Recommended reading: The New York Review of Books reviews at Richard Davis‘s The Bhagavad Gita: A Biography and the way centuries of politics can alter our interpretations of religious texts.
War and Peace and the Gita
Cuba’s Newest Voices
Recommended Reading: Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo collected sixteen short stories from sixteen authors among Cuba’s “Generación Año Cero” (Generation Year Zero), which is a “movement of writers who began publishing in 2000.” The anthology, which is available for free online in both English and Spanish, features illustrations from Cuban artists El Sexto and Luis Trápaga.
“It takes time.”
Recommended Reading: Guernica has an excerpt from Rebecca Solnit’s new book, Men Explain Things to Me.
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Jersey Loyalty
The man who designed Brazil’s famous canary-yellow jersey at age 19 won’t wear it–and not out of charming self-effacement. It’s just that “the shirt is not a symbol of Brazilian citizenship. It is a symbol of corruption and the status quo.” And that he happens to support Uruguayan fútbol.
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Career Advancement
From the where are they now file: former NYT fabulist Jayson Blair has started a new career as a life coach. (via)
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Writer: The Game
Trying to get some writing done? Procrastinate with a game about trying to get some writing done without procrastinating.
The Alphabet of Silence
Recommended Reading/Listening: Maia Evrona’s translation and recitation of a poem by Abraham Sutzkever, who has been called one of the primary poets of the Holocaust. Gabriel Brownstein’s essay for The Millions on what it means to be a “Jewish writer” is a good complementary piece.
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“This is not a part of the entertainment here tonight.”
Recommended Reading: Brian Oliu’s “Owen Hart & The Finite Life of Ropes,” which is damn sure the best piece of writing you’ll ever read about a professional wrestler’s death.
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