Recommended Listening: David Naimon interviews Year in Reading alumnus Brian Evenson about his A Collapse of Horses, literary horror, and philosophy.
Reporting from Collapse
“He was a sassy youngster”
“He was a sassy youngster...[A]s to burning the epistle up or not—it never occurred to me to do anything at all: what the hell did I care whether he was pertinent or impertinent? he was fresh, breezy, Irish: that was the price paid for admission—and enough: he was welcome!” Turns out Walt Whitman and Bram Stoker were pen pals.
Publishing’s Other Imbalance Problem
“The reality is, there are just not a lot of POC authors out there,” writes Ellen Oh in her essay on non-white authors. “We are not representing the 37% of our population when we only amount to 10% of publishing.”
We’re Gonna Make It
Recommended Reading: A chapter of Janice Shapiro's new graphic memoir Crushable, on the subject of the late Mary Tyler Moore.
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Beckett’s Bones
80 years ago Samuel Beckett's publisher rejected his short story "Echo's Bones" because it gave him the "jim-jams." The 13,500-word piece on the afterlife was intended for More Pricks Than Kicks until his editor Charles Prentice claimed, "People will shudder and be puzzled and confused; and they won't be keen on analysing the shudder." Fortunately, it will finally be published by Faber and Faber on April 17.
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The Perils of Litchat
“Like all great literature, [David Foster Wallace’s] books do many things at once. Litchat, however, is singleminded.” Laura Miller discusses “the perils of litchat” at The New Yorker and how it has affected the legacy of David Foster Wallace. For less litchat, read our review of The David Foster Wallace Reader.
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Donohgue and Cunningham at Symphony Space
In New York? Visit Symphony Space tonight (12/6) at 7:30 PM to see Emma Donoghue in conversation with author Michael Cunningham. Donoghue's Year in Reading entry appeared here today.
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More Like George POURwell, Am I Right?
I wonder if time George Orwell spent in India and Burma informed his opinions on “how to make the perfect cup of tea.”
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Do You Eat Pork?
And now, a little bit about a world you might be totally unfamiliar with; this piece from The Rumpus is a fascinating, in-depth look at identity politics and eating pork in the Chinese borderlands. Bonus: a complementary piece about what it’s like to be a Chinese-American writer living in china.
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