Recommended reading: “One of the drillers fell to his knees. Some sobbed, in the way men do when their mothers die, or when their sons are born.” An exceptional and deeply moving long-form essay in the New Yorker recounting the 69 days spent underground by the famed ’33’ Chilean miners buried in the 2010 accident at Copiapó.
On the 33
Wallace Stevens Week
Wallace Stevens Week(s) begin with a sprint today at Big Other, featuring an interview with poet and critic James Longenbach, an essay on Stevens' other work, in insurance, and a list of his “most maddening, funny and bizarre” titles.
Tuesday New Release Day
The New Yorker has collected all the stories from its 20 under 40 series into a single, snappy volume, on sale now. Also out this week is the third volume of Edmund Morris' biography of Teddy Roosevelt and a new literary foray by comedian Steve Martin, An Object of Beauty.
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Fatherless Fiction
Recommended Reading: Nicole Krauss's new short story, "I Am Asleep but My Heart Is Awake," at The New Republic. "My mother had died when I was three. We had already dealt with death, in our way we’d agreed to be finished with it. Then, without warning, my father broke our agreement."
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Readers and Returns
"I would argue that decent books coverage in a daily newspaper — especially when it’s presented in such a way that readers are likely to stumble over it and discover titles they might not otherwise have heard of — is more supportive of writers in the long run than a scholarship program." At Salon, Laura Miller explores literary culture and the downsides of the MFA, which include teaching high school.
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The Other Side of Europe
Recommended Reading: On translating the literature of smaller European nations.
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Pshaw! Gulp! Excelsior! Ach!
For 50 years, The New York Review of Books has written some of the best headlines in the business. Matthew Howard rounds up every headline. Our favorites include: "Don't Sing Your Crap," "How Unpleasant to Meet Mr. Baudelaire!", "Welcome to New Dork," "It's Your Fault, Henry James," and "Portrait of the Artist as a Paradox."