Anne Enright remarks on Irish censorship, and she recalls the time her own mother was used “as a books mule.”
An Irish Books Mule
Kids These Days
“The complexity of texts students are being assigned to read has declined by about three grade levels over the past 100 years,” says Eric Stickney, the educational research director for Renaissance Learning.
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Eclipse Archive of Radical Small-Press Writing
Step 1: Read a sentence that says, “Eclipse is a free on-line archive focusing on digital facsimiles of the most radical small-press writing from the last quarter century.” Step 2: Click through and explore the site. Step 3: Look up and realize six hours have passed.
The Two Percent
What would happen if two percent of the world’s population disappeared overnight? HBO’s new teaser for its adaptation of Tom Perrotta’s The Leftovers asks us to contemplate that question. From what we see so far, it looks terrifying. The series premieres on June 15.
The Future United States of America
In Victor LaValle and John Joseph Adams's new anthology, they gather a group of writers to imagine the country's future using speculative fiction.
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To MFA or Not to MFA
The MFA rankings kerfuffle gets a contribution from Slate writer Scott Kenemore (which Roxane Gay promptly eviscerates), but this post appears to be the most level-headed assessment yet. (Last link via Hobart)
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Harper Lee’s Letters
Even though Harper Lee hasn’t given an interview in 50 years, her letters are an insight into the notoriously reclusive writer.”I simply don’t give interviews, because it takes great skill to ask meaningful questions and very few people in the media have it,” she wrote in a 2005 letter. Two of Lee’s letters will be auctioned today and are expected to go for at least $2,500 a piece. Pair with: Our essay on reclusive authors.
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This conjures other memories of Irish censorship — most particularly my mother’s memory of going to see PSYCHO in Dublin with her future sister in law and a dear family friend who happens to be a priest. The movie was so slashed to ribbons by the censor that they could hardly follow the plot. My mother said that even censored, the movie was still terrifying.
I’m sure it was, Evelyn. Thanks for sharing!