“In my adolescence people spoke of ‘café intellectuals,’ not with the respect due to a sect that transmits ideas within the cramped space of a table but with the contempt reserved for those who turn their backs on reality and take refuge in vain speculation.” Juan Villoro on the writing life in Mexico City’s cafés as part of the “Writing Life Around the World” series for Electric Literature.
A Refuge for Reinventing the Real
Best Book Covers of 2009
Amazon has 60 books in 10 categories up for a vote for "Best Book Covers of 2009." There's plenty of literary eye candy in the mix.
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A New Award for the Promotion of Irish Literature
A new laureateship award worth €150,000 was created by Ireland's Arts Council in conjunction with University College Dublin and New York University. The award will be given to "an outstanding Irish writer of fiction" with hopes that the author will "promote [Irish] literature around the world" and "inspire the public to engage with the best Irish fiction." The first appointment will be made in 2014.
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The Book Prisons Fear
The New York Times dives into why prisons fear the New Jim Crow certain states have gone to great efforts to allow their prisons to ban it and in other states it's fairly difficult to obtain if you're a prisoner. We're big fans of the New Jim Crow here; it was a Millions staff pick and extremely popular on Year in Reading lists back in 2013.
Beautiful Malaysia
The latest short by James W. Griffiths, We Were Wanderers On a Prehistoric Earth, is an "ode to the incredible flora and fauna of Malaysia." The film is accompanied by a passage from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, and it's clear that the author's description of the Congo applies to Southeast Asia quite easily.
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Cool Story, Bro
The word "cool" has been cool for more than 70 years. At Slate, Carl Wilson examines why this slang stuck, and how it's evolved from being used by beatniks to smartphone companies. "Cool is an attitude that allows detached assessment, but one that prizes an air of knowingness over specific knowledge. I think that’s why it doesn’t become dated, unlike hotter-running expressions of enthusiasm like groovy or rad." Pair with: Michael Agger's essay on why we love the "cool story, bro" meme.
Scottish Book Sculptures
Someone's been leaving book sculptures in Scottish libraries. They're exquisite.
He Found Himself Changed
Happy(ish) birthday, Gregor Samsa! Here’s a piece from NPR commemorating the 100th anniversary of the publication of Franz Kafka’s masterpiece, The Metamorphosis. Kafka insisted that the story's insect should never be drawn, but of course Vladimir Nabokov had his own ideas about that. To round out the Kafka news, here’s a review from The Millions of Reiner Stach’s Kafka: The Decisive Years.
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