Lord Byron is perhaps our most prominent example of an extravagant writer in a bygone age. There’s a reason his antics earned him a popular adjective. However, he’s not the only writer from long ago to live large, as made clear in this New Yorker piece by Elizabeth Kolbert — inspired by the release of two new biographies — that deals with the up-and-down life and reputation of Seneca. Sample quote: “Seneca’s fortune made possible a life style that was lavish by Roman or, for that matter, Hollywood standards.”
Lavisium
Appearing Elsewhere
My review of Eowyn Ivey‘s debut novel, The Snow Child, is up at Slate.
Mary Ruefle in Conversation
New Yorkers: don’t miss your chance to catch Madness, Rack, and Honey author Mary Ruefle in conversation with Alice Quinn. Also, be sure to read Ruefle’s essay, “I Remember, I Remember” if you haven’t yet done so.
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On the 33
Recommended reading: “One of the drillers fell to his knees. Some sobbed, in the way men do when their mothers die, or when their sons are born.” An exceptional and deeply moving long-form essay in the New Yorker recounting the 69 days spent underground by the famed ’33’ Chilean miners buried in the 2010 accident at Copiapó.
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“In the morning, I don’t talk to anyone”
Roxana Robinson (who’s written for us) explores the complications of writing first thing in the morning.
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Cringe-Inducing Books & Growing Up
Two off-site appearances in as many months from our otherwise relatively reclusive editor, C. Max Magee? And both times invoking the theme of lost adolescence? Something’s afoot! Last month, Max dropped by The Morning News‘ booth for the Tournament of Books’ zombie round, and now he’s joining a star-studded cast at The Awl to answer the question, “What Books Make You Cringe To Remember?”
Whatever was wrong with Hemingway
In the wake of Jonathan Franzen‘s much discussed New Yorker essay on Edith Wharton, Laura Miller defends readers who look to an author’s life to aid their understanding of a given work: ” Byron’s clubfoot, Flannery O’Connor’s lupus, Coleridge’s opium addiction and whatever was wrong with Hemingway do interest many readers because these factors shaped the life experiences from which the great work sprang.”
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Ed Ruscha’s Thirtyfour Parking Lots, Recreated Using Google Maps
This is a clever project from artist Pascual Sisto: Remake of Ed Ruscha’s 1967 book Thirtyfour Parking Lots using Google Maps. (The original book) (via This Isn’t Happiness)
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