Ray Bradbury, author of such classics as Fahrenheit 451, has passed away at the age of 91, reports io9. I’ll always remember the first time I read The Veldt (PDF), and being scared out of my adolescent mind.
Ray Bradbury Passes Away
Pardon Me, But Are Those Brooklyn Lagers You’re Drinking?
Have a beer with Joshua Ferris.
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More on Myers
Yesterday, I wrote that I "[had] yet to read a comprehensive debunking" of B.R. Myers. For those still interested, I've been directed to some candidates: Meghan O'Rourke (2001), Daniel Green (2007), the Washington City Paper (2010, concerning neocon ideology and the shadowy RAND corporation), and part I of Steven Moore's The Novel: An Alternative History.
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Stuck in Traffic
Ann Beattie tells the New Yorker how a bumper sticker inspired her short story “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowgirl.” Also check out Alex Dueben’s Millions interview with the author.
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Bad for Books
“The idea that a 'book of the year' can be assessed annually by a bunch of people – judges who have to read almost a book a day – is absurd, as is the idea that this is any way of honouring a writer.” Amit Chaudhuri in The Guardian about why the Man Booker Prize “is bad for writers.” And in these pages, Mark O'Connell asks why we care about literary awards at all.
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What Bolano Read
Part 2 of "What Bolano Read" by Tom McCartan at Melville House.
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Literary Critic Sir Frank Kermode Dies at 90
Sir Frank Kermode, widely acclaimed as Britain's foremost literary critic, died yesterday in Cambridge at the age of 90. Guardian recalls highlights of his eminent career, including inspiring the founding of The London Review of Books, publishing books ranging from works on Spenser and Donne to last year's Concerning EM Forster, and being an acclaimed reviewer: Philip Roth admitted that although he dislikes reading reviews, "if Frank Kermode reviewed my book I would read it."
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Lost Hitchcock
A long lost Alfred Hitchcock film has been unearthed in New Zealand.
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THE VELDT got me too. And “Fahrenheit 451” is my shorthand for all the literary scariness these days.
“There Will Come Soft Rains” makes me even sadder now…
As he was for many people, Bradbury was one of the most important literary bridges from kid’s lit to adult fiction for me. (And I suppose Rachel Bloom put a new spin on Bradbury as “adult” fiction with her song.) It was an easy journey from things like “R is for Rocket” and “S is for Space” to “The Martian Chronicles” and then to more challenging work. For me, the book that kept me up at night was “Something Wicked This Way Comes” and who can forget his terrific treatment of bullying, “All Summer in a Day,” which yesterday’s transit of Venus made me think of. And I agree with Evelyn Walsh: “Fahrenheit 451” is a eerie echo of so many aspects of our culture . . . written sixty years ago.