We’ve already decided that it’s okay for fictional characters to be unlikable, but what about nonfiction writers? At the VQR blog, Jennifer Niesslein interviews essayists on whether their success is based on how amiable they are. “I think it’s ridiculous to expect to like someone who wrote a book you love, but the increasing visibility of writers on social media—who are expected to be the ambassadors of their books—amps up the pressure to be well-liked,” Cheryl Strayed said.
Nice Nonfiction
Diary of International Pynchon Week
At n+1, Nick Holdstock’s diary of International Pynchon Week, held in Lublin, Poland: “The conference room looked like the United Nations as depicted in ’60s spy movies ... on the pad of the man to my left there were no notes, just a drawing of a cat wearing a shirt and tie.”
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Polar Incentives
Depending on your political persuasion, this is either good news or bad news: Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel will jump in a freezing Lake Michigan if schoolchildren in his city read at least 2 million books this summer.
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“Life is not personal.”
"This notion of investigation offers an alternative to confession. Its goal isn’t sympathy or forgiveness. Life is not personal. Life is evidence. It’s fodder for argument. To put the “I” to work this way invites a different intimacy—not voyeuristic communion but collaborative inquiry, author and reader facing the same questions from inside their inevitably messy lives." Year in Reading alum Leslie Jamison writes for The Atlantic about alternatives to the confessional mode in literature.
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Tuesday New Release Day
This week we have new on shelves: Julie Orringer's hotly anticipated debut novel The Invisible Bridge; Meghan Daum's memoir of real estate addiction Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived in That House, Private Life by Jane Smiley, and The Singer's Gun by our own Emily St. John Mandel.
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Literary Interference
To celebrate the beginning of football season, read about how Jack Kerouac's years of high school football might have led to his alcoholism and depression.
Bill Morris, Artist
Our own Bill Morris has long worn his writer's hat, but he recently revealed to us his artistic side. Now his Flannery O'Connor portrait has fetched an impressive price in the recent One Story magazine charity auction. Is art world stardom next?
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