The Man Booker International prize was just awarded to Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, author of Satantango (later adapted for film by Béla Tarr) and Seiobo There Below. When asked to recommend a starting point for readers who have yet to encounter his work, the author defers: “I couldn’t recommend anything … instead, I’d advise them to go out, sit down somewhere, perhaps by the side of a brook, with nothing to do, nothing to think about, just remaining in silence like stones. They will eventually meet someone who has already read my books.” Well, if a stream isn’t handy, we have a few ideas: our own interview with Krasznahorkai, Stephanie Newman’s review of Seiobo There Below, and Music and Literature’s issue no. 2, featuring literature on and by Krasznahorkai and Béla Tarr.
László Krasznahorkai Wins the Man Booker International Prize
Men of the Stacks
A group of male librarians is “attempting to overthrow the cliché of the bespectacled, permanently shushing female library worker” with the publication of a Calendar Girls-style calendar, Men of the Stacks.
Bookshelf of the Masses
From Jared Fanning, a charming graphic of the world’s 10 most read books.
On Reviewers, and Paying Them
LA Review of Books editor in chief Tom Lutz has written about the future of book reviews and “a missing generation of journalists.”
The Night Circus
Erin Morgenstern‘s debut novel The Night Circus gets the NPR treatment. She’s totally appreciative.
Measuring Detail Density
“Every story that works gets the level of description that it needs. Which isn’t to say that the level of description needed for every successful story is the same.” Tobias Carroll surveys the wide variety of detail density in fiction for Electric Literature.
NaNoWriMo Author Scores Big
Erin Morgenstern‘s debut novel The Night Circus went from National Novel Writing Month project to 6-figure book advance after being rejected by more than 30 agents.