Qiu Miaojin was a Taiwanese novelist and lesbian activist, and her short life has had a profound impact on queer literature since her suicide in 1995. Recently Bonnie Huie received a PEN translation grant so she could bring Miaojin’s best-known work, Notes of a Crocodile, to an English-speaking audience. You can read an excerpt of Huie’s translation on the Asian American Writers’ Workshop online publishing platform, The Margins.
Qiu Miaojin’s Survival Guide
Trethewey Named Poet Laureate
You should get to know Natasha Trethewey, our newly minted Poet Laureate, and here are a few good places to start: The Missouri Review’s Summer 2010 interview with the poet, and Virginia Quarterly Review’s round-up of some of her poems.
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Pynchon Possessed by the Spirit of a Teenaged Girl
“Though female authors write experimental novels about women—like Renata Adler’s Speedboat or Sheila Heti’s How Should a Person Be?—the avant-garde has long been associated with male authors and stories. That association made Alexandra Kleeman’s You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine seem doubly unusual.” On Kleeman’s debut novel and blatantly feminine themes in the avant-garde.
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On Lispector’s Humanity
“If rats then represent terror and chickens innocent striving for something approaching authenticity, humans, for Lispector, are strangely in the middle, often stricken with fear, or handing out terror, but ready also to soar or break loose or achieve some freedom or be fully alert to their fate in a time short enough for one of her stories to be enacted.” Colm Tóibín writes about Clarice Lispector’s The Complete Stories. You could also check out a Year in Reading by Katrina Dodson, translator of the collection and our review of the book.
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More Top Books for 2009
More lists of the top books of 2009 are coming out. Now up: Amazon's favorites. Tops on their list is Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin, recently named a National Book Award finalist.
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Curiosities: Alternative Punctuation
Newsweek names "The Most Dangerous Man in Publishing."Adam Kirsch interviewed about his new bio of Benjamin Disraeli."Daily Routines: How writers, artists, and other interesting people organize their days." (via Jacket Copy)David Horvitz discovers several pages of his writing in this year's Dave Eggers-edited Best American Nonrequired Reading. He was not told that his work (pulled from his website) would be appearing in the book. Now he is peeved and has made several demands. (No permalinks, so check out the long Dec. 9 entry.) (Thanks Buzz)The LA Times unveils its Favorite Books 2008.Google's year-end "Zeitgeist" of 2008 search activity. Breaking Dawn the unsurprising top search.Recently discovered aggregators of quality content: The Browser and Give Me Something to Read.This week's Wikipedia treat: a gem of alternative punctuation: the "irony mark." In the history section of that entry, take note of the "doubt point, certitude point, acclamation point, authority point, indignation point, and love point."Scott gets to the bottom of the striking new cover designs on Dalkey Archive Press' books.NPR features an excerpt from Firmin, a Millions favorite (and former LBC pick) that is soon to be published in a new edition by Delta, a Random House imprint.The Association of American Publishers teams with several celebs to create BooksAreGreatGifts.com and accompanying YouTube vid. "Books make great gifts because they are an amazing way to kill time while your web site is buffering." - Jon Stewart. (thanks Laurie)
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Tolstoy, More Than a Century Later
The Atlantic opens up its archives and stumbles across a November, 1891 profile of Leo Tolstoy that foreshadows his death.
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Your a Real Jerk
"It’s somewhat surprising that typos and grammatical errors hold this much power given the speed and frequency of written communication that characterizes the digital age. Despite our 'sent from my iPhone' disclaimers, it appears we should still be diligent about avoiding written mistakes. Especially if were writing to a conscientious introvert whose not very agreeable. Their the wrst." On proving something that we all suspected to be true: less agreeable people care the most about grammar.
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This Writing Life
"I thought there were would be more in this writing life, an easier path to walk. I write those words and know they are the unwise thoughts of my younger self and that I am still too stubborn to give up on my dreams. When Annie Dillard invited me outside for that smoke, she knew very well what it would mean to a young writer like me. She intuited my ambitions and it was her way of encouraging me." This essay is ostensibly about smoking cigarettes and playing catch with Annie Dillard, but it's also about the incredibly important role that an established writer can play in helping a struggling up-and-comer.
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