George Dobbs explores the history of some common cliches for The Airship and makes an elegant argument for being aware of overused phrasing: “The worst fiction might never go beyond widely used tropes, but the best fiction starts with an awareness of them.” We agree, and also hope never to read “It was a dark and stormy night…” again.
Before “Once Upon A Time”
Famous Yet?
This week in book-related infographics: "Am I A Famous Writer Yet?" Includes the all important sign, "Sobbing uncontrollably in a bathroom."
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Thomas Pynchon: The Comic Strip
Galley Cat highlights a 2003 comic strip, "Thomas Pynchon, Man of Mystery," that is unfortunately yet to go into syndication.
87 Years Delayed: New Zora Neale Hurston
New York Magazine has an excerpt up from Zora Neale Hurston's long-lost manuscript, Barracoon: The Story of the Last Black Cargo, the first-person account of Cudjo Lewis, the only living survivor of the final slave ship to land in America. Barracoon will finally, 87 years later, be published next week.
Reading Scores Fall
SAT reading scores have fallen to their lowest level on record.
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Till Death or Cliches Do Us Part
At the Poetry Foundation’s website, Ruth Graham tackles a strangely ubiquitous question: how does a couple go about choosing a wedding poem? (For context, it helps to keep the following quote in mind: “the aesthetics of [a personal] wedding, at least for couples of a certain age and posture, are practically set in stone: indie pop music, mason jars, white Christmas lights, wildflowers.”)
“I made up ice bats, there is no such thing.”
Anne Carson sits down for a profile with the New York Times, and the results are anything but traditional.