Gavin Aung Than took Walt Whitman’s poem “When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer” and adapted it into illustrated comic book panels. This is the second time Than has illustrated the poet’s work.
Illustrated Whitman
A Nation of Poets
"Mr. Walt Whitman has imagined that a certain amount of violent sympathy with the great deeds and sufferings of our soldiers, and of admiration for our national energy, together with a ready command of picturesque language, are sufficient inspiration for a poet. If this were the case, we had been a nation of poets." A young Henry James reviews Whitman's Drum Taps.
Marr Resigns
Politico reporter Kendra Marr was forced to resign her position this week after New York Times writer Susan Stellin alerted Marr's editors to similarities between her transportation policy story published Sept. 26 and Marr's story published Oct. 10. An investigation by Politico into Marr's work found seven instances of likely plagiarism. Regret the Error points out that Politico should call Marr's stories what they are: serious plagiarism.
How the Nobel Odds Are Made
Ladbrokes, the popular bookmaker, has correctly predicted the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature with “a 50 percent accuracy rate” over the past eight years. This remarkable record is noteworthy because the oddsmakers do not actually read any of the books, and they do not go about “forming an opinion about the relative merits of each author.” Instead, the folks responsible for each year’s odds “appl[y] a numerical value to things like industry chatter, an author’s nationality, historical precedent.” So, that in mind, how confident do you feel about Haruki Murakami’s chances?
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Spring Awakening
Virgil and the springtime mysteries of Margaret Fuller.
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Longlisting Other Languages
PEN America has announced the longlist for its 2017 Translation Prize, including Deborah Smith for Han Kang’s The Vegetarian (see our review here), Carlos Rojas for Yan Lianke’s The Explosion Chronicles, and Victoria Cribb for Sjón's Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was. (We profiled Sjón's work at length a few years back!) The winner will be announced in February of 2017.
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Read Yourself Saintly
Though the world may never know whether reading the greats makes you a better person, according to a recent study, those who take an active interest in the arts are more likely to be altruistic.
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Flimflam
Here’s a simple poll idea we’re amazed we hadn’t thought of before: asking famous writers to pick their favorite words. In The Guardian, Hilary Mantel, Tessa Hadley and others (including Year in Reading alum Eimear McBride) choose their picks for an exceedingly odd vocabulary list.