March 17, 2022, 12:22pm Here at Lit Hub, we believe strongly in the power of poetry. So we were heartened to see all of Twitter come together because of a single poem—or, actually, the mention of a single poem. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “Later at the lunch, maybe you might wanna watch, I’m gonna be
Literature
TODAY: In 1740, Henry Fielding summors Poet Laureate Colley Cibber to court for murdering the English language. “Austen knew much more about female erotic fantasy than is commonly assumed.” Robert Morrison considers Jane Austen’s works as a precursor to Bridgerton. | Lit Hub TV Jonathan Franzen and his art team go behind the scenes of
Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753-84), who was the first African-American woman to publish a book of poetry: Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral appeared in 1773 when she was probably still in her early twenties. Wheatley’s poems, which bear the influence of eighteenth-century English verse – her preferred form was the heroic couplet used by
March 16, 2022, 2:10pm Something nice to look at this Wednesday: Swedish artist Cecilia Levy, a former bookbinder and graphic designer, is creating paper sculptures of familiar objects using words and phrases carved from vintage books. She tears, cuts and shreds the pages and merges them using paste, molds, and papier maché, reconstituting the books
TODAY: In 1961, Irving Stone’s The Agony and the Ecstasy is published by Doubleday. 14 contemporary artists on how reading influences their work (and what they’re reading now!). | Lit Hub Art Terese Marie Mailhot considers what book royalties can’t buy. | Lit Hub Money “Sometimes a cookie is not just a cookie.” Felicia Berliner
‘The Day Before the Revolution’ is a 1974 short story by the American fantasy and science-fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018). The story is a prologue to Le Guin’s ‘ambiguous utopia’ novel The Dispossessed. ‘The Day Before the Revolution’ focuses on the last day in the life of Odo, the woman who had led
March 15, 2022, 4:22pm Today in things that are incredibly helpful: Matt Bell, author of the novel Appleseed and writing guide Refuse to Be Done, shared, over Twitter, an example of a cover letter for creative writers looking for academic jobs. The letter he shared was one he wrote to apply to Arizona State University, where he’s an associate
Knopf announced March 8 that it will publish two novels by Cormac McCarthy this fall, his first in 16 years, but don’t expect a book tour. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author lives an entirely private life. “He doesn’t give interviews, doesn’t give lectures, and doesn’t do book signings,” Michael Hall wrote in Texas Monthly in 1998.
‘The Caterpillar’ is a very short story by the American writer Lydia Davis (born 1947). The story is about memory, consideration, and the small and ordinarily overlooked, focusing on someone who finds a caterpillar in her bed one morning and then drops it while trying to carry it downstairs and outside. You can read ‘The
‘A Wagner Matinée’ is a short story by the American writer Willa Cather, first published in Everybody’s Magazine in 1904 before being collected in Cather’s collection The Troll Garden the following year. In just a few pages, Cather sketches out a wasted life where a woman, who left Boston to go and live on a
T. S. Eliot’s 1915 poem ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ is full of mysterious and ambiguous symbols and images, each one loaded with meaning, or, in many cases, multiple meanings. But what are the key images of ‘Prufrock’, and what is notable about Eliot’s use of symbolism? The dreamlike imagery which is threaded
March 11, 2022, 1:09pm George Saunders has been busy—teaching the craft of writing (rigorously, one might add) on Substack, as well as continuing to teach at Syracuse—but his personal writing hasn’t taken a backseat: on October 18, Random House will publish Liberation Day, his new short story collection. (!!!) Liberation Day is Saunders’s first collection
‘Dry September’ is a 1931 short story by the American writer William Faulkner. In the story, which takes place one hot and rainless September in the American South, a white woman accuses an African-American man of attacking her, and the white men of the town form a mob to go after the man. Despite the
March 11, 2022, 1:11pm Last December, the literary world mourned the loss of essayist Eve Babitz—joyful, sharp observer of Los Angeles. Now, The Huntington Library in San, Marino has announced it has acquired Babitz’s archive, meaning researchers will be able to browse drafts of Babitz’s books and articles, original works of art, personal journals, photographs
March 10, 2022, 3:19pm Critics and audiences are hailing the release of Abbott Elementary, ABC’s new workplace sitcom created by and starring Quinta Brunson (and, by the way, featuring a virtuosic comedic performance by Janelle James). Abbott Elementary, which received the highest comedy ratings since Modern Family’s finale in 2020, was inspired by Brunson’s real-life
‘Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes’ is a short story by J. D. Salinger, first published in 1951. The story details a phone conversation between two men, Arthur and Lee, following a party. Arthur is worried that his wife is having an affair and Lee attempts to calm down his friend over the phone, encouraging
TODAY: In 1969, Mario Puzo’s The Godfather is published by G.P. Putnam Son’s. Also on Lit Hub: Sejal Shah remembers beloved writer and editor Valerie Boyd • Corinne Hoex considers the power of the unconscious • Read from Lee Kravetz’s debut novel, The Last Confessions of Sylvia P.
March 9, 2022, 2:43pm In March 2020, I happened to be working at a library for the first time (shoutout to my friends at BPL), and got to witness up-close how quickly the staff pivoted their services to respond to the pandemic: shifting programming online and expanding their virtual presence; starting a delivery service for