“If a modern film version of Pride and Prejudice were produced today, some of the main characters should be gay, Elizabeth and Darcy should not get married at the end, and Charlotte Lucas should be played by a tabby cat.” Laura Fairchild reveals her students’ ideas for new adaptations of Jane Austen novels while meditating on what Austen can or can’t teach us about modern relationships.
If Charlotte Lucas were a cat
“Poetry is like fudge.”
Recommended Viewing: Poet and professor Campbell McGrath reads some of his work for Miami’s recent TEDxCoconutGrove event.
●
●
Illustrated Goethe
At The Rumpus: illustrations by Harry Clarke for a 1925 edition of Goethe's Faust.
A Reading and Conversation with Four Great Writers
For writers, and readers, who aren't making the annual pilgrimage to AWP, The Millions and Big Other join forces this weekend to offer a NYC alternative, A Reading and Conversation with Four Great Writers: Vijay Seshardi, Rachel B. Glaser, Alexandra Chasin, and (our very own) Sonya Chung. At Unnameable Books in Brooklyn on Saturday, starting at 5pm. Drinks will be served. Please Join Us!
●
●
A great hater of bad books.
The true confessions of Lev Grossman, book reviewer: "There was a time when I actually believed, because I was an ass, that as a critic I was an avenging angel with a flaming sword, and that part of my job was to help rid the culture of books that were sucking up more of the literary oxygen than they deserved."
●
●
The Naipaul Test
V.S. Naipaul (seemingly a professional misogynist at times) rankled many by suggesting there are no women writers that can equal him and calling Jane Austen "sentimental." Now the Guardian offers up a quiz that challenges readers to identify the gender of an author simply by reading a passage of his or her writing.
●
●