Because internet we have a new preposition. Yes, that’s right the word “because” is no longer a mere subordinating conjunction but also a preposition. We challenge someone to write an entire short story with this preposition or at least a poem because literature.
Because Language
Nobel Odds
Bob Dylan is a 25-1 dark horse, while Peter Handke looks good at 201-1; place your bets now. (via GalleyCat)
Acquiring the Vanities
The New York Public Library just acquired Tom Wolfe’s archives for $2.15 million. They include 190 boxes of drafts, outlines, and research for his articles and books as well as 10,000 letters from the likes of Hunter S. Thompson and Gay Talese. But the library missed the opportunity to get one of his famous white suits because as Wolfe said, “Those are the things I really can’t part with.” Here’s one of our favorite Wolfe essays, “Radical Chic: That Party at Lenny’s.”
Crowdsourcing a Book
Important Indiegogo Alert: Kenneth James is editing the personal journals of novelist and critic Samuel R. Delany in a five-volume series. The first volume is complete, and James is asking for a bit of help to complete the second. Neil Gaiman has offered substantial monetary support.
Shaking Down Cage the Elephant
Cage the Elephant is considered one of the best young indie rock acts today, but the band got its start in the burgeoning music scene in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Sometime Millions contributor Craig Fehrman wrote a Kindle Single on Cage the Elephant and its influential hometown, Home Grown: Cage the Elephant and the Making of a Modern Music Scene. You can read his past Millions essays on the history of literary Time covers, Lewis Hyde’s understanding of intellectual property, and an ethnography of readers at Borders.
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Donald J. Sobol Passed Away
Donald J. Sobol, author of the Encyclopedia Brown series, passed away last week at age 87.
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On the New New Orleanians
Why, yes, I will link to anything Nathaniel Rich writes about New Orleans. You should appreciate the consistency.
Let’s Start a Gallery of Found Art
“Italian art historians claim they have found 100 previously unknown works by Caravaggio.”
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Literature for the Phone
“In 2007, five out of the 10 best selling novels in Japan were originally mobile phone novels,” reports Olivia Solon. (In 2008, we published a translated excerpt of one.) Now Movellas has emerged as a new platform for Keitai Shousetu, or literature designed for mobile devices.
I don’t buy that it’s a new proposition, it’s just an informal contraction, omitting the word ‘of’. Or moreover, using the word ‘because’ as if it meant ‘due to’. I know a person who does a similar thing with the word ‘as’ (“I’m not going to be free, as work.”)