This week, Allison K. Gibson looked into the “awkward but necessary role of technology in fiction,” and what it means to include it or overlook it in a given work of fiction. Similarly, what’s with the absence of birth scenes in literature?
Let’s Get a Novelist to Write a Birth Scene Transmitted via Skype
Hardcover, Paperback and The Economist
The Economist gives a succinct explanation of “why books come out in hardback before paperback,” but their answer feels almost too simple. For a fuller understanding of the paperback / hardback question, pair The Economist‘s article with Nichole Bernier‘s Millions piece on “The Point of the Paperback.”
So, You Want to Manage a Lit Mag
In a timely article for recent graduates, The Missouri Review’s managing editor Michael Nye tells the story of how he came to steward one of the most interesting literary magazines in the country. Spoiler alert: it’s important that you like reading.
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Steve Jobs Lives
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Coffee House + Emily Books
Coffee House Press recently announced it will be partnering with Emily Books, whose co-founder Emily Gould is a Year in Reading alum, to form their first imprint, which will publish two original titles a year. Their news pairs well with Electric Literature‘s “2015 Indie Press Preview.”
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Greatly Exaggerated
Whatever your thoughts on Will Self’s claim that the novel as we know it is dead, it’s important to keep in mind, as Daniel D’Addario helpfully illustrates, that we’ve heard this claim before. At Salon, he goes all the way back to 1902 to trace the legacy of a long-held fear.
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I believe that much of female experience is still uncharted territory, especially concerning the body. One birth scene that comes to mind is from Sylvia Plath’s journals– very immediate and moving. I remember a teacher my sophomore year (24 years ago!!) talking about THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK and a graphic description of menstruation and tampons..the professor discussed .how initially she recoiled from the scene and on reflection, embraced it. Somebody mentioned THE WATERFALL in the Guardian comments…I don’t remember the birth scene so much but the aftermath was a really evocative description of early days with a newborn.