Hanah Anderson and Matt Daniels analyzed two thousand screenplays for their representation of gender and age. Check out their data here. Pair with a recent piece from our own Bill Morris on the Hollywood biopic.
Reel Results
The Books That Shaped America
Mark Dimunation was on the committee that selected the 88 books for the Library of Congress's current "Books That Shaped America" exhibit. Recently he did an interview with NPR's Lynn Neary in which he explained how he arrived at his decisions to include such works as Goodnight Moon, The Joy Of Cooking, and Uncle Tom's Cabin.
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Out There
A half-century ago, Thomas Berger published Little Big Man, a satire of Westerns that helped increase the stature of the Western genre as a whole. To mark the book’s 50th anniversary, Allen Barra reflects on its legacy, suggesting that it’s as good a candidate as any for the title of Great American Novel. Related: Daniel Kalder on the odd phenomenon of the Euro-Western.
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The Gang
It’s hard to get a better glimpse of the postwar white male American writer than the essays of William Styron. In My Generation, a new book of collected nonfiction, Styron writes about a raft of his contemporaries, including but not limited to Philip Roth, James Baldwin and Truman Capote. In the NYT, Charles Johnson reviews the collection. You could also read Alexander Nazaryan on a book by Styron’s daughter.
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The Handsell
Ron Hogan has set up a new website in which he recommends books to desiring readers. Check out The Handsell for further information.
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Illustrating Riverrun
In his ongoing efforts to accomplish the impossible, the artist Jason Novak has drawn Finnegans Wake.
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Wounded
"Maybe I’m not outraged. I’m exhausted and open and exposed and a lot of other people are too because we are wounds that get picked at and picked at and picked at one day, there won’t be anything left to heal." At The Rumpus, Roxane Gay writes on the sexism and racism of Seth MacFarlane's Oscars jokes.
“I Do (Plan To Read That)”
Attention, lovebirds! Amanda Bullock put together a list of “29 Things You Must Read Before You Get Married.”
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