During the Cold War, the CIA became entrenched in cultural life through an organization named, ironically enough, the Congress for Cultural Freedom. In order to fight communism, they funded socialist artists. The Awl has compiled a list of literary journals, including the Kenyon Review and The Paris Review, that were once supported by the CIA.
CIA-Funded Artists
I Go Salsa Dancing
Following the release of Before Midnight, the new installment in Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy of films, Michelle Orange takes another look at Linklater’s 2001 movie Waking Life. (In case you don’t remember the film’s trippy style, here’s a clip.)
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His Dark Resignation
Phillip Pullman, author of the much-beloved His Dark Materials series, has resigned as a patron of the Oxford Literary Festival due to the festival’s practice of not paying its guest authors. This move comes only one week after Pullman and the Society of Authors released an open letter to The Publisher’s Association and the Independent Publisher’s Guild, demanding authors receive fair compensation for their work.
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Salvador Dalí Illustrates the Western Canon
Few people know about Salvador Dalí's illustrations for famous works of the Western canon, including Don Quixote, Macbeth, Paradise Lost, and even The Bible.
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The Literature of Business (Not the Opposite)
Joseph L. Badaracco has been assigning works of literature to his business ethics students at Harvard in order to “help [them] develop literature skills.” The Questions of Character author believes, “literature lets you see leaders and others from the inside. You share the sense of what they’re thinking and feeling.”
Speaking Of Violence
Recommended Reading: This beautiful essay from The Rumpus on the ambivalence of Jewishness and a whole lot more nuance than this Curiosity can communicate. Here’s an essay by Gabriel Brownstein from The Millions on what it means to be labeled as a Jewish writer.
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Dirty or Poignant?
At The Rumpus, a new piece by Emily Rapp, who details the effect her son’s terminal illness had on her relationships with others.
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Pincushion
Recommended Reading: This fantastic flash fiction piece by Cole Bucciaglia at the Tin House Open Bar. Here’s a list of 45 really great short story collections to sustain your interest in the form.