A German film about imprisoned Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky is set for release in Russia next week, but it is unlikely that many in the country will actually have an opportunity to see it.
Khodorkovsky’s Unscreened Documentary
Nicholson Baker and Friendly’s
Nicholson Baker talks about why he does so much writing at Friendly's, a fast food chain that soon may exist only in its descriptions.
Finding “the fountainhead of the humanities”
Tracing the biological origins of aesthetics, Harvard Professor E.O. Wilson argues for a tighter bond between the humanities and the sciences and identifies the metaphor as the wedge that will keep them forever divided.
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Zeitgeist-y
"We get the book adaptations we deserve... We need to re-tell these stories over and over because each generation sees them in a different way, needs different things from them. We tell these stories again and again, their survival over time proof of their intrinsic value. People are writing new Zeitgeist-y things all the time of course, but we return to classics because the stories have endured for a reason." Sky Friedlander on the "Literary Period Piece."
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Americanah Interview
Last week we mentioned that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's novel Americanah will, all going well, become a movie starring Lupita Nyong'o. We also mentioned that she wrote about her Year in Reading for us last year. But wait, here's more! The Rumpus has interviewed Adichie about Americanah, and it's well worth the read.
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Norris Church Mailer dead at 61
Norris Church Mailer, widow of Norman Mailer, died yesterday at 61 following a long battle with cancer. Mark Olshaker, president of the Norman Mailer Society, wrote: "She was the pilgrim soul who captured and won Norman’s heart and mind and who shared with him the last three decades of his life."
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