Our own Mark O’Connell has reviewed How Literature Saved My Life by David Shields in this week’s New York Times Book Review. “When you read David Shields, the first thing you learn is that he takes literature very seriously.”
O’Connell on Shields
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Democratized Words
Ever heard of the Collins Dictionary? It’s the open-source lexicographic collection which apparently accepted “thanx,” but likewise rejected “alleygation” and “mobydickulous.” Consider it the happy medium between The American Heritage and Urban dictionaries.
Illustrating Finnegans Wake
Wake In Progress is a blog that records one artist’s “foolhardy attempt to illustrate Finnegans Wake.” (via The Rumpus)
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In the Future, All Art Historians Will Work 20 Hours a Week
A couple of contrarian views on the current job market and its woes: “How Art History Majors Power the U.S. Economy” (at Bloomberg, no less) and “Cut the working week to a maximum of 20 hours, urge top economists” (sign me up).
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Gone but Not Forgotten
“Their relative obscurity is what makes their fans so passionate — these are voices that never quite found the right audience when they were alive.” Longreads has a reading list of forgotten women writers, including Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Jessie Redmon Fauset, and Anita Brookner, whom we profiled in our own pages last year.
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New Quarterly Conversation
A new issue of The Quarterly Conversation covers Gaddis, Müeller, and the Nordic masculinity of Per Petterson, among other topics.
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Everyone’s Writing
“Every month, Literary Hub, Electric Lit, and Catapult engage more than two million people with serious writing and contemporary writers, instead of leaving them to play Candy Crush or what-have-you.” Meet the man behind Lit Hub, Electric Lit, and Catapult, Andy Hunter. For reflections on the world of print, Nick Ripatrazone writes on the literary magazine and getting paid.
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