The Cleveland Plain-Dealer published an interview with Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson, reportedly his first since 1989. The Washington Post talked to the Plain-Dealer reporter about how he scored an interview with the reclusive cartoonist.
Bill Watterson Speaks
Your Lowest Depths of Misery?
“In 1865, Karl Marx confessed that he considered his chief characteristic ‘singleness of purpose,’ and that his favorite occupation was ‘bookworming.’ Five years later, Oscar Wilde wrote in an album called ‘Mental Photographs, an Album for Confessions of Tastes, Habits, and Convictions’ that his distinguishing feature was ‘inordinate self-esteem.'” Over at The New Yorker, take a look at how Marcel Proust’s questionnaires inspired a generation of question-by-by-question introspection.
Writing By Heart
We’ve told you about The Atlantic’s By Heart series a few times before. Now, here’s a compendium of some of the series’ best advice on writing collected from the past year.
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Part 3 of Murakami’s 1Q84 coming soon in Japan
Part Three of Haruki Murakami’s massive new novel 1Q84 will be released in April. The novel is expected to be released in English by Random House in Fall 2011. Check out our previous reporting on Murakami’s latest here.
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Talking with Norman Rush
“For me, authenticity of setting is a kind of sine qua non for the feeling that a scene has been correctly done. I become unnerved if I haven’t got a ground plan, don’t know where my characters are. It’s a matter of personal psychology, I guess. I’ve always collected notes on settings. Most, of course, I’ll never use.” At the Tin House blog, Tim Horvath talks shop with Norman Rush.
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My Book Didn’t Influence Terrorism
Ashwin Sanghi first published his book, The Rozabal Line, on Lulu.com under the anagram Shawn Haigins. A revised edition of the book was published by Westland Ltd. & Tranquebar Press much later, and garnered controversy with readers pointing out similarities between its plot and the 26/11 terrorist attack on Mumbai. Sanghi’s response? “Any book based on research could have real life commonalities.”