Full Stop editor Anna-Claire Stinebring argues that Roy Lichtenstein’s art has “come full circle” thanks, at least in part, to the popularity of Mad Men and 1960s nostalgia. Matt Weiner’s drama, after all, “explores but also glamorizes the world that produced the material for Lichtenstein’s most famous paintings.”
Lichtenstein’s Art Comes Full Circle
Multiple Personas
If all you associate Ingmar Bergman with is moody chess games and dead doves, it’s time to add “novelist” to the list.
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Black Independent Bookstores Are Increasing
Here’s something to cheer us up (aside from the good weather this weekend). Publisher’s Weekly interviews a few Black bookstore owners on how Black indie bookstores have bounced back from a steep decline several years ago. If a bookstore in your city is mentioned, be sure and visit.
DFW Interview from Russia
The NYRB blog unearths a 2006 interview with David Foster Wallace by a Russian journalist. “I will probably at some point finish a novel. Whether it will be good enough to publish, I don’t know.”
Rummaging Around Short Story Collections With Xuan Juliana Wang
Xuan Juliana Wang discusses the art of the short story and how story collections showcase an author's ambitions and obsessions.
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He Who Must Not Be Named
It goes without saying that Hitler is a taboo subject in Germany, which is why it’s remarkable that a German novelist, Timur Vermes, has caused a sensation with his book about a time-travelling Fuhrer. In the Times, Janet Maslin reviews the first English translation of Look Who’s Back. You could also read Merve Emre on Ben Urwand’s book about Hollywood and the Nazis.
What’s That Physics Book Doing in Tiger’s Car?
Now this would be a strange way for an obscure book to become an overnight bestseller. Among The Smoking Gun’s photos of the Tiger Woods crash scene is a shot of a book called Get a Grip on Physics by John Gribbin lying amid the broken glass. Maybe brushing up on physics can help your golf game.
Questions of Travel
Elisa Wouk Almino writes for Hyperallergic about her search for a home in Elizabeth Bishop’s poetry of estrangement. As she explains it, “Over time, I’ve found that home is not always attached to place.” Pair with this meditation on Bishop’s poetry.
Music Inspired by Literature
Have you ever wondered how Kafka’s The Trial would translate in music? Philip Glass adapted the novel, and more, to music. Read about other music inspired by literature at Ploughshares. For more on music and literature, check out our Torch Ballads and Jukebox Music column.