Tranquility by Attila Bartis is named winner of the inaugural Best Translated Book Award. Scott rounds up some reviews and background on the book.- Video: Tom Perrotta on the state of American literary culture.
- “Art History books are full of errors.” This one is about La Raie Vert [the Green Stripe] from 1905 by Henri Matisse.
- Perfect for the cubicle: Five Chapters serialized John Cheever’s short story, “Of Love: A Testimony,” in bite-sized portions.
- Mark Sarvas (re)launches the Three-Minute-Interview series, starting with Plimpton Prize winner Jesse Ball. We reviewed Ball’s debut Samedi the Deafness last year. Ball’s new book is The Way Through Doors.
- Meanwhile, Sheila Heti chats up Mary Gaitskill.
- Yearbook photos of politicians: Mike Huckabee, How YOU doin’?
- Norman Mailer and William Styron conduct an epistolary friendship.
- The Nation revisits the ever-popular subject of Kafka and his critics.
- Wyatt Mason and friends parse Joseph O’Neill to within an inch of his life.
- Reif Larsen is this year’s Million Dollar Baby.
- And, from the Department of Dead Horses and Guys Kicked While Down, we bring you this…
