This Week in Trumplandia
Welcome to This Week in Trumplandia. Check in with us every Thursday for a weekly roundup of the most pertinent content on our country.
...morePosts Tagged: Wall Street Journal
Periphery: Exploring Bombs, Boundaries, and Family History
Have you ever seen a feathery shadow at the edge of your eye? Was it a figure? Did it cross into your vision, like a hummingbird there and gone?
...moreYellow Is the New Black
Publishers know that most book buyers can’t adhere to the age old adage to never judge a book by its cover. The result has been an uptick in yellow book covers as book sales move online. Yellow is an eye-catching color, especially on screens, explaining memorable covers like Marlon James’s A Brief History of Seven Killings.
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The Rumpus Review of The Big Short
My reading of the audience’s reaction to the bombast of The Big Short is not that people genuinely find the story amusing, but rather, that we are experiencing discomfort while simultaneously expecting to be entertained.
...moreThe Million-Dollar Debut
While most debut novelists are seeing advances shrink, a handful of authors are seeing the reverse: million-dollar paydays. Consider Garth Risk Hallberg‘s City on Fire, released earlier this year. The 900-plus-page book earned a $2m advance. The novel will have to sell more then 300,000 copies to earn back the money. The Wall Street Journal […]
...moreMarlon James Knows It’s Over
When you’re 15 and a reject, you’re looking for communion, even if you would never admit it. I wanted a painting of myself, but I got a mirror instead. Marlon James, author of A Brief History of Seven Killings, on his intimate relationship with the Smiths’s “I Know It’s Over.”
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Sound Takes: Blood Moon
Whether it’s stormy weather ahead or a mushroom cloud, there’s certainly going to be some rough sailing.
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The Rumpus Interview with Erik Larson
Bestselling author Erik Larson talks about his new book, Dead Wake, his transition from journalism to history, and what, in his opinion, makes a first-rate nonfiction novel.
...moreFeminism in the Family
The Wall Street Journal interviews biographer Charlotte Gordon about Mary Shelley’s relationship with her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, and how her mother’s feminism permeated the future Frankenstein author’s entire life.
...moreA Wrinkle in the Wrinkle
The Wall Street Journal has an article that questions the traditional interpretations of A Wrinkle in Time: Ms. Voiklis said she wanted readers to know the book wasn’t a simple allegory of communism. Instead, it’s about the risk of any country—including a democracy—placing too much value on security. The tension between safety and personal freedom […]
...moreWord of the Day: Esemplasy
(n.); unification; to make into one; the unifying power of imagination; accredited to Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) “Austen is far from superficial … Her books are intimate and compelling. She has a voice that somehow seems to chime even with a modern sensibility. She is, in essence, timeless.” –Alexander McCaul Smith, from “The Secret of […]
...moreRobots Take Over the Library
In the first step of what will undoubtedly be the robot uprising, two robots will be joining the staff of the Westport, Connecticut library. The robots will primarily assist in teaching coding, but they’re also programmed to recognize faces, practice tai chi, and kick soccer balls. The Wall Street Journal has the full story.
...moreThe 24 Amtrak Residents
Earlier this year, Alexander Chee tweeted about his enjoyment of writing on trains. Amtrak jumped aboard and decided to launch an Amtrak residency program granting writers free, multi-day train rides where they could write. Amtrak has announced the first 24 recipients of the residency. The Wall Street Journal sums up the program: The writers will […]
...moreRead Slowly, Read Better
Reading is healthy, but not all reading is created equally. Advocates of slow reading suggest that dedicated periods of thirty to forty-five minutes away from other distractions can lower stress and maximize reading benefits. And reading online content just isn’t as beneficial as reading in distraction-free environments: One 2006 study of the eye movements of […]
...moreTehran Taxi Library
A taxi driving husband-and-wife team converted their cab into a library with more than 40 titles, reports The Wall Street Journal. Mehdi Yazdany and Sarvenaz Heraner sell about 30 books a day, but also give away books to passengers who don’t have the money to pay. Iran’s international disputes have hurt Tehran’s economy in recent […]
...moreBaijiu on the Rocks
Baijiu is a distilled firewater somewhat like vodka crossed with a non-apple Calvados, with a distinctive nose. Have you tried baijiu, the world’s most consumed liquor? Chances are high that you have not even heard of it. Let novelist and travel writer Lawrence Osborne enlighten you.
