Are you a Mildred Pierce fan? James M. Cain’s recently discovered manuscript will be released next year by Hard Case Crime.
Another “Mildred Pierce”
When A Critic Becomes An Author
Vanity Fair talks to renowned book critic Michiko Kakutani about her debut The Death of Truth and why she decided to become an author.
Teaching in Translation
Over at Words Without Borders, Marguerite Feitlowitz writes on teaching the art of literary translation. As she puts it, “Bringing texts from one place to another, from one tongue, context, history, and human body to another, is itself a political act. We can tell the history of the world through the history of when major texts have been translated—and where, why, and by whom.” Pair with this Millions piece on literary translators at work.
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“Don’t tie up this story with too neat a bow”
Recommended Reading: David L. Ulin on The Wisdom of Perversity by Rafael Yglesias.
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Even the Editors Get Rejected
Perhaps someone should compile a Salon des Refusés of Poetry Magazine‘s rejected poets.
The World’s Most Expensive Book
The world’s most expensive book (having previously fetched $8.8 million) is auctioned yet again.
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Fighting Words
Mark McGurl author of the book that got everyone talking about MFA programs, The Program Era, mounts a spirited defense against Elif Batuman’s much discussed review of the book. Among his ripostes: “One can be all for the deflation of liberal pieties without being a gleeful ignoramus about it, as though literary journalism needs its own Ann Coulter.” Zing!
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Tuesday New Release Day: Kepler, Block
New this week is the latest Scandinavian sensation, The Hypnotist by “Lars Kepler,” who after a literary manhunt, was revealed to be a husband-and-wife team. Also out this week is a new novel by wunderkind Stefan Merrill Block, The Storm at the Door.