Murray Farish‘s debut collection, Inappropriate Behavior, includes tales of fictionalized or alternative history that incline toward the surreal. He discusses the “principally and unaccountably strange” with Evelyn Somers, who has written about his work before, at Bloom. Fancy yourself more weirdness? Head to Weird Fiction Review curated by Jeff VanderMeer, whose Southern Reach trilogy was just released in one volume.
“Principally & Unaccountably Strange”
Family Tree
"Every evening we spent an hour and a half in the drawing-room, and, as far back as I can remember, he found some way of amusing us himself...many of the great English poems now seem to me inseparable from my father; I hear in them not only his voice, but in some sort his teaching and belief," Virginia Woolf wrote of her father for his biographer, but who was Leslie Stephen, exactly?
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Some Thursday Links
Literary gold: Don Baiocchi's list of books that are responses to other books.The top 50 film adaptations of books. The Guardian never seems to tire of such lists.Benetton, whose Colors magazine is one of my favorites, is participating in the New York festival of Internatonal Literature by hosting a conversation series. They're looking to get people involved: "Through the BenettoTalk blog it is possible for everyone to join the conversations, posting questions and generating debate, some days before they happen. Authors like Jhumpa Lahiri, Jonathan Lethem, Rodrigo Fresan, Helen Oyeyemi and many others will answer you." You can post a question here.
Tomas Tranströmer and Robert Bly
Robert Bly and Tomas Tranströmer discuss their lives and craft in a series of letters.
The Science of Poetry
The relationship between poetry and science is more inextricably (and historically) linked than you might imagine: "In the late 1700s, scientific treatises were written in poetic form because poetry was considered the language of intellect and the future."
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“The grand and minute violence of everyday life”
Recommended Reading: Seth Cosimini on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah.
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Tinkers’ Chain
At Slate, The Pulitzer win for Tinkers continues to shine a light on what's broken about the publishing industry right now. "Instead of relying on the Great Chain of Publishing... Tinkers' chain jumped several links to get to the Pulitzer." (Thanks, Craig)
Et Tu, Boris?
To be or not to be, that is the question about British politician Boris Johnson's long-awaited biography of Shakespeare, Shakespeare: The Riddle of Genius. Initially slated for release this October, publisher Hodder & Stoughton has just announced that -- amid reports of last-minute, desperate pleas for help from prominent Shakespeare scholars -- the book has been put on ice indefinitely.
Haiti: Before and After with Edwidge Danticat
Claire of the Sea Light author Edwidge Danticat remarks upon the “split between the Haiti of before the earthquake and the Haiti of after the earthquake” in her interview with Guernica’s Dwyer Murphy. Her latest novel was featured in our Great Second-Half 2013 Book Preview.
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