Posts by author
Graham Todd
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China Miéville: the future of the novel
Last week, in the keynote speech at the 2012 Edinburgh World Writers’ Conference, China Miéville spoke about the novel’s many possible futures in cultural, political and digital terms – and concluded with a demand for state-supported salaries for writers: “So…
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What Did You Want To Accomplish When You Grew Up?
The Awl‘s “What Did You Want To Accomplish When You Grew Up?” series just posted its first article where they asked a large swath of writerly tech- and science-minded people, “When you were young, what did you want to invent,…
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NYR’S Apocalpyse Now
Malise Ruthven of the New York Review of Books blog ruminates on the history of apocalyptic rhetoric in literature, art, and politics from the Enlightenment to now. Ruthven focuses on the paradox of apocalyptic thinking where “prophets who predict the…
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The Unified Field
The new Fleet Foxes backed arts and lit magazine, The Unified Field, launches on September 18th and proceeds go to 826 National. The new lit mag will come with an 10″ vinyl pressing of unreleased, raw tracks from the likes of…
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Melville in Jerusalem
Herman Melville was not a happy camper after Moby Dick was panned by critics and failed to have any financial success (only 3100 copies were sold during his lifetime), but instead of pouting about it in America, he pouted about it in…
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Albert Camus: Solitude and Solidarity
LA Review of Books’ Robert Zaretsky reviews Albert Camus: Solitude and Solidarity: “…the book is a remarkable effort at recapturing — or, for many readers, simply capturing for the first time — a man whose life and work matter as…
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Aurora Shooting Roundup
Our thoughts are with the victims of today’s tragedy: 12 people were killed and 59 wounded by gunman at a movie theater outside of Denver, Colorado early this morning during the release of The Dark Knight Rises. The suspected shooter,…
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Who’s the Fairest Skater of Them All?
The New Yorker‘s James Guida comments on Transworld Skateboarding‘s 30th anniversary interviews with skating legends from across skateboarding’s long history. Guida sees the project as a kind of oral history, one that chronicles skaters of all walks and ages and…
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Olympic Art
England has some great artwork in the mix for the London Cultural Olympiad, which coincides with the start of the Games later this month: Nowhereisland: Alex Hartley, an artist known for his photography and sculptures, is asking a very interesting…
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Help Tomorrow Now!
Early last month GOOD magazine fired its entire editorial staff and instead of receding into the dismal ether of unemployment, the ex-GOOD magaziners banned together to make a single issue of their own print magazine, Tomorrow. We like these people…
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United Books of America
The Library of Congress has put together a provocative list of 88 Books That Shaped America. (Happy belated 4th!) The LOC is also ready for nominations on what to add and why. The list is officially unfinished and meant to…
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Flannery O’Connor, Cartoonist and Chicken Trainer Extraordinaire
Apparently, as a college student, O’Connor developed a taste for making linoleum cuts, which appeared in the college’s newspaper along with awesomely quipy captions directed at the pompousness of student life and the faculty. Barry Moser, who is writing the…