Attention disenchanted graduate students and adjunct professors: There is life and work beyond the ivory tower for doctors of philosophy. If you’re interested in exploring this world of non-professing work, check out the new website The Versatile PhD.
The Versatile PhD
Science Fiction and the Paperback Novel
Fun fact: Up until the late 1940s, science fiction novels really didn’t exist. Andrew Liptak writes about the rise of the paperback novel and the evolution of science fiction for Kirkus Reviews. Pair with Nichole Bernier‘s Millions essay on “The Point of the Paperback.”
●
●
“You may better yourself by reading this, but who cares?”
“Usually, with a novel, you start with no idea what to do because your job is to create convincing characters and then they just run around getting crazy. The problem with writing a memoir, obviously, is you can’t do that because you sort of know what’s going to happen. Because you’re the character.” – Gary Shteyngart
●
●
On Formative Viewings
At The Guardian’s website, Joe Queenan examines a little-known film, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, that “beguiled” Martin Scorcese when he was just twelve years old.
●
●
“It’s all in the dark, all feeling around”
Speaking to Parul Sehgal, recent Booker and National Book Award finalist Jhumpa Lahiri confesses that in order to write, she must begin from “a place where I feel—and need to feel—completely alone and anonymous.” The Lowland author elaborates that the act of writing is “such an intimate thing; I can’t do it in front of other people. It’s a rich dimension in one’s head – to access it, the noise has to be shut off. And there is a lot of noise in the world.”
●
●
How to Get Out of a Sticky Situation
From a professional archivist: A solution to the classic problem of removing stubborn sticker glue off the back of your books.
●
●
Flannery’s Home
Over at The Paris Review, Wei Tchou travels to Flannery O’Connor’s farm in Georgia. As she writes, “The charm of Andalusia lies in gestures like this, the ones that urge you into feeling as though you belong. The place isn’t a fossil, it’s a home.” Pair with Nick Rapatrazone’s Millions essay on teaching and learning from “the greatest American writer ever to load up a typewriter.”