“Ms. Cline, who was 27 when the novel came out, was celebrated as a major new talent. But for the last two years, her success has been overshadowed, in private, by legal threats levied against her by a former boyfriend.” Emma Cline, bestselling author of The Girls, and her ex-boyfriend, Chaz Reetz-Laiolo, have filed public lawsuits against each other including allegations of plagiarism, physical abuse, and intimidation, according to the New York Times. From our archives: staff writer Michael Bourne‘s review of Cline’s debut novel.
She Said, He Said
The Shakespeare Oxford Society
Unsurprisingly, the Oxfordian theory-inspired blockbuster Anonymous is ruffling some feathers in college English departments. The “Shakespeare Oxford Society,” of course, has a rejoinder.
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Comparing Hatchets
The Omnivore has announced the shortlist for its the Hatchet Job of the Year Award, honoring “the author of the angriest, funniest, most trenchant book review of the past twelve months.” Worthy candidates all, though we note that our review, written by Holloway McCandless, of Michael Cunningham’s By Nightfall is perhaps even more trenchant than (and was published over a month before) Adam Mars-Jones’ shortlisted review, which, like ours, found Cunningham’s endless references to the literary canon tiresome.
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English Hangs Over Me
The January issue of Asymptote is out, featuring an excellent interview with Year in Reading alumnus Junot Díaz about language acquisition and diasporic identity. As he puts it, “I live a life where both English and Spanish are in italics in my brain. It costs me no extra effort; it doesn’t feel unusual; it doesn’t feel like an infirmity, but it does strike me every now and then that there are people who don’t pick over their language the way I do, who aren’t so self-conscious of what they’re saying, who have a natural tongue.” Pair with Thea Lim’s Millions essay on race and gender in Díaz’s books.
Literary Paper Dolls
What better way to celebrate pioneering women writers ranging from Edna St. Vincent Millay to Edith Wharton than with a collection of literary paper dolls?
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Rich Guys Readin’ Books
Hat tip to Melville House’s Dustin Kurtz for sharing The Gates Notes with the world. Now you can read real book reviews written by America’s wealthiest man. That’s almost as good as reading real book reviews written by one of the world’s most powerful conservative fundraisers.
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Galway Kinnell Passes Away
“To me, poetry is somebody standing up, so to speak, and saying, with as little concealment as possible, what it is for him or her to be on earth at this moment.” Galway Kinnell, whose Selected Poems won a Pulitzer in 1983, passed away Tuesday.
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Cubans, Minimalists, and Surrealists, Oh My!
A three-course feast for your eyes, dear readers: vintage Cuban movie posters courtesy of Will Schofield; minimalist book covers courtesy of Julie Oreskovich and AbeBooks; and little-known sheet music illustrations courtesy of the great René Magritte.
He said, she said…these situations often are a waste in courts especially when it is a couple who once loved. It can be costly and often one is on a mission of revenge at any price. It is worse when children are involved as in a divorce. I also know that it often comes down with who believes whom and psychopaths (they are born one in 100 people..a problem in the brain where an area is too small, the amygdala, and you have one on each side and they are not properly connected to the frontal lobe command center. So these people do not feel the pain that their actions cause. That is why they are able to carry out horrible things and don’t feel remorse. Science has come a long way…yet people often twist this knowledge to their own purposes to say oh this person is a psychopath…now…if that is true then they were that all their lives…so they should have a “history”. Not all dangerous people have this history. The literature about borderlines (borderline personality disorder) says these people are not born this way but “made” through traumatic experiences at a young age. So how a court room battle is often played out is how attorneys paint the image of the two at battle…they do horrible things in the name of “justice” but that is their sworn duty. I have seen many tricks used and most people are, unfortunately, susceptible to crafty attorneys. So be careful and choose your courtroom battles…they can consume you…not just your adversary.