“No novel gets uniformly enthusiastic reviews, but the polarized responses to The Goldfinch lead to the long-debated questions: What makes a work literature, and who gets to decide?” Vanity Fair has big questions and lots of opinions about Donna Tartt‘s latest novel, which we’ve covered pretty extensively ourselves.
The Great Goldfinch Debate
How the Novel Made the World
In the June Atlantic, William Deresiewicz revisits that old favorite subject, the past and future of the Great American novel, in a review of two new books about the history of novels: The Dream of the Great American Novel by Laurence Buell and The Novel: A Biography by Michael Schmidt. (Dizzy yet? If not, consider nine other experts' opinions on the Great American Novel here at The Millions, for a round dozen.)
●
●
What We Want
●
●
So Much Drool
Sorry for the mess but we're still drooling over these photos of A Brief History of Seven Killings author Marlon James's Minneapolis loft. Slightly less glamorous but (we think) of equal literary importance, these pictures of our own writing spaces.
●
●
Books Cooked
And the Heart Says Whatever author Emily Gould has been combining two of our favorite things, books and food in an online cooking show called "Cooking the Books." Past episodes have included Sam Lipsyte (cooking pork buns) and Joanna Smith Rakoff (cooking brunch).
●
●
Glenn Greenwald to Write a Book
“Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who first reported on a trove of classified documents leaked by Edward J. Snowden, will write a book about National Security Agency surveillance,” reports Julie Bosman. But then, of course, the NSA probably knew about this already.
52,757
Last night, during President Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention, people were sending out 52,757 Obama related tweets per minute. This morning, the speech was fact checked. And here's what Steve Almond wished Obama had said.
●
●
Faulkner and the Black Arts Movement
Frank Kovarik explores the controversy over whether Faulkner was racist and why Faulkner was singled out for these charges.
●
●
Writing the Suburban Wild
In a longform piece for The Atlantic Diane Saverin writes about Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, the predominantly male tradition of wilderness-writing, and how Dillard found and wrote about the wild while living in suburbia. She also wrestles with the question: "if the author conveys a resonant truth, does it matter what experiences led to the realizations?"
●
●
One comment: