What’s cooler: bourbon aged at sea, or beer made from barley launched into space?
Next Up: Volcanic Vodka
IRL
Joshua Cohen’s new novel has gotten a lot of attention for its odd relationship with Internet culture. In The New Republic, he talks with Gideon Lewis-Kraus in a Gchat, explaining his view that “it’s time writing took something back from the Internet.” Pair with Cohen’s Millions interview from 2012.
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They’re So Tough
"I liked the war parts the most, but peace was fine. It was fine." It seems as though Trump has taken a liking to Tolstoy. Over at Electric Literature, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump makes book blurbs great again.
More from Leon Wieseltier
A couple weeks ago, I wrote about this year’s Brandeis commencement, at which New Republic editor Leon Wieseltier argued that the humanities are under siege in America. In this week’s issue of Prospect Magazine, Malcolm Nicholson interviews Wieseltier, who claims that “we live in a culture of worthless praise.”
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Brillante
Is Alejandro Zambra the new great Latin American writer? James Wood thinks he is. In the latest New Yorker, he describes how Zambra’s new story collection alerted him to the writer’s oeuvre, going on to analyze all three of the writer’s novels in English. You could also read our 2011 interview with Zambra.
A Portrait of the Artist
John Berger meditates on the life and work of Rembrandt, in an exclusive excerpt from his forthcoming book. As he puts it, “Rembrandt drew because he liked drawing. It was a daily reminder of what surrounded him.”
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Sedaris’s Story Comes to the Big Screen
After years of rebuffing film deals and movie rights offers, David Sedaris has finally allowed one of his stories to be made into a motion picture. This month, you’ll be able to check out University of Miami alum Kyle Alvarez’s adaptation of “C.O.G.” (Child of God). You can check out a trailer over here.