“Ms. Gitelman’s argument may seem like an odd lens on familiar history. But it’s representative of an emerging body of work that might be called ‘paperwork studies.’ True, there are not yet any dedicated journals or conferences. But in history, anthropology, literature and media studies departments and beyond, a group of loosely connected scholars are taking a fresh look at office memos, government documents and corporate records, not just for what they say but also for how they circulate and the sometimes unpredictable things they do.”
No Word on Receipts Yet
Guerilla Reading
Does literature belong on the streets? Thanks to some forward-thinking initiatives like the Coffee Sleeves Conversation at Coffee House Press and the Chicago-based project “Poem While You Wait,” (in which poets stationed around the city produce original, on-demand poems for five dollars a piece) literature is finding its way to the masses.
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Hard to Recall
“Thinking about her life is like sifting ashes. You believe you see the clear outline of a message, but it inevitably disintegrates before you can be sure of its sense. The mantle of a ‘rediscovered writer’ has never settled firmly around [her] shoulders; she has a way of resisting the platitudes of remembering.” Michelle Dean on the writer Nella Larsen.
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What’s a Night with William Blake Worth?
William Blake’s cottage in Felpham, England is on the market for $970,000. Since Blake only lived in the place for three years, that means a single night of Blake’s time could be valued at about $885.
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Let Me Stand Next To Your Cahiers
The NYRB Blog offers a selection from Animalinside, the very cool collaboration between illustrator Max Neumann and the great Hungarian novelist László Krasznahorkai. Colm Toibin provides an introduction.
Riding Trains Across the Heartland
We’re glad to hear that this autobiographical essay from David Biespiel at The Rumpus is only the first in a sequence of autobiographical portraits to be published on Poetry Wire on his upbringing as a poet.
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