Literature

January 25, 2021, 4:25pm There are teaser trailers and then there are teaser trailers. Sometimes all you get are a few maddeningly blurry flashes of action. Often it’s just snippet of ponderous dialogue over a slow-moving title card. But occasionally, very occasionally, a teaser trailer comes along that’s so breathtaking, so goddamn beautiful, that it

TODAY: In 1950, novelist Gloria Naylor is born. When you have no models to start with, how do you write a Saudi American novel free of stereotypes? Eman Quotah reflects on creating her own literary tradition. | Lit Hub Soledad Fox Maura asks if it’s finally time to ditch the label “domestic fiction.” | Lit Hub

In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle explores the meaning – and literary origins – of a well-known phrase ‘All that glitters is not gold’. Who gave us that famous expression? William Shakespeare? Thomas Gray? That prolific but elusive author, ‘Anon’? Many people attribute the phrase to Shakespeare – although, if

TODAY: In 1893, Kawatake Mokuami, Japanese dramatist of Kabuki dies.  Turns out, there’s a long and shady history of doctors encouraging anti-vaxxers. | Lit Hub History That hollow feeling when Trump left? That’s because he’ll never, ever feel remorse. | Lit Hub Politics “On careful inspection, it is surprisingly difficult to tell what makes a

January 21, 2021, 3:36pm The late Umberto Eco—professor, novelist, children’s book author—was a man of many talents. One of which, as seen in a video clip posted on Twitter by writer Ted Gioia, was quickly finding books in his famously massive personal library. I once got to meet Umberto Eco—who was very memorable. But this

TODAY: In 1789, The Power of Sympathy: or, The Triumph of Nature by William Hill Brown, widely considered to be the first American novel, is published. “Maybe I had to be brought back to that state, ugly and unloved inside and out, to become the right reader for ​Gatsby.” David Stuart Maclean on his journey

Perseus’ defeat of Medusa, one of the Gorgons, is well-known. Famously, to look upon snake-haired Medusa (the snakes were her punishment for being vain and proud of her hair) was enough to turn the viewer to stone, so Perseus cunningly used a mirrored shield to approach the Gorgon, Medusa, in her cave so that he

January 20, 2021, 3:52pm Loathe as I am to be the bearer of dispiriting news on this hopeful day, here’s a dispatch from Hungary that manages to be both petty and terrifying at the same time. It seems that authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s staunchly right-wing government—which has made discrimination against the LGBTQ community a

TODAY: In 1961, Robert Frost recites his poem, “The Greatest Gift,” at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy. He intended to recite a poem he’d written for the occasion, “Dedication,” but the sun reflecting off the snow-covered ground made reading the poem too difficult so Frost he recited “The Greatest Gift” from memory instead.

January 19, 2021, 12:00pm Worry no more about Valentine’s Day plans! Starz has picked up the TV adaptation of Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries, and it’s set to premiere on February 14th at 9:30 pm. The six-part series stars The Knick’s Eve Hewson as Anna Wetherell, a young British adventurer who sails to New Zealand to

TODAY: In 1921, Patricia Highsmith is born. “To really engage with craft is to engage with how we know each other,” and 24 other notes on craft from Matthew Salesses. | Lit Hub Craft Daniel Allen Cox on redefining Armageddon—during a global pandemic—after growing up among Jehovah’s Witnesses. | Lit Hub Say hello to the

‘I am thy father’s spirit’: so speaks the Ghost to Hamlet in William Shakespeare’s play. We have analysed Hamlet as a whole in more detail here, but the ‘I am thy father’s spirit’ speech calls for further close analysis to tease out the meaning of the Ghost’s words. The Ghost is claiming to be Hamlet’s

January 15, 2021, 10:27am In 1979, Highsmith joined Roy Plomley on Desert Island Discs, the BBC Radio show in which famous people choose exactly what the name implies. Plomley, of course, starts out with a softball: “Miss Highsmith, could you endure prolonged loneliness?” Ah, the most contemporary question there is. “I think I could better

January 15, 2021, 11:23am Though the looming threat of white supremacist violence is a good reason to dread Joe Biden’s inauguration, the roster of performers—including Tom Hanks, Lady Gaga, and Jennifer Lopez—is looking pretty good. Add to the list Amanda Gorman, the 22-year-old who will read a poem at the ceremony. Gorman will be the

January 15, 2021, 12:00pm Cornering the market of people who are addicted to TikTok and take a scholarly interest in the rollicking old melodies of the high seas, British Library Publishing is set to rush-print a guide to sea shanties. If you know why this is happening, you know, and if you don’t—or, like at

January 15, 2021, 12:05pm Tessa Thompson is quite the force to be reckoned with. From her early films Mississippi Damned (2009) and Dear White People (2014) to her groundbreaking film Sylvie’s Love (2020), Thompson has proven herself an actor of tremendous talent and wit. Now, she is launching a new production company called Viva Maude, with a first look, two-year

TODAY: In 1900, Kiku Amino, Japanese author and translator of English and Russian literature, is born. When white supremacist mobs threaten democracy: David Zucchino on the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898 and the Capitol Insurrection of 2021. | Lit Hub Politics Navigating the intricacies of race and the violence of antiblackness: Nadia Owusu reflects on her early years in America. | Lit Hub Memoir 2021’s TV

January 15, 2021, 12:33pm If you have ever wanted to own a typewriter that looks like a computer and has no paper and costs five hundred dollars, you’re in luck: the productivity tool company Astrohaus has created the Freewrite, a “distraction-free writing instrument.” According to Astrohaus’s website, the Freewrite’s goal is to “marry old and