The “good bad guy” has been having his moment on television. From Don Draper to Tony Soprano, America loves the anti-hero. Here’s a look at some literary anti-heroes from over at Ploughshares. You are likely to either agree with or be enraged by this essay from The Millions on likeability in fiction.
He Means Well
Literatura de Miami
Attention, Miami residents who also read The Millions, former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins will be reading on April 1st in the 305. March 15th is the final day to buy tickets.
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NYRB in the NYPL
Exciting news — the New York Public Library has acquired the archives of The New York Review of Books. You could also check out Sam Allingham’s piece about his experience working in a library.
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Jefferson on Construction
American Public Libraries: A Visual History
Public libraries remain our country's greatest democratic institutions, but it took generations of work and social progress to get them to their current place as beacons to their communities.
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Words, Quantitatively
Google has just released a tool that lets you see how frequently certain words have appeared in the millions of books from all eras that Google has scanned. It’s pretty neat. Here are some presidents, technologies, and the meaning of life.
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Luis de Góngora Rediscovered
The New York Times‘ David Orr “rediscovers” the poetry of The Solitudes author Luis de Góngora. Góngora, Orr explains, is “one of the most significant figures in Spanish early modern literature.”
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From Football to Fiction
Rashard Mendenhall is retiring from the Arizona Cardinals in order to write, among other reasons. “The truth is, I don’t really think my walking away is that big of deal. For me it’s saying, ‘Football was pretty cool, but I don’t want to play anymore. I want to travel the world and write!'” Maybe he’ll be published by another retired sports star’s imprint?