The work of the American poet Mary Oliver (1935-2019) has perhaps not received as much attention from critics as she deserves, yet it’s been estimated that she was the bestselling poet in the United States at the time of her death. She often wrote nature poetry, focusing on the area of New England which she
Literature
August 17, 2022, 1:48pm In what feels like a truly inspired bit of casting, Chlöe Sevigny and Naomi Watts will star in the second installment of the FX anthology series, Feud, as “Capote’s women.” More specifically, the pair will play C.Z. Guest (Sevigny) and Babe Paley (Watts), New York socialites who featured prominently in Capote’s
August 16, 2022, 3:02pm It’s difficult to keep abreast of all the latest developments in American book banning, but even in a real life horror story currently playing out across the country, I do love a good ironic twist. Today’s example: in one Texas school district, widespread book bans have led to the removal of
‘The Secret Miracle’ (1943) is a short story by a modern master of the form, the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986). It tells of a man living in Nazi-occupied Prague who is sentenced to be killed by firing squad. The man, a playwright, prays for a year’s stay of execution to be granted so
August 16, 2022, 11:12am Proving once again that efforts to stop people from reading are not only morally wrong, but also, usually, ineffective: days after an attacker wounded Salman Rushdie onstage during an appearance at the Chautauqua Institution in New York, his books are at the top of several online bestseller lists. The Satanic Verses—the
August 15, 2022, 11:13am Three days after an assailant attacked Salman Rushdie during an appearance in western New York, the acclaimed author is recovering but still in critical condition, according to his family and agent. Andrew Wylie, Rushdie’s agent, said shortly after the attack that the 75-year-old author had suffered serious injuries, including a damaged
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), born Adeline Virginia Stephen, was one of the most important writers of the first half of the twentieth century. A leading modernist novelist and short-story writer whose novels Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, Orlando, and The Waves are widely regarded as classics, Woolf was also an influential writer of non-fiction. Many of
August 15, 2022, 12:11pm Some news for literary art collectors, bookish home chefs, and acquisitive richies, generally: Joan Didion’s estate is headed to auction. The sale, “An American Icon: Property From the Collection of Joan Didion,” hosted by Stair Galleries, will take place on November 16, and will include Didion’s fine art collection as well
“Wars are now also living room sights and sounds,” wrote Susan Sontag twenty years ago. As the war in Ukraine continues, some of us question our role as spectators. What is the boundary between empathy and voyeurism? How does one speak out on behalf of others’ past or present pain without appropriating it? The Ukrainian
TODAY: In 1876, Mary Roberts Rinehart, often called the American Agatha Christie, is born. “No freedom in these ruins.” Four poems of war by Marianna Kiyanovska. | Lit Hub Ukraine In praise of Dame Maya and cringe queen Vanessa Bayer: Annie Berke on the SNL spinoff vehicles Loot and I Love That for You. | Lit Hub
August 12, 2022, 10:20am This morning, feeling dissolute and literary, as I often do, I was casting about the internet for inspiration, only to stumble upon my weekend plans: getting “Trapped in a Cabin with Lord Byron,” or rather, playing this hilarious one-page RPG created by Oliver Darkshire. After all, everyone knows what can happen
TODAY: In 1904, James Joyce’s story “The Sisters,” the first story in his 1914 collection Dubliners, is published in the Irish Homestead. Meeting language at its most elemental place: Belinda Huijuan Tang reflects on re-learning Chinese. | Lit Hub Memoir What do animals understand about death? | Lit Hub Science “When people try too
August 12, 2022, 11:09am Yesterday, Warner Bros. UK released a trailer for Emily, their new Emily Brontë biopic, which stars Sex Education’s Emma Mackey and was written and directed by actor Frances O’Connor in her directorial debut. It will not be entirely true to the life of its subject, which the trailer reminds us—in looming
The nineteenth-century poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-92) is probably the best-known poet of the Victorian era. His work was read by Queen Victoria, and he was the longest-serving Poet Laureate in the United Kingdom, holding the post from 1850 until his death in 1892. Tennyson’s work is very quotable, and some of the phrases which
August 12, 2022, 11:22am According to the Associated Press, Salman Rushdie was stabbed at a Chautauqua, NY event where he was set to deliver a lecture: An Associated Press reporter witnessed a man storm the stage at the Chautauqua Institution and begin punching or stabbing Rushdie as he was being introduced. The author was taken
August 11, 2022, 1:08pm In the confusing haze of time that is 2022, it seems like both yesterday and eons ago that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen published Disloyal, a tell-all about his time with, as the publisher’s copy for the book describes it, “the racist, sexist, homophobic, lying, cheating President.” (No arguments there.) Now,
‘Cannon to right of them, cannon to left of them’: these lines have become famous, although they’re often misquoted (with a ‘the’ being added before ‘right’ and ‘left’). The quotation originated in the 1854 poem ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-92), while he was UK Poet Laureate during Queen
August 11, 2022, 12:07pm More than two dozen new Little Free Libraries will bring books to community gardens in all five boroughs of New York City, Serena Tara of Thrillist reports. The new installations are a project of Little Free Library, the nonprofit that is responsible for more than 150,000 book-exchange boxes around the world,