Here are the first lines of the new Gary Shteyngart novel, Super Sad True Love Story, forthcoming in July: “Today I’ve made a major decision: I am never going to die. Others will die around me. They will be nullified. Nothing of their personality will remain. The light switch will be turned off.”
First Lines of the New Gary Shteyngart
You Come at Nabokov, You Best Not Miss
It is well known that Vladimir Nabokov and Edmund Wilson had one of the more visible falling outs in literary history over the former’s English-language Eugene Onegin translation, and indeed the history of that relationship’s souring is fascinating. But even still, it’s extremely interesting to read Nabokov’s nine-page “Reply” to Wilson’s “adverse criticism.” If nothing else, one has to wonder what Wilson was thinking when he brought a knife to a gun fight.
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How and How Not to View Africa
Mama Hope, a group that works with local African organizations "to connect them with the resources required to transform their own communities," has released a great promo featuring four young men who are tired of Hollywood's African stereotypes. Their complaints are reminiscent of those enumerated in Binyavanga Wainaina's classic essay "How to Write about Africa," and also in Laura Seay's great article from last week, "How Not to Write About Africa."
Earnest vs. Humorous
"Maybe our anointed literary books just have to be earnest ones because earnest ones showcase that soupçon of intelligence. Maybe humor isn’t felt to indicate a genuine commitment to looking smart." Year in Reading alum Lydia Millet talks with Jenny Offill about humor writing, what books are "anointed" as modern classics, and Millet's new book, Mermaids in Paradise.
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Titanic Fixes
Neil deGrasse Tyson just continues to fix the world, one piece of astronomical minutiae at a time. Theatergoers sitting through screenings of Titanic 3-D will no longer see an incorrect star field thanks to a "snarky" email sent by Dr. Tyson to director James Cameron.
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The Art of Fiction No. 207: Jonathan Franzen
"I’ve never felt less self-consciously preoccupied with language than I did when I was writing Freedom." Lorin Stein introduces The Paris Review's new Winter issue, and includes excerpts from the Art of Fiction interview with Jonathan Franzen.
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I Am What I Am
Pharrell Williams is suing Black Eyed Peas member Will.I.Am over the latter’s insistence that he owns copyright on the phrase, “I Am.” If the judge in this case is truly worth their salt, they should force both musicians to settle this matter with a no-holds-barred John Clare-esque “I Am” poem off.
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Burrito Lit, Student Edition
Remember when Chipotle started publishing famous authors like Toni Morrison, George Saunders, and Neil Gaiman on their cups and burrito-toting bags? Well, now's your chance to join them. The fast-food chain is holding a contest for student writers, and the prizewinning responses to the prompt "write about a time when food created a memory" will be printed on those same cups and brown paper bags across the country. Oh, and there's a $20,000 scholarship, too.
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I like this whole first line from upcoming books thing you have going on. These first lines do not make me want to read this book, though. Too precious.
I can’t tell you how happy I am to see the phrase “new Gary Shteyngart novel”!
It wasn’t on most of those “books we’re excited about next year lists”, so a welcome surprise. Plus, it’s a heckuva sentence.
Oh boy! Another kinda creepy, sorta funny, odd, quirky wild ride. Never underestimate the guy who wrote the greatest circumcision story of all time.