These images from a notebook Blake used for thirty years are pretty wonderful.
Bites: Gladwell is Analyzed, Zizek on Post-Communism, the “Weirdness” of Health Insurance, and more
Malcolm Gladwell The internet is a-twitter with three things this morning: the anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the health care bill, and Maureen Tkacik’s Nation piece, “Malcolm Gladwell for Dummies.” HTMLGIANT’s Justin Taylor sees the essay as more than just a piece on Gladwell, but also “worth looking at…in light of [the] ongoing discussion of what good criticism can or should look like.” The Millions wonders if this is “a tipping point for Gladwell haters.” Berlin Wall […]
Bites: Media Battles (Ever-Present), Franco’s Face, Humility as ‘Sin,’ Tony Judt, and the Bad News For Big Business
New Media, Old Media, and E-readers Barnes and Noble’s e-reader, the Nook, looks promising as Kindle competitor (and book sharing device!). The Rumpus’ account of last week’s New Yorker Festival is titled “James Franco’s Face.” Jacket Copy suggests that because their paper gave Le Clézio’s Désert a bad review, that the Nobel Prize in Literature is becoming “esoteric” and “wrong-headed.” Ugh, close-minded print newspaper. And now to take back the above statement about print media back with Harper’s lovely “Blake–To […]
Bites: Sendak Retrospective, Amos Oz as Nobel Fav., Is Teaching Shakespeare a Problem?, Af-Pak Reading, Chicago’s Loss, the age-old Polanski debate, and more
First William Blake, now the Wild Things! The Maurice Sendak retrospective opens tomorrow at the Morgan Library. To coincide, the Animazing Gallery presented last Thursday Sendak in SoHo, the world’s largest exhibition & sale of original illustrations from the collection of the legendary artist and author. Lit. Speaking of Where the Wild Things Are, Vice Magazine has a WTWTA blog, which presents work from 24 contributing artists inspired by the story. A little weird because the site is totally in […]
Bites: Blake on display, Philly libraries, Justin Taylor on Zak Smith, Princeton in the Times, Drew hearts Jens, and more
Lit. The Morgan Library and Museum is showcasing the watercolors, prints, and illuminations of William Blake for the first time in two decades. The show, entitled “William Blake’s World: A New Heaven Has Begun” is on display through January 3rd. The entire Philadelphia Free Library System is scheduled to close on October 2. The Brooklyn Book Festival is today. If you’re willing to confront the brewing cloudiness outside, PEN’s event looks good, and so does Housing Works’. Hooves on The […]
Who’s afraid of animated Virginia Woolf? Me.
Whoever decided that animating pictures of long-dead writers reading their work was a good idea is either totally brilliant, or totally sick in the head. I guess it’s better than zombies.