In 1980, Julio Cortázar gave a series of lectures at Berkeley, which you can now read in the slim, simply-titled volume Literature Class. Among the highlights? This sentence: “I had lived with a complete feeling of familiarity with the fantastic because it seemed as acceptable to me, as possible and as real, as the fact of eating soup at eight o’clock in the evening.”
Fantastisch
New Year, New Interviews
For their first interview of 2013, The Rumpus talks to Zadie Smith, who also, if you'll recall, told us about her Year in Reading last month.
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Blossoming Pity
Recommended Reading: Tabitha Blankenbiller responds to The New York Times' piece on Manly Book Clubs. “Reading the article yet again, my pity for this dude squad begins to blossom. To think that they will head into the ground without the words of Terry Tempest Williams or Lidia Yuknavitch or Sandra Cisneros in their hearts.” For a bit of humor about a manly book club, check out our rock ‘n’ roll book club.
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A New Kind of Book Review
A new kind of book review: 5 artists interpret and critique literature through works of visual art.
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Heti and Didion, Chatting It Up
#LemonadeSyllabus
Beyoncé's visual album/phenomenon Lemonade has only been out for a few days and already it has spawned countless thinkpieces. One of the best and most inspiring things to come out of it has been the #LemonadeSyllabus hashtag, popularized by Rutgers University educator Candace Benbow. The series "encourages Black women to share curated reading lists of books, poems and other inspirational literature penned by Black female authors that celebrate every aspect of what it means to be a Black woman."
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