“If I could paint or compose music, I would want to finally arrive at what I felt was beauty for me and for others. I would trust that if I could make something that was beautiful, it would also be true, the way Charlie Parker is true or a Shostakovich cello concerto is true, and I feel the same way about writing. I try to make something beautiful out of language.” Fogged Clarity interviews Stuart Dybek about the writing process and Ecstatic Cahoots, which we mentioned in our 2014 Book Preview.
Something Beautiful
Neglected Classics
Readers and writers and professors tend to read and talk about the same books over and over again. Moby-Dick? Check. Anna Karenina? Of course. But what about the books that deserve the same attention and love but don’t seem to get it? There are too many to name, of course, but The American Scholar has put together a list of 10 such “neglected classics.”
Wollstonecraft Image Beamed onto Palace
Mary Wollstonecraft’s image was beamed onto the Palace of Westminster during Wednesday’s rush hour to raise money for another image – the first ever statue of the author of A Vindication of the Rights of Women.
Christian Grey: Coming to a Theatre Near You
The theatrical trailer for the film adaptation of 50 Shades of Grey was released this week. If you’re keeping track, that means we’ve now got a film based on fan fiction written about another film adapted from a schlocky romance novel involving vampires. (Come at me, Twilight fans.)
Face Off: Kardashian/Kahlo
“Where does the line between the self-portrait and the selfie fall? Both Kardashian West and Kahlo are masters of the form—suggesting that perhaps there is no clear line at all.” Anyone who puts Frida and Kim together in an essay, as Sarah Murray has for The Rumpus, has our full and enthusiastic support. Also relevant: Alizah Salario‘s piece about the naming of North West.
Dating Woody
Diane Keaton writes in her upcoming memoir, Then Again, that “Going out with Woody Allen was like being in a Woody Allen movie.”
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Rilke, Nietzsche, and More in ’90s Movies
For LitHub, Emily Temple compiled 50 literary cameos in '90s movies, ranging from Cher and Peyton Place to Lauryn Hill and Rilke, with plenty of Shakespeare throughout.
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