Nabokov once described himself “as American as April in Arizona,” which is an odd thing to call yourself when you’re a lepidopterist Russian expat. In Nabokov in America, Robert Roper explores why Nabokov felt he was so American, and how his journey to that identity influenced his writing of Lolita. At The Literary Review, Ian Sansom reviews Roper’s book.
As American as Borscht
Choose Your Own Adventure with Junot Díaz
Let’s play a game: a “lazy Sunday” version of a Choose Your Own Adventure novel. Ready? Good. Imagine you’re hanging out with Junot Díaz today. What do you want to do? Select Option A to go barhopping. Select Option B to go comic book shopping. Select Option C to read an excerpt from his new book, This Is How You Lose Her. Or Select Option D to read Leah Hager Cohen's review of the collection. There is no wrong answer.
Internet Participation
Recommended Reading: The New Republic on public participation and the Internet. “Did you know that as originally conceived the web was supposed to be writable? That is, you wouldn’t just read a web page, but you’d be able to edit it, too, from right inside your browser.” Our own Elizabeth Minkel writes about fanfiction and its influence on academics.
●
●
Oh Doctor
Recommended Reading: Frances Stonor Saunders on Boris Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago.
●
●
Ruchama King Feuerman on Tour
In celebration of Jewish Book Month, Ruchama King Feuerman—featured at Bloom in January—will go on tour to read & discuss her novel In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist. The tour kicks off today at the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Book & Arts Fair in Houston; check NYRB’s event page for more upcoming appearances.
●
●
It’s Not You, It’s Me
What to do when you and your best friend don't like the same books.
●
●
Theories of Theories of the Novel
In the Boston Review, Jess Row wades - slowly, interestingly, not always coherently - into the perpetually roiling waters of Theory of the Novel, taking on the canon wars, realism vs. the avant-garde, etc. Is it really "a safe bet that your average well-informed critic today has never read a single work of criticism by a writer of color?" Probably not, even granting Row's exception. But possibly worth arguing about. If you like that sort of thing.