Over at Entropy, Laura A. Warman writes about queer poetics and the politics of the body in poetry performances. As she puts it, “Can we be a body that is constantly obscured?” Pair with this Millions essay on poetry performances.
Vanishing on the Stage
Most Epic
This week in book-related infographics: an “Obsessively Detailed Map of American Literature’s Most Epic Road Trips.”
●
●
I Am Not Elena Ferrante
No surprise here — Elena Ferrante fever continues to sweep the literary world. Last week, an Italian historian was forced to deny claims that she was actually the Neapolitan novelist. Now, The Guardian takes a look at the unique history of pseudonyms and posits whether Ferrante’s mystery might outlast some famous historical masqueraders. For the unacquainted, here’s a quick piece on reading Italy through Ferrante’s work.
Appearing Elsewhere
Congratulations to Millions contributor Edan Lepucki who received the 2009 James D. Phelan Award for her novel manuscript, Days of Insignificance and Evil. The award is given by the Intersection for the Arts and sponsored by the San Francisco Foundation. She’ll be reading, along with Page McBee and Youmna Chlala, at the Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco on Monday, November 16th at 7:30.
●
●
“I know what’s next— / the horns, the hymns.”
Recommended Reading: “Epistrophy” by Jake Adam York, who passed away last December.
Thanks Sounds Good
“I love you, in its formal semantic meaning, is at once fetishized and sacrosanct; our familiarity with it as a speech-act is equally uneasy. Type ‘using I love you’ into Google and the first autocomplete result is ‘too much’; the second is ‘as a weapon.’” Google’s recently unveiled Smart Reply feature is saying “I love you” too much. Or is it just the right amount?
●
●