Ever since Pulphead, we can’t get enough of John Jeremiah Sullivan, so we’re happy to hear he’s at work on his next book, The Prime Minister of Paradise. Sullivan will tell the story of Christian Priber, a German American who tried to establish a utopia in 18th century South Carolina. “This man, he really represented the height of the enlightenment at the time,” Sullivan said during a recent interview at Notre Dame. No word on an official release date yet, but it’s already being optioned for film by Scott Rudin.
New JJS on the Way
Tuesday New Release Day: Lethem; Lasdun; Khalifa; Prose; Correa; Macy; Hajdu; Chung
New this week: A Gambler’s Anatomy by Jonathan Lethem; The Fall Guy by James Lasdun; No Knives in the Kitchens of This City by Khaled Khalifa; Mister Monkey by Francine Prose; The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa; Truevine by Beth Macy; Love for Sale by David Hajdu; and The Loved Ones by our own Sonya Chung. For more on these and other new titles, go read our Great Second-Half 2016 Book Preview.
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Translations of Loneliness
“In Rilke’s essay on Auguste Rodin, written in the same year, he describes the sculptor’s visits to the Jardin des Plantes early in the morning to sketch the sleepy animals. And later on, in Rodin’s studio on the Rue de l’Université, he observes a tiny plaster cast of an antique tiger that Rodin treasured: ‘There is a cast of a panther, of Greek workmanship, hardly as big as a hand…. If you look from the front under its body into the space formed by the four powerful soft paws, you seem to be looking into the depths of an Indian stone temple; so huge and all-inclusive does this work become.’” Henri Cole on the poet and a place that inspired his work.
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“The closest analogy for me is Woody Allen”
Following in the footsteps of Amy Poehler, The Office star B.J. Novak has signed a book deal with Knopf. Unlike Poehler, who plans to write a memoir, Novak will publish a collection of comedic short stories.
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The Best Case for Cloning
A 27 pound lobster has been caught off the coast of Maine. Now, who's going to be the first to come up with a 50 pound dab of butter?
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A Conceit with No Conscience
"[L]ike many, many other rules in the English language, it turns out this one is built on a foundation of lies." That whole 'i before e, except after c rule? Bunk. Which you would already know, if you were a true spelling bee hopeful.
If you read German and can’t wait or want an alternative perspective, consider Ursula Naumann’s longform essay “Pribers Paradies” (Eichborn, 2001).
… and please feel also free to visit Germany to see the exhibition of ACC Galerie Weimar and the Municipal Museums of Zittau called “KINGDOM PARADISE – Christian Gottlieb Prieber and Social Utopias of the present”.
Running from 31 May until 9 August 2015 in WEIMAR and from 1 July to 30 October 2016 in ZITTAU.
There is a huge community of curators, artists, and art historians already working on Priber and his ideas and story – looking forward to opening their exhibition in two weeks on 30th of May, 8pm at ACC Galerie Weimar.