The folks at The New Yorker’s Book Bench offer their take at The Late American Novel: Writers on the Future of Books. (Spoiler Alert: Katherine Hepburn gets a shoutout.)
The New Yorker on The Late American Novel
Bad Habits
There are many things you could call William S. Burroughs, who was born a hundred years ago this month, but Will Self prefers to call him “the original junkie,” a title which reflects the author’s hedonistic background and the strangeness of books like Naked Lunch. Self takes a close look at Burroughs’s novel-cum-memoir, Junky, in The Guardian.
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Glamorama – Brooklyn Book Festival Edition
NYC-area readers are invited to an event this Friday centered on the topic of marketing literature in the age of Gawker. At 7 p.m. I'll be moderating a panel discussion that includes novelists Fiona Maazel and Tao Lin, literary agent Erin Hosier, and Christopher Kolouris of the website Scallywag & Vagabond. The event, which doubles as a launch party for Canteen magazine's "Hot Authors" issue, also features two bands, a DJ, and an open bar. More info at 3rd Ward.
Creative Slump
We have some bad news, writers. People actually dislike creative thinking. Despite how society celebrates creativity, most people are too risk averse to appreciate it, studies indicate. What's the upside? Social rejection can bolster your creativity, but most writers probably knew that already.
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Hilary Mantel’s Torment and Joy
In her Shelf Awareness interview, Hilary Mantel admits that Wolf Hall, her recently released Bring Up the Bodies, and the trilogy’s forthcoming conclusion were originally conceived to be one book. That they kept expanding, she says, is “the torment and joy of writing fiction.” Meanwhile, over at The Daily Beast, the English author rounds up her five favorite historical fictions.
New Dr. Seuss Book to Be Published in July
Random House announced today that a never-before-published Dr. Seuss book titled What Pet Should I Get? will appear on bookshelves this July. The book, a spinoff of Seuss's One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, centers on two young children attempting to choose a pet. Seuss's widow, Audrey Geisel, discovered the manuscript in 2013.
In Memoriam, Edward Albee
"For example, I don’t feel that catharsis in a play necessarily takes place during the course of a play. Often it should take place afterward." The Paris Review offers a manuscript page from playwright Edward Albee, who died this past weekend. See also: this amazing piece of lore behind the titling of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.
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