...moreWe Can Rebuild Ourselves by Reading
Libraries without Borders unveiled its latest project at the New York Public Library. They’re shipping a “library in a box,” or Idea Boxes, to refugee camps. The idea is that food, water and shelter aren’t enough, said Patrick Weil, the group’s founder and chief executive, and a visiting professor at Yale Law School. People who […]
...moreWell, This Is Certainly One Way to Give Advice
On a blog for the Wall Street Journal (where else?), Emily Oster gives advice based on economic theory. For example: There is a model in economics called the “sS” model. It’s not often applied to relationships, but I think it should be….If something really good happens, or many good things in a row, it pushes you […]
...moreBestsellers, Worst Ethics
Reading bestsellers lists can be baffling. You know the whole world isn’t going to spring for literary fiction or erudite essay collections all the time, but sometimes a book seems so bland and unremarkable that you wonder how so many people went crazy for it. According to Forbes.com, the crazy may be coming from quite […]
...moreLetter Play
“The challenge is simple: Create an image from a word, using only the letters contained in the word itself—and using only the shapes of the letters, without adding extra parts.” Facebook creative director Ji Lee has released a new collection, titled Word as Image. Here’s a sampling of his creations, along with some tips for […]
...moreThe Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #46: Dane Golden in Conversation with Alan Paul
Beijing was changing under his feet, and expatriate Alan Paul was changing, too. A transplanted suburban dad, he was a “trailing spouse” who followed his wife on her promotion and relocation from New Jersey to Beijing. A writer used to watching the kids while working for Guitar Magazine and Slam, the leisure of overseas domestic […]
...moreLucky Peach Y’all
McSweeney’s and David Chang’s new hunger-inducing venture, Lucky Peach, is out now. Check out the McSweeney’s attention in the Wall Street Journal. The first issue is ramen-themed. Being that there’s some sort of transitive property of common interest among those who like food, indie publishing and technology—Lucky Peach will also come in the form of […]
...moreA Necessarily Incomplete But Hopefully Helpful List That Proves The Slush Pile Has a Pulse
A couple of weeks ago, I ranted against a Wall Street Journal article that proclaimed “The Slush Pile is Dead.” The slush pile, for those who are unfamiliar, is the name for the large amount of unsolicited writing that’s submitted for publication to magazines and web sites. Part of the reason for my reaction to […]
...moreBreaking: Writers Are Eccentric And Enjoy Bathtubs, Charts
The Wall Street Journal recently interviewed a bunch of writers to see how they do it. Of course, they called it “How to Write a Great Novel,” but I’m not sure if trying to copy exactly what these writers do is really recommended. It’s fun, though, in a voyeuristic sort of way. Here’s a few […]
...moreRaymond Carver: Vicarious Slumming for the WSJ
It’s Raymond Carver night at the Rumpus! Moments after I wrote and scheduled the preceding post, I saw this tweet from the Library of America: “WSJ on Raymond Carver: ‘There must be few story collections whose notes offer more melodrama than the main text.’ ” Then they offered a link to the Wall Street Journal […]
...moreSaturday Morning Links
Just in time for your next dinner party: mermaids are considered halal. In case you were wondering. Here’s a really cool museum idea: 80 years of patent models. The Wall Street Journal reminds us why R. L. Burnside matters. Didn’t know they had it in them. Why do cars look like douchebags? The human kind, […]
...moreRediscovering the Forgotten
The drive to digitize ancient manuscripts is growing quickly, and in the process, scholars are discovering works they never realized they had. The current technology is good enough that scholars can make sense of scrolls too delicate to be unrolled, charred or blackened by fire, or painted over. Among the discoveries are “never-before-seen versions of […]
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