David Biespiel’s Poetry Wire: 21 Poems That Shaped America (Pt. 6): “To Elsie”
Now the battle is joined. I will prosecute my part of it as a writer till the last dog dies…
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Posts Tagged: The Atlantic
Leopard Print
I couldn’t believe there could be a famous book that was so radically unsatisfying. I remember thinking, how can he even be a famous author if he fucks you over this badly? It just seemed like a disaster. At the Atlantic, Jonathan Lethem writes about discovering Franz Kafka as a teenager. Later, Kafka’s ‘leopards’ aphorism would influence […]
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Podcatcher #5: #GoodMuslimBadMuslim
Podcatcher talks with Taz Ahmed and Zahra Noorbakhsh of #GoodMuslimBadMuslim about the podcast format, finding humor in absurdity, and diversity within the Muslim identity.
...moreWhat Makes a Story a Story
Over at the Atlantic, Joe Fassler talks to Alice Mattison about how Grace Paley’s short stories encouraged her to write fiction. Mattison recalls: From Paley, I learned that I could write about lives and feelings like those I knew.
...moreRun the WorldCon
At the Atlantic, Vann R. Newkirk interviews Hugo-winner N.K. Jemisin about her novel The Fifth Season and the hardline conservatives who boycotted it: It’s the same sort of reactionary pushback that is generally by a relatively small number of very loud people. They’re loud enough that they’re able to convince you that the world really isn’t […]
...moreThe Artist as Public Object
Is it because rather than keeping us almost entirely out of the empty room, as Lee did, Ocean chose to let us in through hints and ephemera? And more broadly, what are we owed by an artist whom we profess to love? For the Atlantic, Eve L. Ewing examines the careers and output of Harper Lee […]
...moreMap Quest
At the Atlantic, Adrienne Green spoke with research librarian Theresa Quill about how the profession is changing and the traits that bring librarians of different generations together: I don’t know that I agree that a person is born to be a librarian, but most librarians that I know seem to really love what they do. It’s […]
...moreOn Publishers Big and Small
At the Atlantic, Nathan Scott McNamara provides an optimistic view of the symbiotic relationship between massive corporate publishers and small indie houses. Profiling energetic presses like Graywolf, Coffee House, Two Dollar Radio, and Dorothy, McNamara argues: …by inventing new models rather than trying to repeat past success, by valuing ingenuity over magnitude, by thinking of sales as […]
...moreNovelists Versus Machines
The Atlantic explains how Kurt Vonnegut’s lectures about story arcs influenced a group of researches to classify works of fiction based on six “core narratives” in order to find the “emotional trajectory of a story.” The research group hopes the data helps scientists to “train machines” to write original works.
...moreA Tribute to Elie Wiesel
When I began to write, it was to tell other survivors to write. All we have is words. The Atlantic recounts the extraordinary life and legacy of Elie Wiesel—Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate—in a loving tribute.
...morePost-Gone Girl Crime Writing
When today’s crime writers are in doubt, they have a woman come through the door with a passive-aggressive zinger on her lips. At the Atlantic, Terrence Rafferty writes about the history crime fiction, from pulp writers in the 20s and 30s through Raymond Chandler to Gillian Flynn, and how women are writing the best crime out […]
...moreGirly, Arty Angst
At the Atlantic, Amy Weiss-Meyer discusses debut authors Rebecca Schiff and Abigail Ulman, placing them, along with writer Lena Dunham, in a group of authors that critic Harold Rosenberg calls a “mass culture of individuals:” Theirs is a literary ecosystem fueled by the dream of achieving viral acclaim—of appealing to the masses by parading one’s exquisite, […]
...moreSelf-Publishing Leads to Plagiarism
Self-publishing has never been easier, and that means plagiarism has never been easier. Thieves are using self-publishing services like Amazon to republish back catalog or out-of-print books to sell for a profit. In some case these “authors” change minor things like character names, but not always. The thieves are able to sell titles on Amazon for […]
...moreLaurie vs. Lin
I saw half of Hamilton. I walked… It’s history lite, and musical lite, and it’s just … It’s horrible. [laughs] Maybe I should be more open-minded. I just hate it. David Graham interviewed Laurie Anderson about her recent shows and the current state of American politics. She happened to drop a massive bombshell on Lin […]
...moreLessons from Frog and Toad
At the Atlantic, Bert Clere reflects on Arnold Lobel’s children’s books, Frog and Toad and Owl at Home, the lessons these stories try to teach, and the representation of the self in each of them: Although Frog and Toad’s world is perhaps more pastoral than that of their average reader, most can recognize and relate to the situations […]
...moreNo Pronouns
