A recent survey of 19th century British literature uncovered advertising subtly placed within classic texts by authors like Dickens, Austen, and Thackeray. From Vanity Fair, for example: “‘My sisters say she has diamonds as big as pigeons’ eggs,’ George said, laughing. ‘How they must set off her complexion! Surely she avails herself of Madame A.T. Rowley’s Toilet Mask (or Face Gloves)…’” (via Book Bench)
Product Placement in 19th Century British Novels
Tuesday New Release Day: Danielewski; Enright; Shepard; Gibson; Lutz; Novic; Greenfeld; Gessen
Out this week: The Familiar, Volume 1 by Mark Z. Danielewski; The Green Road by Anne Enright; The Book of Aron by Jim Shepard; The Edge Becomes The Center by DW Gibson; The Daemon Knows by Harold Bloom; How to Start a Fire by Lisa Lutz; Girl at War by Sara Novic; The Subprimes by Karl Taro Greenfeld; and City by City, an essay collection edited by Keith Gessen and Stephen Squibb. For more on these books and other new titles, go read our Great 2015 Book Preview.
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Early Bird
Ready to feel bad about yourself? Good: a writer named Daisy Ashford wrote her first novel — a 1919 bestseller — when she was nine years old.
The L.A. Times Book Prize in Fiction Finalists
The L.A. Times Book Prize finalists for 2013 have been announced. The five finalists in fiction are: Percival Everett’s Percival Everett by Virgil Russell, Claire Messud’s The Woman Upstairs (also see her Year in Reading post), Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being, Susan Steinberg’s Spectacle, and Daniel Woodrell’s The Maid’s Version. The winner will be announced on April 11.
Emma Straub is not an orphan.
Flatmancrooked knows that writers need money, and commercials.
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“Afro Picks” Image & Pun Draws Criticism
The cover image of this week’s Publisher’s Weekly, which centers around an annual feature on African American book publishing, is drawing a lot of attention, mostly negative. Read PW senior news editor Calvin Reid‘s explanation/mea culpa.
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Russian Love Stories; Russian Persecution
Masha Gessen has been busy of late. Within months of publishing her investigative look at the charges for Russian punk band, Pussy Riot, Gessen has also co-edited a book entitled Gay Propaganda: Russian Love Stories. Over at The Independent, you can check out a review of the two projects, and over at Guernica, you can read an interview in which Gessen discusses both works.
This Charming Man
His music isn’t letting him get what he wants, so Morrissey is turning to writing instead. After his autobiography, Morrissey, was more successful than any of his records, the musician is writing a novel next.
Punderstrike
At The Hairpin, Alexa C. Kurzius pays a visit to the Punderdome 3000, a monthly “com-pun-tition” that takes place in (where else?) Brooklyn. Among other highlights, the author constructs an alter ego for herself named Pundercat.
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As far as I can tell, this article is a hoax. There was no add agency with that name in the 16th century (not until the late 20th century), and most of the cited examples don’t exist, they are made-up.
A very amusing hoax! I was jolted by the extracts from Great Expectations and Vanity Fair, two books I had studied at school, never had I heard Miss Havisham speak so salaciously!
Checking my copies of Mansfield Park and Vanity Fair, and even when unable to locate my Dracula or Dickens I confirmed my suspicions.
However, do look at Wilde’s short story The Canterville Ghost, with at least three
products mentioned unabashedly in the text, by the American family who are completely unperturbed by the presence of the spirit who had been haunting Canterville Chase for centuries! I very much doubt any of the products mentioned (Pinkerton’s Champion Stain Remover and Paragon Detergent, Tammany Rising Sun Lubricator and Doctor Dobell’s tincture) are real but would have to verify that statement.