Among the better tidbits from Gary Shteyngart’s diary of his book tour for Little Failure is the fact that he’s apparently had fellow Russian immigrants ask him to sign books for “a failed paralegal” and “a worse failure than even you.” If, after reading that, you’d like another dose of Shteyngart, you could do worse than his Year in Reading entry.
Such a Disappointment
The Widening Spell
“Ah, I think, a lizard-poet. This particular category was one I had concocted years before to describe those poets who were too Olympian to mingle with the rest of us, who stood to the side, detached, having feelings.” Remembering Larry Levis, whose book of last poems, The Darkening Trapeze, was released this past week.
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An Animated Crime and Punishment
Recommended viewing: Open Culture has tracked down two animated adaptations of Dostoevksy‘s work. There’s one of his short story “The Dream of a Ridiculous Man” “in full-on existentialist mode,” and slightly more ambitious (though dramatically abridged) short film of Crime and Punishment.
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Appearing Elsewhere
Congratulations to Millions contributor Edan Lepucki who received the 2009 James D. Phelan Award for her novel manuscript, Days of Insignificance and Evil. The award is given by the Intersection for the Arts and sponsored by the San Francisco Foundation. She’ll be reading, along with Page McBee and Youmna Chlala, at the Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco on Monday, November 16th at 7:30.
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Remembering the Novel
If novels are written to remind us of our mistakes and we keep repeating those mistakes, why read novels at all?, asks Alberto Manguel. Richard Lea discusses authors’ views on the relationship between the novel and memory at The International Forum on the Novel.
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Don’t Be Her
Want to be a female travel writer? That’s great, says Jessa Crispin, just please don’t be Elizabeth Gilbert.
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Literary Fanfiction?
Here’s an essay you don’t see every day–a fairly passionate defense of the literary merit of “fanfiction.” For a closer look at how fanfiction will go on to be taught in classrooms, here’s Millions staff writer Elizabeth Minkel with more.
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