Kaveh Akbar interviews poet Wendy Xu about oppressive syntax, imaginary realms, and poems as ecosystems. As she puts it, “Poetry validates the emotional realness of the imaginary.” Pair with Andrew Kay’s Millions essay on the power of poetry.
A Beautiful Alternate World
Election Heat Map: Book Edition
Amazon created an "Election Heat Map" to tally the number of "red" and "blue" books sold across the nation, and the count is updated hourly. The results are somewhat surprising to those who believe liberals read more than conservatives. (Perhaps liberals frequent more independent bookstores?) At the time of this writing, "red" books are favored by a margin of 7%.
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New Dyer Book
Word of a new book from Millions fave Geoff Dyer has just emerged. (Edit: new in the U.S.; it's been published previously in the U.K.) The Missing of the Somme, due in August, is a "meditation on World War I."
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Poor Options for Refusal
For most people, Mario Puzo’s The Godfather is the beginning and end of mafia books, the sole notable entry in a sparse and little-known genre. That’s why it’s helpful that Roberto Dainotto, in The Guardian, published this list, which includes The Godfather, Eric Hobsbawm’s Primitive Rebels, and Alexander Stille’s Excellent Cadavers, among other picks.
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Free JSTOR Articles
JSTOR will be making 500,000 articles from over 200 journals freely available to the public. These will include items published before 1923 in the US, and published before 1870 abroad. Earlier this month, I rounded up a few pieces by people who think the entire database should be free.
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The Naipaul Test
V.S. Naipaul (seemingly a professional misogynist at times) rankled many by suggesting there are no women writers that can equal him and calling Jane Austen "sentimental." Now the Guardian offers up a quiz that challenges readers to identify the gender of an author simply by reading a passage of his or her writing.
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New Dramas Focus On Atom Bombs and Witch Hunts
WGN America has ordered a 13-episode drama about the Manhattan Project. The series, which is set for a summer 2014 premiere, will be written by Sam Shaw and directed by Thomas Schlamme. This marks the second series ordered by WGN America this year. The first one, Salem, will focus on the Massachusetts town’s infamous 17th century witch trials.
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Out of Copyright, Into Chaos
Eric Bulson remarks on the expiration of the European copyright in James Joyce’s oeuvre. The “vast sea of Joyceana,” Bulson writes, “will … have the effect of flooding the market, making it even more difficult for readers to decide which edition to buy.” Meanwhile in Japan, writes Dustin Kurtz, “an expansive and anticipated group” of writers will have their work enter the public domain this year.
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