For Buzzfeed Rachel Vorona Cote explores Eve Babitz and the white literary It Girl. “Readers, particularly literary women in their twenties and thirties, seem to be entranced by this child of Hollywood, who unabashedly relished her LA milieu and both chronicled and defended its paradoxes. But it’s still a milieu that flattens the city into one that is homogenous, wealthy, and white.” Pair with this essay about her novel Sex and Rage.
The Millennial Resurgence of Eve Babitz
Free That Verse
From the Beat poet to the particularly heroic couplet, here’s a handy illustration of poetic justice from Grant Snider over at The New York Times.
That’s Not Leather
In horrifying book news, the binding of one of Harvard College Library’s books has been confirmed to be human skin.
Wodehouse Revival
P. G. Wodehouse is enjoying a popular revival thanks in part to W. W. Norton re-releasing some of his books with nice, attention-grabbing covers. Of course the British author has long had his supporters. Among them? George Orwell. Elsewhere, The Guardian compares Wodehouse’s correspondence to Ernest Hemingway‘s.
A DeLillo Retrospective
In its recently released third issue, The Point – a terrific Chicago-based journal of ideas – takes up the vexed question of Don DeLillo‘s literary significance.
Telling the Truth
“There is no such thing as a true story. I know this because my daughter insists I told her to put her dirty dishes in the sink when I know I told her to put them in the dishwasher.” Over at The Rumpus, Ellen Urbani writes about telling the truth.
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John Jeremiah Sullivan Visits Cuba
Pulphead author John Jeremiah Sullivan writes his second New York Times Magazine cover story in five weeks. This is turning into an embarrassment of riches.
On Productive Friendships
Recommended Reading: Alexandra Alter on Greg Neri’s Tru & Nelle, an upcoming novel about Harper Lee and Truman Capote.
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