Sugar’s Advice to Christian Writers
The Great American Novel
How it all got started: in 1868, The Nation published an article by John William De Forest titled "The Great American Novel." (via American Literary blog).
Stories Are Clumsy Beasts
Over at ZYZZYVA, Christian Kiefer talks to playwright Octavio Solis and novelist Scott Hutchins about the craft of writing and the difference between writing plays and writing novels. “It takes a huge amount of hard labor, man, to harness the forces that we are using to make our stories. They may emerge whole cloth out of our need to know how we operate as humans, but they’re often clumsy unfinished beasts." Kiefer’s new novel, The Animals, is one of the most anticipated books of 2015.
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Shear Brilliance
Recommended Reading: An essay by novelist Siri Hustvedt on the cultural significance of hair from the forthcoming collection Me, My Hair, and I in The New Republic.
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Kafka Who?
When you think "Franz Kafka," it typically isn't his sunny disposition that comes to mind. According to Reiner Stach, this new collection of ephemera, however, seeks to challenge the tired, old conception of Kafka-as-tortured neurotic. Here's a Millions review of Stach's twin biographies of Kafka, himself.
Two Good Women
Want to see Nobel laureate Alice Munro in conversation with Margaret Atwood? The two will take part in a Google+ hangout on Wednesday night at 7:30. (You could also read our beginner's guide to Munro's work.)
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Summer Reading Suggestion: Novellas
At the Guardian, Wayne Gooderman hypothesizes that a Henry James or Truman Capote novella might make for better summer reading than "the doom and gloom of Messrs Mann and Conrad."
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