January 28, 2021, 1:41pm Despite the struggles quarantine posed for musicians, 2020 was a breakout year for 20-year-old singer-songwriter Arlo Parks—from releasing six singles to being named BBC’s Introducing Artist of the Year to to winning the AIM Independent Music Award for One to Watch to teaming up with Phoebe Bridgers on a memorable Radiohead
Literature
TODAY: In 1939, W. B. Yeats dies. “In the years when Christa and I grew up, women didn’t get to be astronauts. They married or gave birth to them.” Joyce Maynard reflects on the day she spent with Christa McAuliffe before the Challenger disaster, 35 years ago today. | Lit Hub History Now that the
The story of Philomela is well-known. And one of the most famous details of the myth of Philomela, her sister Procne, and King Tereus, is the fact that someone was turned into a nightingale. But who? And what is the meaning of this classical myth? Before we get to these questions, it might be worth
January 27, 2021, 2:39pm Hats off to Min Jin Lee, who just announced that she’s writing the script for the upcoming adaptation of her celebrated 2007 novel, Free Food for Millionaires. The show, to be produced by Alan Yang (Master of None), will take us back to 1990s Manhattan. (New Yorkers might recall seeing the
TODAY: In 1898, the first part of the 12-part serialization of Henry James’ novella The Turn of the Screw is published in Collier’s Weekly Magazine. “By the early 1950s, female sexuality, once hailed as explosive, now seemed almost as frightening as communism.” Gabrielle Glaser on the history of “girls in trouble.” | Lit Hub History
January 26, 2021, 2:30pm Drop your buffs! The reality TV show contestant Stephen Fishbach, most well-known as the strategically gifted runner-up of Survivor: Tocantins and slightly less well-known as one of People’s hottest bachelors of 2009, is now a full-time fiction writer, completing a low-residency MFA at NYU; taking workshops with Nathan Englander and Garth
TODAY: In 1784, in a letter to his daughter, Benjamin Franklin expresses his unhappiness over the eagle as the symbol of America. Also on Lit Hub: A brief history of the death penalty in America • Danielle Gellar traces her mother’s footsteps through artifacts left behind • Read an excerpt from Tove Ditlevsen’s newly translated
Hamlet’s ‘Get thee to a nunnery’ speech to Ophelia is a memorable moment in a play full of memorable moments. Before we analyse his speech, here’s a reminder of the relevant section of the play, which is found in Act 3 Scene 1, not long after Hamlet’s famous ‘To be, or not to be’ soliloquy.
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