Recommended Reading: Tony Kushner’s recent speech at the Whiting Writers’ Awards.
Failing Upwards
Selling Point
“The uncanny—not truth, beauty, or goodness—is literature’s boon.” The good thing about literature: it makes you weird.
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The Politics of Naming
Things you can learn about Teddy Wayne from his essay in the New York Times Book Review: one, his first name is Derek; two, he believes the modern lit world is crazy for guys named Jonathan; and three, he once considered using the pen name D.T. Wayne. (For more, you could go read our interview, or else check out our review of his latest novel.)
Do Libraries Really Destroy Books?
“6 Reasons We’re In Another ‘Book-Burning’ Period In History” is not about the destruction of books based on content or community objections; it’s about the destruction of books because libraries (and sometimes bookstores) don’t know what to do with them. We also had a little something to say about the topic.
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Know The Rules Before You Break Them
Point: Dan Chaon believes younger writers should read more contemporary writing before attempting to be published themselves. Counterpoint: J. Robert Lennon believes most contemporary writing is a waste of would-be writers’ precious time. TL;DR Version: Nathan Elwood notes that if writers “want to change the face of literary fiction … [they should] at least know what it looks like.”
Esquire on Roth
Esquire offers a long profile of Philip Roth on the occasion of the publication of his 31st book, Nemesis. (Thanks, Sean)
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Afghanistan Video
Lukas and Salome Augustin‘s breathtaking video of Afghanistan is worth a full-screen viewing. (via)
Empirical Studies of the Class System
Following the recent passing of Nobel laureate Doris Lessing, The New Statesman republished the author’s London diary, first published by the magazine back in 1958.