In a piece for Oxford American, Mark Edmundson has an important message for incoming college freshpersons.
“Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here?”
What to Do with a Nazi Monument?
A group of Austrian artists aims to “reconfigure and recontextualize” a memorial to Austrian poet Josef Weinheber, who engaged in Nazi activities and wrote numerous pro-Hitler propaganda pieces. Michael Kaminer caught up with Eduard Freudmann, the leader of the Vienna-based push for recontextualization, who hopes to spark a debate “about how to proceed with the … artistic reconfiguration of a Nazi monument.”
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This is Your Brain on Art
Proust Was a Neuroscientist author Jonah Lehrer explains exactly how the brain is able to perceive art.
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The 2020 Best Translated Book Awards Goes Virtual
The Best Translated Book Awards reading and ceremony will be streamed online this year.
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Thirty Princes
In every country except France, the copyright for The Little Prince expired at the end of last year, which explains why Turkish publishers chose the first two weeks of January to publish a huge number of new translations of the book. At the LRB blog, Millions contributor Kaya Genc writes about the flood of new editions, remarking on the significance of a passage about a Turkish astronomer.
Katie Kitamura on Embracing the Persistent Doom
Katie Kitamura discusses her latest novel, Intimacies, and how its story embraces uncertainty as a constant in our lives.
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Storytelling Addict
“Storytelling, she added, is a central part of Native American life, and, inevitably an obsessive part of hers. ‘It’s probably the most selfish thing I do,’ she said. ‘Truly. I don’t do it for anyone else. I do it because I have the addict’s need to get lost in the story.’” Louise Erdrich discusses her new novel LaRose.