Using Anne Garréta’s 1986 novel, Sphinx, as a springboard, Stephanie Hayes explores the superpowers of gender-blank characters for the Atlantic. Sphinx’s recent translator, Emma Ramadan, describes how what began as an Oulipan constraint to avoid gender became a freedom from preconceived notions of male and female, and sometimes, a guessing game. When gender’s not there, it […]
...more140 Characters or More
Make sure no one else is awake. Turn off the lights. Your windows can stay open. Now turn on your phone and begin reading. Repeat as necessary each night. Do not stop until the very last word of the very last volume. For the Atlantic, Sarah Boxer recounts the unexpectedly Proustian experience of finally finishing In […]
...moreHomeward Unbound
Some would argue that the loss of privacy is a small price to pay to have your voice heard on an international scale. But over at the Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates writes honestly and unpretentiously about his difficulties returning home as a prominent literary figure, and how his sudden visibility carries a safety concern particular to being a […]
...moreBetter Funding Boosts Library Usage
Library use has been declining, but that decline probably isn’t due to a decreasing interest in reading. Plenty of pundits blame the rise of digital technology, but even libraries that offer digital services like ebook lending have seen declines. The real culprit is the same crisis afflicting all of American infrastructure: a lack of investment. The Institute of […]
...moreYour Regularly Scheduled Gratification
At the Atlantic, Megan Garber explores the revival of the serial with the recent release of Belgravia, a serial novel-and-app from Julian Fellowes, the creator of Downton Abbey.
...moreWriting in a Digital Age
Moleskine has recently come out with a digital notebook and smart-pen that transcribes one’s writing onto their smartphone—seemingly going against their ethos of the importance of pen and paper. Katharine Schwab reckons with this new development, and the fascinating popularity of Moleskine, over at the Atlantic: It’s easy to wax philosophical about the role paper can play […]
...moreHouse Of Cards
At the Atlantic, Sara Polsky traces the evolution of library cards from the 18th century to today. Even though library cards have nostalgic value for many patrons, Polsky argues that libraries may expand their readership with a system that uses more modern technology.
...moreReboot the Arc of Progress
At the Atlantic, Adrienne LaFrance delves into the popular belief that technology naturally bends towards equality and progress to show how rarely that idea actually plays out.
...moreAutofiction and Empathy
Reading novels breaks down the boundary between “me” and “not me.” Over at the Atlantic, Nicholas Dames writes about a deeply worrying feeling that contemporary fiction isn’t living up to Cervantes’s standards, opting for nihilistic individualism rather than empathy.
...moreBroadway-Blues-Bad Casting
Ever since Zoe Saldana was set to play Nina Simone in the upcoming biopic Nina, controversy has surrounded the casting choice. Writing in the Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates says that the issue isn’t just about Saldana’s lighter skin tone, but the erasure of Simone’s facial features and what it says about America’s racist beauty standards: Saldana […]
...moreAgents and Editors and Readers! Oh My!
At Electric Literature, Lincoln Michel offers a sharp response to a recent Atlantic article that explores how MFA programs have influenced contemporary literature: The MFA is only two to three years out of a writer’s life. Those years don’t outweigh decades of signaling from the publishing industry, major newspapers, and magazines about what type of fiction is popular […]
...moreSelfies from Jane Eyre
The refusal of such a woman, who lived in such a time, to be silent created a new mold for the self… Karen Swallow Prior, writing for the Atlantic, shares her essay on Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and its roots in the Protestant Reformation that contributed to the Western idea of the self—and so, inevitably, […]
...moreThe Library in a City’s Time of Crisis
Libraries are major hubs that serve the community, and even more so in times when people are looking for help. Over at the Atlantic, Deborah Fallows details the efforts to preserve the San Bernardino library, which has seen an increased sense of community after the tragic shootings last year: When I asked people what felt […]
...moreA Note about Love
Elegance is a refinement of simplicity rather than a flourish of excess. Elegance prompts wit rather than comedy, sentiment rather than sentimentality. Such restraint is the lens through which all the diffuse sensations of desire are focused into the flame of passion. The Atlantic has a short how-to guide for writing the perfect love letter. […]
...moreRihanna’s Anti Capitalist Strategy
Although it marks a turn away from the hit-heavy model of a record industry money-maker, Rihanna’s Anti is still a calculated capitalist move, and the Atlantic explains how. In an editorial examination of record release strategies, the Atlantic connects the dots between Samsung’s sponsorship of the new record and how Rihanna is making money by giving the new […]
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