s ombudsman (aka Children’s Rights Commissioner for the President of the Russian… Read more »
A grammar of laziness
In his newest post for the New York Review of Books blog, Charles Simic muses on “Summertime.” He fears the loss of laziness as skill: “To my great regret, I… Read more »