November 16th marks the release of the new film version of Anna Karenina (written by Tom Stoppard), which you can watch the trailer for here. It might also be a good time to brush up on the novel itself.
Levin and Vronsky Are Dead
What’s Frightening About Gone Girl
Don’t Cry author Mary Gaitskill reviews Gillian Flynn’s wildly successful thriller, Gone Girl, for the pages of Bookforum. What she finds is that the book isn’t really frightening because of its plot per se, but rather because its two main characters “do not resemble actual people so much as grotesquely smiling masks driven by forces of extreme artifice, and it’s exactly that extreme artificial quality that’s frightening to the point of sickening.” For what it’s worth, Edan Lepucki, Michael Bourne, Ed Park, Janet Potter, and Jennifer duBois each named Flynn’s book in their most recent Year in Reading pieces.
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“It was the perfect literary crime”
Amid recent discussion here and elsewhere about what to do about bad reviews, in the Washington Post Chris Bohjalian writes of the time he resisted the temptation to pan a book by the teacher who almost crushed his nascent literary career.
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Pictures Made of Words
Pictures made of words: Hang your favorite book on the wall with the complete text, arranged to depict a memorable scene from the book. (via @Harvard_Press)
From Iowa to Illinois
Poets & Writers‘ 2011 MFA rankings are out, and poet John Gallaher has some questions for students in the top 20 programs. (via The Rumpus)
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Laura Amy Schlitz Interview
Newbery Medalist and Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! author Laura Amy Schlitz was interviewed for Publisher’s Weekly. She discussed her latest novel, Splendors and Glooms, which “allowed [Schlitz] to marry two of her passions in a single work – [Charles] Dickens and marionettes,” as well as her “half-hour, one-page trick” for writing.
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Mississippi, 1952
Recommended Viewing: This 1952 documentary about William Faulkner and his hometown.
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La Nausee
“For too long I have been aggravated by the unabashed exploitation of the thieving filmmaker. He profits shamelessly from my existential despair.” Say hello to Henri, the Existential Cat.
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More Pale King
A couple of Pale King odds & ends: N+1 reruns Benjamin Kunkel‘s astute DFW memoriam, and Jonathan Raban tackles the religious side of the Wallace weltanschauung for the NYRB. (Whither Wyatt Mason?)
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