Two more words of the year as 2016 comes to a close: Merriam-Webster has chosen “surreal” while The Guardian, in an act of timeliness, nominates “unpresidented.”
Words of the Year Watch, Con’t
Pork Problem
“First, catch your pig.” This is the beginning of Harper Lee’s recipe for cornbread, but it’s not the first time pork has preoccupied her writing. At The Paris Review, Sadie Stein examines the use of ham in Lee’s fiction.
●
●
On Reviewers, and Paying Them
LA Review of Books editor in chief Tom Lutz has written about the future of book reviews and “a missing generation of journalists.”
●
●
Writing For Your Life
“I think essay and memoir hang together in a balance. There’s any number of ways to strike it, but from Montaigne on down that balance seems key to their design.” The Paris Review interviews the essayist Michelle Orange, author of the recent This Is Running For Your Life.
Keith Gessen Arrested
n+1 co-editor Keith Gessen was arrested in the midst of today’s Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. This video depicts part of the scene; he is the first seated man to be pulled away by police. This video depicts him making a statement (in handcuffs) at the 5:05 mark. (via)
●
●
Art Spiegelman on Lynd Ward
At the Paris Review Daily, Art Spiegelman, author of Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic memoir Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, recalls the influence of pioneering graphic novelist Lynd Ward in his introduction to Ward’s Six Novels in Woodcuts.
●
●
Pricey Pads
A real estate blog has calculated the approximate value of Hogwarts, and you might be surprised to learn that it’s worth only a fraction of a real life abode in Mumbai, and only about three times more than one in Orlando.
●
●