Ring Lardner wrote the funniest stand-alone sentence using the fewest words with which that feat can be done: “‘Shut up,’ he explained.”
Library-of-America
Book Interview: Sherwood Anderson — The American Bard of Inchoate Longings
“What Sherwood Anderson knew and understood was the nature of inarticulate lives and what people do when they’re in the grip of strong feelings and words fail them.”
The Annual Arts Fuse Holiday Gift Roundup — Tips From the Experts
Wondering about what to give the arts and culture lover on your gift list? No problem — the sage writers for The Arts Fuse (with an assist from our readers) come to the rescue with thoughtful suggestions.
Fuse Book Interview: George Kimball Takes The Library of America to The Fights
Jack London was rather like Norman Mailer in that he thought of himself, and tried to write like, a boxer who happened to write. They were both often full of shit, but that’s the perspective they tried to convey.
The Annual Arts Fuse Holiday Gift Roundup — Tips from the Experts
With gift season comes the existential quandary: What to give the culture lovers on your list? This season the writers for The Arts Fuse waylay the crisis by recommending items that will delight the heart and stimulate the mind. Please feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments section. Keep in mind that […]
World Books April Update
By Bill Marx I have neglected to point out the recent postings at my other gig, the online feature World Books at BBC/PRI’s The World. I just completed my April podcast, a departure for the series because I focus on a classic American author rather than a writer in translation. But this April 21st marks […]
Book Review: Film Critic Manny Farber — Ravenous Genius
Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber. Edited by Robert Polito. Library of America, 1000 pages, $40. Reviewed by Justin Marble Film critic Manny Farber’s landmark 1962 essay “White Elephant Art vs. Termite Art” champions the underground, manic, frenzied, messy “termite” films against the by-the-book, consciously significant, pompous and often critically-adored “white […]
Book Review: Edmund Wilson — Prophet of the Blogosphere, Part 2
Edmund Wilson: A Life in Literature (Paperback) By Lewis M. Dabney. Johns Hopkins University Press, 672 pages, $25. Literary Essays and Reviews of the 1920s & 30s (Library of America #176) By Edmund Wilson. Edited by Lewis M. Dabney. 1026 pages, $40. Literary Essays and Reviews of the 1930s & 40s (Library of America #177) […]
Books Commentary: Trashy Modern Classics
More evidence bean counters will be picking the classics of the future: two novels by Ayn Rand – the unhinged saint of unbridled capitalism – have been reissued as Penguin Modern Classics.