The unreliable narrator is a bit of a cliche, but it’s still possible to write a good story that features one. At The Rumpus, Alex Dueben talks with Robert Boswell about his new book, which uses a technique Boswell calls “unreliable omniscience.”
One Voice, Two Voice
Murakami Profiled
Ahead of 1Q84 hitting shelves next week, Sam Anderson’s big profile of Haruki Murakami has arrived. Also don’t miss Chip Kidd‘s discussion of 1Q84‘s book design.
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The Stand on Screen
Getting a director for Stephen King’s The Stand was almost as difficult as surviving the virus. The latest director to try is Josh Boone, who is no stranger to adaptations because he’s bringing The Fault in Our Stars to screen. To brush up on your King, read our essay on learning about America through his novels.
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Photosynthesis?
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RIP Harper Lee
Harper Lee, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman, died this morning in Monroeville, Alabama at the age of 89. Lee won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 for Mockingbird, which later formed the basis of a film starring Gregory Peck. To learn more about her legacy, you could read our own Michael Bourne on the hidden character of Atticus Finch, or else read Robert Rea on a pilgrimage he took to her home.
2013 (Indie and Poetry) Book Preview
Justin Daugherty supplements our massive 2013 Book Preview with a short list of upcoming indie and small press titles. Elsewhere, Craig Morgan Teicher lists some of the coming year’s most exciting poetry. Anything you’d add to either list?
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Like Teacher
In The Guardian, Year in Reading alum Joshua Ferris writes a tribute to the novelist Jim Shepard, who taught him at UC Irvine when Ferris was a student there in the early aughts. Ferris makes a case that Shepard single-handedly settles a modern debate: “A lot of critics dislike the professionalisation of creative writing. They have never had Shepard in a workshop.”