Kafka‘s The Metamorphosis has officially hit the century mark, and over at The Guardian Richard T. Kelly celebrates with “100 thoughts for 100 years.” Pair with our own Matt Seidel‘s thoughts on rereading Kafka’s masterpiece, which you can find here.
Kafka’s Century
“A female Genet”
"Would I have carried myself with the same swagger, or faced adversity with such feminine resolve, without Albertine as my guide?...I was drawn to a striking, remote face—rendered violet on black—on a dust jacket proclaiming its author 'a female Genet.' It cost 99 cents, the price of a grilled cheese and coffee at the Waverly Diner, just across Sixth Avenue. I had a dollar and a subway token, but after reading the first few lines I was smitten—one hunger trumped another and I bought the book." Patti Smith introduces Astragal by Albertine Sarrazin, recently rereleased by New Directions.
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Early Inspirations
Why do great books we read as children have a more profound effect on us than great books we read as adults? It’s hard to say, but YA novelist Anne Cardi comes up with a number of reasons, among them the ability of children’s books to permanently change our viewpoints. (FYI, we asked a bunch of teenagers to recommend last year’s best YA novels.)
First Dads
“What does each president’s fitness for parenthood reveal about his fitness to run our country?” Daniel Jones reviews First Dads by Joshua Kendall, which takes an inside look at the fathers of our nation. You could also check out our own Janet Potter’s project to read a biography of every sitting president.
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PW on Author Podcasts
Publishers Weekly talks up author podcasts "as a viable and entertaining marketing tool," including Brad Listi’s Other People (which recently featured our own Edan Lepucki), Tom Lutz’s Los Angeles Review of Books, and Book Soup alum Tyson Cornell’s company Rare Bird Lit.
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Bring it Back! Literature In the Olympics by 2016!
Fun Fact: "Literature" was an Olympic event until 1948. In fact, several other events were also listed under the umbrella of "Sporting Art," as Olympic historian John MacAloon points out to NPR. For example, W. B. Yeats' brother, Jack Butler Yeats, won the "Mixed Painting" silver in 1924; some people even won "Medals for Making Medals!"
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The Austen Effect
Jane Austen is a rare figure. Acclaimed as one of the most brilliant authors in modern history, she has a popularity that few of her peers can match, as evidenced by her posthumous sales and huge numbers of dedicated fans. How did her work hit the sweet spot of broad appeal and scholarly fame? In the WSJ, Alexander McCall Smith provides a theory. (h/t The Paris Review Daily)
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