Remembrance of News Past
In the news over the last week: Google's crushed dreams; Oprah's misguided fascination with poetry; Laura Miller on the cure for writer's block; a rally against evil publishers; a self-published millionaire goes traditional; ancient graffiti; and a posthumous Bolaño essay.
We Whose Futures Rest on 150 Words
The amateur novelist takes on the attributes of a salesman, going door to proverbial door in the vast cruel market of the publishing industry. Today’s episode: perfecting the plot hook.
Literary Scraps for the Overburdened Reader
Roland Barthes on writing; why writers abandon novels; the importance of rhythm in prose; a new set of rules for writers; and the continuing adventures of the late David Foster Wallace.
The 100 Most Beautiful Words in English: A Linguist’s Quaint Passion
It’s one of those concepts that has driven men and women to compose treatises in verse, drink themselves comatose, start fights, and maybe even die young. Unfortunately we have nothing to show for it.
The Long Overdue Literary Update
In the news: a bankrupt literary giant; the lost art of editing; Nabokov on butterflies; the first annual Good Sex Awards; the antithetical nature of MFA programs; and the dreaded reader's block.
An Entirely New Terror
With the writing of the novel out of the way, the amateur novelist is free to pursue an even more horrifying endeavor: the search for an agent.
The War Against Cliché: What We Can Learn from Martin Amis
Chess, football, even famous writers. Martin Amis can write about anything.
From Your Lips She Drew the Hallelujah
The long history of Rebellious Bird brought to a close? Even the amateur novelist knows the completion of a novel is only the beginning.
The Tin Drum: A Startling Vision of WWII
In this first and famous novel by Nobel laureate Günter Grass, the horrors of Nazi Germany are transformed into beauty and magic.
This Week in Books
The rise of Wallace studies; Nabokov on cover design; Newberry Award winner; what makes bad prose; Holden Caulfield lives well into sixties; and Michael Chabon on censoring bedtime reading.
The Premiere of Season Two
Paralyzed with fear! Back to work again, will the amateur novelist escape the evil clutches of the impossible Perfect Novel?
Death with Interruptions: A Glimpse of the Literary Philosopher