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To Marry a Writer; Houellebecq’s Latest
I’m remarrying at “a certain age.” My mother once said “You’d make some man a lovely wife if you weren’t a writer.” We can chortle at this or, do you think, we can agree that to have a life partner,...
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The Writers of Hollywood
Bradley Cooper as Eddie Morra. Early in the movie Limitless, we follow protagonist Eddie Morra as he shuffles aimlessly down a street in New York’s Chinatown. Observed from a distance, Eddie barely...
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Larger than News; Professional M.F.A. People
Hi Mr. Stein. I went to a talk you gave many months ago at McNally Jackson about The Paris Review. You said something that has stayed in my mind, especially now that President Obama has said that we...
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On Acknowledgements
Anyone who wants to study writers’ idiosyncrasies need look no further than their acknowledgments. One contemporary author thanks her therapist, another his probation officer, a third someone he calls...
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Susan Sontag in a Teddy Bear Suit
Photo by Annie LeibovitzWe recommend Flavorwire’s entire, inspired list of “Extremely Silly Photos of Extremely Serious Writers,” but this is really the must-see.
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Scary Kids’ Books, Annoying Writers
Bookseller by day, brewer by night! Amazon.com has acquired sixty-two-year-old Avalon Books, family owned since its founding. The eternal question: What type of annoying writer are you? Great Gatsby...
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Hemingway, Urdu, Doughnuts
Mediocre spy Ernest Hemingway Ernest Hemingway’s World War II spying career was less than illustrious. In fact, when it came to one ill-fated Cuban operation, Papa was downright bumbling. Meet The...
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Edward Lear’s Cat
He has many friends, lay men and clerical, Old Foss is the name of his cat; His body is perfectly spherical, He weareth a runcible hat. Two thousand twelve marks Edward Lear’s bicentenary year. The...
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The Porter’s Lodge
In the summer of 2003, I attended a viewing party celebrating the premiere of The O.C. at my friend Diesel’s house. Specifically, in a guesthouse planted in an overgrown corner of his grandparents’...
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The Literary World
We love this map of the modern writer’s mind, by artist Joe Dunthorne. Check out his whole interactive site here. Click to enlarge. Via the Independent.
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See London with New (Old) Eyes, and Other News
Canaletto’s Northumberland House, 1752, juxtaposed against contemporary London by Shystone. “What does the term ‘successful writer’ mean to you?” (Sample answers from writers at AWP: “Joy,” “$ and...
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Final Chapter
A portrait of Kleist from Die Gartenlaube, 1858. On November 21, 1811, the writer Heinrich von Kleist shot his beloved, the terminally ill Henriette Vogel, and then himself, on the banks of Kleiner...
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Announcing the Winner of Our Windows on the World Contest
Earlier this week, we announced the five finalists in our Windows on the World contest; today we’re happy to say that the winner is Simon Rowe, with his view from Himeji City, Japan. Simon will have...
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A Writer in the Family
On writers, glass, Pliny the Elder, and the way families pass on their stories. Vesuvius in eruption. Since I started writing, I have sought forebears who might have had literary aspirations. Were...
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Next Tuesday: James Salter’s Memorial
Photo: Lan RysA memorial service for James Salter will be held at five P.M. on Tuesday, July 28, at the Unitarian Church of All Souls in New York. All members of the public are welcome to...
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I Tried Always to Do My Best
Lucy Maud Montgomery. Photo: KindredSpiritMichaelShould you visit Google today, you’ll find that the daily “doodle” commemorates the birthday of Lucy Maud Montgomery, born November 30, 1874. The...
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Whiting Winners Choose Their Most Influential Books
Last March, we announced the ten winners of this year’s Whiting Awards, given annually to writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama, based on early accomplishment and the promise of great work...
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The Prince of Tides
From the cover of The Pat Conroy Cookbook.I never met Pat Conroy, but he was a frequent companion at our family dinner table. Since his death last week, everyone who knew him has talked a lot about his...
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Zelda: A Worksheet
In our Fall 1983 issue, The Paris Review published twenty years’ worth of Zelda Fitzgerald’s letters to her husband, Scott. This selection comprises her correspondence between the spring of 1919 and...
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