“That’s how George got his glass eye.”
He Found Himself Changed
Happy(ish) birthday, Gregor Samsa! Here’s a piece from NPR commemorating the 100th anniversary of the publication of Franz Kafka’s masterpiece, The Metamorphosis. Kafka insisted that the story’s insect should never be drawn, but of course Vladimir Nabokov had his own ideas about that. To round out the Kafka news, here’s a review from The Millions of Reiner Stach’s Kafka: The Decisive Years.
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Mutual Self-Interest in Bad Decline
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, America needs George Saunders. Fortunately, the editors at The New Yorker’s Shouts and Murmurs blog appear to understand this.
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iWalser, iBradbury
David Wright recommends five works perfectly suitable for smartphone reading.
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Lost in the Archives
Charles Petersen traces the fascinating history of the New York Public Library to show the real cost of the planned renovations and the pitfalls of the inevitable digital libraries of the future. Mark Athitakis observes how archives flatten fictions with keywording.
Tuesday New Release Day: Adichie, Knausgaard, Brown
New in fiction this week is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah. The second volume of Karl Knausgaard’s My Struggle hits American shores (read about Volume One). Oh yeah, and that Dan Brown guy has a book out.
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