On Friday, I wrote about the British writer William Boyd, whose new play, Longing, debuted last week at London’s Hampstead Theatre. The play is based on two of Chekhov’s short stories, one of which (according to Boyd’s new article in The Guardian) sheds light on the great author’s love life. Apparently the young Anton had “at least two dozen” affairs.
“Full, unfettered pomp”
Voice to the Voiceless
“Even though journalism is a good profession, for me it was very constraining. It focuses on the surface, banalities, events, and I wanted to spend a longer time talking to people in depth, and to ask them about truly important things, like love, death, and war.” This interview with Svetlana Alexievich at The Nation is fantastic. Check out our own profile/interview with Alexievich from earlier this summer.
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A Bombing Hits Home
Recommended Reading: On the recent terrorist attacks in Ankara, and longing for home.
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Gulf Stream, Issue 9
The creative writing department at Florida International University has released the ninth issue of their on-campus literary magazine, Gulf Stream. The issue features the publication’s first inaugural Author Roundtable – a discussion between agents and writers from the Miami Writers Institute and novelists Cathy Day and Marc Fitten.
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Peeling Back the “Mask of the Whiskey Gentry”
In a long investigation of Hunter S. Thompson’s classic essay, “The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved” (PDF), Josh Roiland takes readers to church by pointing out exactly what’s so alluring about the piece, which “scholars often point to … as the origin of Gonzo Journalism.”
He Also Plays Football Tonight at 8pm
They’ve called him a sports icon, a “national nightmare,” an author, and a punchline. They’ve questioned the backlash against him, and tracked his particular brand of “muscular Christianity.” Coincidental religious symbolism has been noted. Yet so far nothing has come close to genius of Jimmy Fallon’s rendition of Tim Tebow as… TeBowie.
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“A rabbi…once said all Western literature was commentary on the Torah. I’ll buy that exaggeration”
Seventeen Jewish authors weigh in on the question “is there such a thing as Jewish fiction?,” recalling Gabriel Brownstein’s excellent inquiry, “Are You, Or Have you Ever Been, a Jewish Writer?”
Of Transatlantic Manoeuvres and Colourful Sweaters
Our favourite American editor of an across-the-pond publication – Emily Bobrow of More Intelligent Life – chats with The Morning News about Anglo-American stylistic differences: “The English work hard but pretend not to, while Americans often strain to look busy.”
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