Laura Bennett writes for Slate about how personal essays are taking over the internet. “I think there is just a very fine line between providing a platform for these writers and exploiting them,” says one editor.
Writing the Self
These narrators are conspicuously powerless
Over at Prospect, Leo Benedictus takes a look into the subversive "hindered narrators" in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, Room, and Pigeon English.
●
●
Spring Awakening
Virgil and the springtime mysteries of Margaret Fuller.
A Daredevil By Any Other Name
Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life might well be the only book in history to draw comparisons between creative writers and stunt pilots. At Brain Pickings, Maria Popova calls attention to a description of Dave Rahm, the real-life pilot who inspired Dillard’s analogy.
●
●
Possession is Nine-Tenths of the Law
The newest issue of Granta features some seriously captivating work, like this poem by Juliana Spahr and this story by Lorna Gibb, among many others. This “Possession” issue pairs well with an essay by our own Lydia Kiesling on possessing one’s own words and the narrative potential of leaked emails.
●
●
Too Long Didn’t Read
Going to SXSW this year? Be sure to check out the "Too Long, Didn't Read" panel our own C. Max Magee is sharing with Bygone Bureau editor Kevin Nguyen and The Morning News co-founder Andrew Womack. The Saturday panel will focus on the "renaissance of long-form writing," and location details can be found here.
●
●