“Mr. Walt Whitman has imagined that a certain amount of violent sympathy with the great deeds and sufferings of our soldiers, and of admiration for our national energy, together with a ready command of picturesque language, are sufficient inspiration for a poet. If this were the case, we had been a nation of poets.” A young Henry James reviews Whitman’s Drum Taps.
A Nation of Poets
The Legacy of Disaster
“Historians, I believe, are dedicated to fighting against the tide of our social amnesia. The reason they continue to write books about the Holocaust, or Appomatox, or the earthquake in Haiti, is to try to help us remember the suffering and the extent of the damage. Some try to humanize, and others turn to abstraction.” Stewart L. Sinclair writes on burying the remnants of disaster, over at Guernica. Pair with his Millions essay on technology and Apple’s operating systems.
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7 reasons not to write a novel
Javier Marías cogently summarizes all the reasons to stop writing novels immediately, and adds only one reason to write them anyway: "Fiction is the most bearable of worlds." We reviewed The Infatuations, one of his own twelve works (to date), last year.
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The Martian Chronicles
There is a robot on Mars. Mars! And it has a Twitter account.
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Table 4 Grant
Elaine Kaufman supported writers at her restaurant when she was alive, and the Table 4 Writers Foundation keeps her legacy going with its grant. The third annual writers' grants contest will award a $5,000 grand prize and two $2,500 prizes for promising writers. Applications are due by November 15 and can be submitted here. For more on Kaufman, read our own Bill Morris's tribute.
Bad Sex Awards 2012
Tom Wolfe has a chance to defend (er, ward off?) his 2004 "Bad Sex Award" following Literary Review's decision to nominate him for this year's top honors (er, dishonors?). The UK publication has tapped Back to Blood and seven others for this year's shortlist -- and, despite popular demand, they managed to spare J.K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy. For some revealing passages from Wolfe's book, check out my review.
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Louise Erdrich: The Paris Review Interview
"By having children, I’ve both sabotaged and saved myself as a writer... Many of the writers I love most were alcoholics. I’ve made my choice, I sometimes think: Wonderful children instead of hard liquor." The Paris Review interviews Louise Erdrich for its Winter issue.
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Keith Gessen Arrested
n+1 co-editor Keith Gessen was arrested in the midst of today's Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. This video depicts part of the scene; he is the first seated man to be pulled away by police. This video depicts him making a statement (in handcuffs) at the 5:05 mark. (via)
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