Somehow, I did not make Time‘s list of the 100 most influential people of 2011. But authors Jonathan Franzen, Jennifer Egan, George R.R. Martin, and “tiger mom” Amy Chua did.
Time’s Authors with Influence
The Night I Am Heading Into
In Case You Missed It: This email exchange between playwright Sarah Ruhl and the late Max Ritvo, whose Four Reincarnations is out next week: “I think my mind is a set of lapis lazuli steps falling apart, and all I want is to be told ‘it’s alright, we rebuild it every day’ But what is the it? What is it? And if I was vaporized by a ray gun but was then replaced instantly by an identical person with an identical filigree of nerves shot through with identical sparks cased in an identical skull—would it still be me? I don’t think so. I don’t know if even a perfect Reincarnation would be a Reincarnation to me, in my heart. I’m starting to feel like Theseus and I just want my fucking ship out of the dry-dock and back on the water.”
Illustrating Finnegans Wake
Wake In Progress is a blog that records one artist’s “foolhardy attempt to illustrate Finnegans Wake.” (via The Rumpus)
Bedtime Story
According to the Times, Adam Mansbach’s “children’s book for adults” Go the F–k to Sleep has gone “viral” well in advance of its October release date, at one point climbing all the way to #2 on Amazon. Bonus Link: The Millions Interview with Mansbach.
Can You Learn to Love the Adverb?
The saying goes that “the road to hell is paved with adverbs,” but at Beyond the Margins Robin Black makes the opposite argument. “I want you to love adverbs,” she begins, but “more than that, I want you to believe, as I do, that adverbs are the part of speech that best captures the human condition.”
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