Poets and Writers sits down with Year in Reading alumnus Saeed Jones to talk writing, publishing, and BuzzFeed. “Creating change is about having a critical mass of several influences, but one is the right people, and creating a space where people feel that they can speak up and have these conversations and experiment.”
Saeed Jones on Creating Change
Novel-Gazers
According to a survey published in PLoS One between 1960 and 2008 there has been a steady increase in the use of words and phrases that emphasize self-absorption in books. This leads researchers to conclude that we’re growing more narcissistic.
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Yes, Kate
Recommended (Revolutionary) Reading: On why Kate Millett’s Sexual Politics remains so relevant to today’s most heated literary arguments, despite its being nearly fifty years old at this point.
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Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Joukhadar, Celan, and van Heemstra
Here’s a quick look at some notable books—new titles from Zeyn Joukhadar, Paul Celan, and Marjolijn van Heemstra—that are publishing this week.
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Gay Talese Has His Own Lapel Shape
Put This On is a “web series about dressing like a grown up.” In their seventh episode, they drop by the Corduroy Appreciation Club’s annual meeting, and they also check out Gay Talese‘s closet.
Goodbye Gone Girl
David Fincher had Gillian Flynn rewrite the ending of Gone Girl for his film. Flynn herself relished the changes. “There was something thrilling about taking this piece of work that I’d spent about two years painstakingly putting together with all its 8 million Lego pieces and take a hammer to it and bash it apart and reassemble it into a movie,” she said. What would Amy think?
Renata Adler’s Dazzling Hurdles
Gary Indiana posits that “no current literary label appealingly describes the kind of narratives [Renata Adler’s] Speedboat and Pitch Dark are.” This might be true. However in the name of moving forward with discussion, perhaps we can all go with Matthew Spektor’s summation of Adler’s debut novel: “if it’s ‘like’ anything at all, a steeplechase of [dazzling] hurdles could be it.”
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