What does it mean that so many faculty members at the United States Naval Academy have recommended Ayn Rand’s work on the “Reading List For Life?”
The Naval Academy’s Reading List for Life
The Rooster Longlist
For the first time in the history of The Morning News’ Tournament of Books, the longlist of all the titles under consideration has been published. From these titles, 16 will emerge for the literary throwdown in March.
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The Widening Spell
“Ah, I think, a lizard-poet. This particular category was one I had concocted years before to describe those poets who were too Olympian to mingle with the rest of us, who stood to the side, detached, having feelings.” Remembering Larry Levis, whose book of last poems, The Darkening Trapeze, was released this past week.
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Addressing the Critics
Last week, I directed you to Catie Disabato’s Thick Skin interview at 0s&1s. This week, Year in Reading alum Laura van den Berg joins them for the latest installment of the series, in which authors address their critics. We also recently interviewed van den Berg following the release of her first novel, Find Me.
Standing on the Bridge of Grief
Over at Catapult, Benjamin Wood writes about his eulogy for his grandfather, which led to his writing of The Ecliptic. As he puts it, “Or maybe, in this time of grieving, I was thinking only with my heart until my head began to listen. Today, it seems as though the entirety of The Ecliptic was held within my consciousness before I ever glimpsed a piece of it, and grief was what enabled me to notice.” Pair with Nagihan Haliloğlu’s Millions review of the novel.
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“Yesterday / Is two days before tomorrow”
Recommended Reading: “Yesterday,” Haruki Murakami’s new piece in The New Yorker. (I’ll give you one guess to name the band it’s about.) And speaking of Murakami, his latest novel has an official book trailer now.
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I only counted three I think. I actually found the lists to be surprisingly ecumenical. There were only a handful that were packed with military histories.
I count five professors total, the majority of whom are in mathematics or engineering. I think the list overall is pretty interesting, though.
I’m not surprised by the Randian representation within math/engineering. As an engineer myself, I tend to observe more Randians within my profession than in the general population. A desire for seeing the world in black and white and for logical actors, I guess.
I’m amazed that someone could go through that whole page and decide to fixate on the Ayn Rand entries.