A Taste of Cherry in a Heat Wave

A Taste of Cherry in a Heat WaveI’ve been thinking a lot about heat waves. The thick summer weather has felt like a wall of fire that must be bravely pushed through to order to exit from an air conditioned office building and make my way to the corner to board a bus crowded with sweaty [...]

“Sands immense / Impart the oceanic sense,” Or, Daring to embark on Clarel

A Taste of Cherry in a Heat WaveA fan of Herman Melville must have patience. He must appreciate digression and the dissolution of pattern or plan. He must enjoy the sheer rush of words, a proper Biblical torrent of them. And he must be able to find pleasure in philosophical dialogue as much as in [...]

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Asides

• "What’s not so up for dispute is that Markson accomplished what, by all rights, should be a literary impossibility." (Colin Marshall for The Millions) permalink
• "Ich liebe dich. No sentence pronounced by a judge could be more threatening. It means that you are about to receive a gift you may not want." Via Dylan Suher, Greg Gerke's sort-of review of William H. Gass's Reading Rilke in BIG OTHER. permalink
• How to know if you're a fussy book collector or an unfussy book collector. permalink
• Via GalleyCat, "The Prague-based artist Matej Kren has created a number of gigantic book sculptures, fascinating pieces for all literary folk to check out." So check it out. permalink
• Love him, hate him, or have no opinion, you'll be hearing more from David Shields. He's co-authoring an 800-page biography of J.D. Salinger. permalink
• When I think of Kindles swaddled in newsprint-cloth and when I think of Francis Fukuyama beers wrapped in roadkill, I also think of poetry chapbooks clad in Flash. Read more about Ugly Duckling Presse's new digital initiative in Amanda DeMarco's article at Publishing Perspectives. permalink
• Q: What Says Francis Fukuyama like a Dead Squirrel in Tartan? A: A dead squirrel in tartan with its teeny-tiny corpse wrapped around an insanely high-proof beer. That's what. From Paper Cuts, we learn of The End of History, a 55% ABV beer infused with juniper and highland nettles that was inspired by Fukuyama's well-known essay of the same name. We also learn that not all of the taxidermied squirrels wear tartan. Still, I have never been more delighted in my life. Picture here. permalink
• Thousands of David Markson's books--from the man's personal library, and with his extensive annotations--are for sale at The Strand.  "David wanted the books recirculated . . . . And really, if you face it, a university library, what are they going to do with them? They end up storing them. I think he realized that." I applaud the action. More at Jacket Copy. permalink
• Calling all Chicagolanders: Don't miss your chance to snatch up lots of free magazines and journals from small presses in Chicago and around the country at the Poetry Foundation's Printers' Ball tonight at Columbia College. There will be many poetry readings and multimedia screenings as well as dancing and beer. permalink
• Amazon is supposedly dropping the price on the Kindle to $139. The folks over at Galley Cat are not impressed. Even worse for Amazon, even less is Seth Godin. permalink
• Galleycat reported today on a Kindle sleeve made from a newspaper print fabric.  What's this remind me of? Oh, just Ilse Koch's infamous (or alleged?) use of Jewish skin to make lampshades.  Maybe we all remember our victims in similar ways. permalink
• "Anyone willing to pick a fight with me over an extra space between sentences must believe that that space matters, and at least on this point, I am loath to challenge that belief. For all the hand-wringing about our imminent decline into a text-messaging, “LOL” culture devoid of standards, I see evidence every day that people still care about getting the details of their writing right." Read more about the new edition of the Chicago Manual of Style here. permalink
• Following up on a recent post: None other than Steven G. Kellman reviews David Frick's translation of Polish author Jerzy Pilch's new novel, "A Thousand Peaceful Cities," over at the Barnes & Noble Review. permalink
• The lawyers opened the safety deposit boxes with the unread Kafka papers . . . but the contents are still a secret. permalink

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