University Of Chicago Press has come out with a new edition of a somewhat forgotten classic in the campus novel genre. Randall Jarrell was a National Book Award-winning poet who wrote only one novel, Pictures from an Institution, about the fictional Benton College. The Kenyon Review published the opening of the novel in its Winter 1953 issue. It begins: “Half the campus was designed by Bottom the Weaver, half by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe; Benton had been endowed with one to begin with, and had smiled and sweated and spoken for the other.”
A Campus Novel Classic
Reading Gregor Samsa’s Chart
Have you ever wondered about the astrological sign of your favorite literary character? The writers behind Astro Poets have you covered.
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Leave the Room Buried
Recommended Reading: Robert Macfarlane at The Guardian on what it means to be living in the Anthropocene age–in which human influence on the planet is permanent and profound–and how our writers and artists are responding to the crisis.
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The 12th Caine Prize
NoViolet Bulawayo has won the 2011 Caine Prize for African Writing for her story “Hitting Budapest” (pdf).
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Life After Boobie
Grantland‘s got a nice excerpt from Buzz Bissinger’s Friday Night Lights follow-up, After Friday Night Lights. The book was released last week by Byliner.
The Formative Years
Over at the Literary Hub, twelve writers reflect on the high school English teachers who changed their lives. Also check out Nick Ripatrazone’s piece of advice for English teachers.