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"Pynchon novels, like certain dishes, tend to suffer only from excessive explanation. I advocate surrender to Pynchon; letting your mind toss on the wild currents of his language is a lot more enjoyable than treating his novels like puzzles, wondering where the pieces fit: Who is Rachel Owlglass? Why are we in Egypt? Just enjoy the bumps—or try to."
— Alexander Nazaryan looks back at Thomas Pynchon’s first novel, “V.” as it turns fifty: http://nyr.kr/16mlGZv(Source: newyorker.com)
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In Boston, in 1999, at a celebration of the centennial of Ernest Hemingway’s birth, I had the honor of sitting on a panel with Achebe, on the subject of writing about Africa… An evidently confused woman in the audience took the opportunity to ask “In what sense are you writers about Africa?” The other panelists—Nadine Gordimer and Kwame Anthony Appiah—were too baffled to respond. Not Achebe. He leaned into his microphone, and very slowly and melodically, with rolling “R”s and drawn out “O”s, roared: “Read. Our. Books.” The woman said, “But I’m asking you.” And Achebe said, “I’m telling you: Read. Our. Books.”
What better epitaph for the man, and what better way to remember him today: read his books.
"— Postscript: Chinua Achebe, 1930-2013: http://nyr.kr/ZSm6mm by Philip Gourevitch -
I saw and heard something remarkable just a few hours ago, something I’m not likely to forget until all the mechanisms of remembering are shot and I’m tucked away for good. Philip Roth celebrated his eightieth birthday in the Billy Johnson Auditorium of the Newark Museum last night with the most astonishing literary performance I’ve ever witnessed….
David Remnick on the Roth-endorsed, Roth-attended 80th birthday celebration of Philip Roth: http://nyr.kr/160afX8
(Source: newyorker.com)
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Richard Brody writes in memory of Ric Menello, a beloved cinematic savant: http://nyr.kr/XZA61J
(Source: newyorker.com)
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Why I Am a Thief
Editors’ note: In 1902, Mary MacLane, a nineteen-year-old-girl from Butte, Montana, published a book detailing her fantasies, her outrageous philosophical ideas, and intimations of her own genius. The book was a sensation, selling a hundred thousand copies in its first month, and launching her into a short but fiery life of writing and misadventure. A template for the confessional memoirs that have become ubiquitous, “I Await the Devil’s Coming,” is being published in a new edition by Melville House this week.
Here’s an excerpt: http://nyr.kr/Ykht64
Photograph: Library of Congress.
(Source: newyorker.com)
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Richard Brody on “Philip Roth: UnMasked” and the birth of a meme: http://nyr.kr/10wAUrn
(Source: newyorker.com)
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The Better Player
As for the exaltation you talk about when watching Federer in his glory days, I am in total accord with you. Awe at the fact that a fellow human being is accomplishing such things, that we (as a species) are not only the worms we often appear to be but are also capable of achieving miraculous things—in tennis, in music, in poetry, in science—and that envy and admiration dissolve into a feeling of overwhelming joy. Yes, I agree with you entirely. And that is where the aesthetic and the ethical merge. I have no counter-argument, for I have often felt exactly the same way myself…
Click-through for an excerpt from “Here and Now: Letters (2008–2011)” a book of correspondence between J. M. Coetzee and Paul Auster, which has just been published: http://nyr.kr/YRgBl6
(Source: newyorker.com)
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Is there something that you always wanted to ask our writers?→
Tomorrow at 4 PM ET, David Grann and Patrick Radden Keefe will discuss non-fiction crime writing in a Google+ hangout. Have questions for the writers? Leave them here, and they’ll get to as many as they can during their hangout: http://bit.ly/11OqjwP
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On Wednesday, February 20th, we will be hosting a hangout in our Google+ community with writers Patrick Radden Keefe and David Grann, moderated by their editor Daniel Zalewski, to talk about non-fiction crime writing, and how to approach the truth when certainty is impossible.
Read Keefe’s piece from last week’s issue on the Amy Bishop story: http://nyr.kr/11tOriy share your questions or comments with us here, and tune in to our Community on Wednesdayat 4 p.m. e.t., when the writers will discuss as many as possible during their hangout.
R.S.V.P. now: http://bit.ly/11OqjwP(Source: plus.google.com)
