November 21, 2011 Bulletin The Winter Issue: Naughty and Nice By The Paris Review The Paris Review sends you holiday cheer—and our Winter issue! Naughty or nice, it’s got something for everyone: a portfolio of women by women, curated by our art editor, Charlotte Strick; fiction by Clarice Lispector, Paul Murray, and Adam Wilson; the English-language debut of French literary sensation Valérie Mréjen; and the conclusion of Roberto Bolaño’s lost novel The Third Reich, with original illustrations by Leanne Shapton. The Winter issue also contains long-awaited interviews with— Jeffrey Eugenides: I tell my students that when you write, you should pretend you’re writing the best letter you ever wrote to the smartest friend you have. That way, you’ll never dumb things down. You won’t have to explain things that don’t need explaining. You’ll assume an intimacy and a natural shorthand, which is good because readers are smart and don’t wish to be condescended to. and Alan Hollinghurst: I was very excited by the idea of telling truths that hadn’t been told before and breaking down literary categories. Descriptions of gay sexual behavior had until then tended to be restricted to pornography, and the presence of gay lives in fiction had been scant. So I had the great fortune of being given this relatively unexplored territory. Plus … poems by David Wagoner, Jonathan Galassi, Dorothea Lasky, Ange Mlinko, Gottfried Benn, and Rowan Ricardo Phillips. Subscribe now!
November 17, 2011 Bulletin Congratulations to Jesmyn Ward By The Paris Review The Paris Review congratulates Jesmyn Ward, whose novel Salvage the Bones won the National Book Award last night. We spoke with Ward in August about Southern rappers, Medea, Hurricane Katrina—and the book that brings them together.
November 16, 2011 Bulletin On the Shelf By Sadie Stein A cultural news roundup. Winners of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards. Stephen King helps heat Maine. The real Tintin! The X-Men archive goes to Columbia. Penguin takes the self-publishing leap. The LA Times pubs its first e-book. Meanwhile, authors charge that the Kindle library is “boldly breaching its contracts.” In brick-and-mortar news, Ann Patchett opens a bookstore. Wordsworth House (#4) opens in the Lake District. Salman Rushdie fights Facebook, and wins. Writers restock the OWS Library. Speaking of public libraries … RIP legendary publisher Morris Philipson. “We’ve just lost the Norman Rockwell of comic strips.” Jane Austen … murdered?
November 10, 2011 Bulletin John Jeremiah Sullivan on ‘Soundcheck’ By The Paris Review Photograph by John Taylor. Readers of the Daily are familiar with the musical musings of our Southern editor John Jeremiah Sullivan. This afternoon, Sullivan spoke with John Schaefer on NPR’s Soundcheck about Michael Jackson’s genealogy, Christian rock, deciphering Geeshie Wiley lyrics with John Fahey—and finding historical depths in everything, even the impossibly shallow. Listen to their conversation here. Sullivan also reads tonight at 8 P.M. at BAM.
November 9, 2011 Bulletin On the Shelf By Sadie Stein A cultural news roundup. George Orwell, on food. Frederick Seidel, on motorcycles. Teenage Bronte, on the block. New classics? Overrated hacks? Pippi, a racist? The cult of Betsy-Tacy. The Art of Protein Bars. The Lego Bible. The Jeopardy! Pyramid of Greatness. The letters of Wodehouse: “Found in both his fiction and his letters, terms such as “posish,” “eggs and b,” and “f i h s” (“fiend in human shape”) create a clubby feeling of intimacy between writer and reader.” Journalism booms in Libya. “I’m scared of dying in the middle of a book. I leave notes out in my room so that if I die people know how to finish it.”
November 3, 2011 Bulletin St. Mark’s Saved By Lorin Stein Great news in this morning’s Observer: Cooper Union has agreed to give St. Mark’s Bookshop a break on the rent, and the store will remain open. Many thanks to our readers who helped save St. Mark’s, whether by signing the petition or just by picking up a copy of the Review. (The save–St. Mark’s discount will remain in effect until our winter issue appears.) And three cheers for Cooper Union!