New this week: The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer, Harvard Square by André Aciman, Tapestry of Fortunes by Elizabeth Berg, and Palisades Park by Alan Brennert.
Tuesday New Release Day: Wolitzer, Aciman, Berg, Brennert
Protest? I Would Prefer Not To.
In October 2011, Hannah Gersen convincingly argued that the Occupy Wall Street protests bore more than a few similarities to Bartleby, The Scrivener. Now, amid the political demonstrations going on throughout Turkey, Millions contributor Kaya Genç draws a similar parallel between Istanbul’s “Standing Man” and Herman Melville’s famous protagonist.
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Take Two Pencils
Always inspiring: Margaret Atwood’s advice on writing.
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The Annual Fund
“And, it really means so much to us to watch our birds fly out of the high school nest and into an income bracket that could really benefit the Annual Fund this year. I mean, we have 85% of our goal, but as you know, that’s only a B. And we know that you are an A student.” Ah, what a heartwarming and totally genuine letter from my private, nonprofit high school congratulating me on my new job. Thanks, McSweeney’s.
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Out of Copyright, Into Chaos
Eric Bulson remarks on the expiration of the European copyright in James Joyce’s oeuvre. The “vast sea of Joyceana,” Bulson writes, “will … have the effect of flooding the market, making it even more difficult for readers to decide which edition to buy.” Meanwhile in Japan, writes Dustin Kurtz, “an expansive and anticipated group” of writers will have their work enter the public domain this year.
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A Disturbance in the Force of the Joyce Estate
Our own Mark O’Connell likens James Joyce’s grandson to a “highbrow Darth Vader.”
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Paris Review to Publish Bolaño
For its spring issue, the Paris Review will be publishing Roberto Bolaño’s The Third Reich—its first serialized novel in forty years—with original illustrations by Leanne Shapton. It’s a chance to discover Bolaño’s famous lost novel almost a year before it appears in book form.
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Colum McCann’s Optimism
Let the Great World Spin author (and one of today’s YiR2011 writers!) Colum McCann had some inspiring words for this year’s crop of Boston College freshmen. “There’s a degraded discourse around the notion of optimism these days that says there is something soft about being an optimist—something wrong,” he said. “It claims that optimism has no edge, as if it’s less than complete, less than the full deck of knowledge. The optimist is cartooned into the corner with an idiotic grin. I submit to you that none of that is true.”
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