October 15, 2020, 3:46pm Here’s one to add to the comically long list of disappointments 2020 has inflicted upon us: Americanah—the hotly-anticipated limited series adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s bestselling novel of the same name—will no longer be moving ahead at HBO. Americanah had been a longtime passion project for Oscar-winning Kenyan-Mexican actress Lupita Nyong’o, who was
Literature
A ‘hymn’ is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as, variously, ‘a song of praise to God’, ‘any composition in praise of God which is adapted to be chanted or sung’, and ‘an ode or song of praise in honour of a deity, a country, etc.’ Hymns can be religious or secular, in praise of
October 15, 2020, 11:53am Former enfant terrible of the New Jersey screenwriting scene Christopher Moltisanti has, in a characteristically provocative move, returned from the grave this week to endorse Democratic presidential candidate Joseph R. Biden. Once the hot-headed darling of the indie horror film set, Moltisanti, whose debut feature, Cleaver (titled Pork Store Killer in
October 14, 2020, 3:25pm Some dream projects seem inevitable when they actually do happen. That is certainly true of the news that director and producer Ava DuVernay is bringing her feature adaptation of Isabel Wilkerson’s bestselling book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, to Netflix. There was great anticipation for Wilkerson’s follow-up to her modern classic, The
The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies, and is widely studied and has been subject to considerable analysis. Contrary to what many people think, the ‘merchant’ of the title isn’t Shylock (of whom more below) but the far less famous character, Antonio. So how well do we know The Merchant of
October 14, 2020, 11:41am This week in films that I just…I just can’t: the first trailer for Ron Howard’s adaptation of J. D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy is now live. Based on Vance’s bestselling memoir about growing up in, and then escaping from, an abandoned Rust Belt town ravaged by poverty and drug addiction, the film looks
October 13, 2020, 4:11pm Well, that didn’t take long: Two weeks before its release by Riverhead, Bryan Washington’s Memorial has been acquired by A24 for television. Washington will adapt his novel, which focuses on a couple, Benson and Mike, and the choices they make as they’re faced with a family crisis. Scott Rudin and Eli Bush will
Previously, we offered ten classic poems about poverty. But what about classic novels about poverty and class? Or, indeed, classic non-fiction works about living in poverty, and working-class life? Of course, ten books doesn’t give us much scope to be comprehensive, but we’ll do our best to introduce ten classics of English (and American) literature
October 13, 2020, 10:55am Leo Lionni wrote and illustrated more than forty children’s books in his lifetime, but the one which is the most meaningful to me might be his most famous: Frederick, the story of a little field mouse who keeps his family warm in the middle of a cold winter, by reciting poetry
The coronavirus pandemic is dramatically disrupting not only our daily lives but society itself. This show features conversations with some of the world’s leading thinkers and writers about the deeper economic, political, and technological consequences of the pandemic. It’s our new daily podcast trying to make longterm sense out of the chaos of today’s global
‘Emmonsail’s Heath in Winter’ is one of John Clare’s most admired poems, its subject being – as the title makes clear – a heath during the wintry season when its ‘withered brake / Mingle its crimpled leaves with furze and ling’. Before we offer an analysis of this curious and brilliant paean to nature in
Books Beneath the Bridge: Greenlight Poetry SalonMonday, October 12, 7pm EDTFor the eighth season of Books Beneath the Bridge, a literature series hosted by the Brooklyn Bridge Park, Greenlight Bookstore will be hosting a virtual edition of their quarterly Poetry Salon, hosted and curated by poet Angel Nafis (BlackGirl Mansion). Featured poets Khadijah Queen (Anodyne),
October 9, 2020, 11:15am Yōko Ogawa’s acclaimed surrealist novel—the story of a young woman, struggling to maintain her career as a writer on a island where objects are disappearing, who concocts a plan to hide her endangered editor from the Memory Police—was one of the sleeper hits of 2019, garnering rave reviews, a National Book
October 9, 2020, 11:24am Dirty Dancing has given us many things. A love story. A drama about class. An argument for legalized abortion. A million classic wedding songs. “No one puts Baby in a corner.” And of course, The Lift. It also, as I was reminded this week, gave us something even more useful than
October 9, 2020, 12:02pm At this point in the pandemic, moviegoing has come to feel downright archaic to many, but anyone with an internet connection—and a select few with a car to take them to the drive-ins set up in Flushing Meadows Corona Park and the Brooklyn Army Terminal—can indulge the habit this Saturday with
TODAY: In 1911, English journalist Clare Hollingworth, the first war correspondent to report the outbreak of World War II, is born. “It’s not laziness, but criminal, to feign ignorance of the havoc we have wrought on the world.” Fatima Bhutto chronicles this world on fire. | Lit Hub Politics “Prince always accepted what was coming, and was trying
October 9, 2020, 1:40pm Pandemic shopping: it’s just so hard to resist, especially when your purchase comes with some intrigue. The Real Deal reports today that the townhouse at 207 East 32nd Street, first built in 1902, has been sold to the New York Review of Books, noting that the publication already has an office
In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle enjoys a beautifully produced new edition of Arthur Machen’s study of literature The Welsh author Arthur Machen (1863-1947) wrote some truly unsettling horror fiction, some notable novels about the Holy Grail, some subtle pioneering weird fiction (which I’ve previously reviewed here), and what many