Last week, I directed you to a piece in The Atlantic by John Yorke on the substance of stories. His argument: that all stories have one thing in common–their plot. Now, Lincoln Michel at Electric Literature suggests that rather it is all story structure models that have one thing in common–and that thing is bullshit.
All Stories Are Stories
Burning Yearning Being Burning Yearning
“To be awake was a thing many had dreamed of, while continuing to sleep for years, like the famous princess in her coffin of glass. Once I opened a Chinese fortune cookie that said, Some will attain their heart’s desire, alas.” Revisiting this fantastic Anne Carson poem, “The Day Antonioni Came to the Asylum (Rhapsody),” over at The Paris Review. Carson’s newest, Float, is due out in a couple of months.
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The Internet Is For
“Internet-centrism, then, treats ‘the Internet’ as an object that acts on society from outside, rather than a technological form that emerges from within a particular social and political situation.” The Los Angeles Review of Books reviews Evgeny Morozov’s latest critique of the digital age, To Save Everything, Click Here.
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Greatest Summer Reads
Still looking for summer book recommendations after checking our 2015 Second-Half Preview? We’re not sure we believe you, but here are fifty of the greatest summer reads as ranked by Flavorwire, just in case.
The Great Millenial Novelist
Madeleine Schwartz examines the works of Sally Rooney, who was recently crowned "the great millennial novelist," by many critics.
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What Does The Shining Mean?
Mark Jacobson wades through the history and fan theories concerning Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining in an effort to uncover the film’s true meaning. For what it’s worth, this explanation of the flick has always hurt my head the most.
Germany’s Top Literary Prize
The Georg Buechner Prize, Germany’s highest literary honor, has been awarded this year to Reinhard Jirgl, author of The Unfinished. (via AuthorScoop)
Why Is Iceland So Literary?
One in ten residents of Iceland will publish something in their lifetime. (Compare that to the United States.) And all residents receive the bókatíðindi – a volume listing approximately 90% of all books being published in Iceland – free of charge. Indeed, as Mark Medley notes, when it comes to literary ambitions, the Land of Fire and Ice is “punching above its weight class.”
Occupy Wall Street, the Coloring Book
Wondering the best way to explain Occupy Wall Street to your 9-year-old? How about a coloring book? Out today, Occupy is a 36-page coloring book depicting the events and opinions surrounding the Occupy movement.
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