
Best of the Week: March 14 - 18, 2016
THE BEST OF THE LITERARY INTERNET
TODAY: In 1933, Philip Roth, perennial Nobel prize bridesmaid, is born.
- “He is objectively ridiculous, his career is murky at best and the campaign will be passionate and long.” Marilynne Robinson on Donald Trump. | The Guardian
- The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis but for emoji: Elisa Gabbert on naming, timeless writing, and our conception of color. | Guernica
- A vision of loneliness and riot: A profile of author and publisher Danielle Dutton. | LA Times
- Hatred nourished by bread and milk: An excerpt from Barkskins by Annie Proulx. | The New Yorker
- Garth Greenwell on the queer tradition of autofiction, the thrill of writing prose, and combining patience and indulgence. | Bookforum
- A new issue of The Scofield, featuring Jeffery Renard Allen, Helen Phillips, and a lot of doppelgängers, is now live. | The Scofield
- “I sat at my desk and contemplated all that I had accomplished this year.” James Tate’s final poem, as it was found in his typewriter. | The Paris Review
- “When I hear my father has died, I get a tremendous craving for mushrooms.” An essay by Kaitlyn Greenidge. | BuzzFeed Books
- Writing about the Internet now is supposed to be this Wild West of a fictional setting: An interview with Tony Tulathimutte. | Full Stop
- Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney on reimagining her career, the elevated location of fiction, and the appropriate reaction to a million-dollar advance (laughter, whiskey). | Vulture
- Jessa Crispin on pre-constructing narratives, having an antagonistic relationship to the publishing industry, and having to deal with men. | The Rumpus
- Love, loss, and neoliberal capitalism: On Beijing Comrades, a gay erotic novel that became a touchstone for queer men in China. | Broadly
- From challenging the canon to “aimless, anti-critical, abstracted pro-‘book’ propaganda,” the rise and (limited) utility of “bookchat.” [Possibly bookchat.] | Flavorwire
- “People have been concerned about what my mother and my (hypothetical) children would think of things I’d written—things that had nothing to do with them—long before I ever got pregnant.” On the condescending questions asked of women writers. | The Cut
- Mysterious, doomed, reckless, but also deeply alive: On Chicago’s greatest poet, Gwendolyn Brooks. | The Toast
And on Literary Hub:
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- Tracy Chevalier, past president of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Club. | Literary Hub
- The novel is a mad, rambling, genius hobo: Dana Spiotta and Christopher Sorrentino in conversation.
- When Chris Offutt lost his virginity at the World Science Fiction Convention of 1969…
- Rosalie Knecht reflects on the stories she tells as a social worker and how they bleed into fiction.
- Darcy Steinke in conversation with Samantha Hunt: on loneliness, motherhood, hauntings, and cults.
- At 97 years old, Doris Grumbach looks back on a most extraordinary literary life (including getting fired from The New Republic, before it was cool).
- Danielle Dutton questions some terrible writing advice from famous writers.
- They just dig: Elissa Washuta on memoir, coal mining, and the hard art of excavation.
- How social networks play favorites: the hidden forces behind going viral.
- Paul Holdengraber continues his phone call with Adam Phillips: on Walt Whitman, self-discovery, and American rock n’ roll.
- David L. Ulin in conversation with John D’Agata about the art of the American essay.
- Lisa Levy profiles Adrian McKinty, working-class hero of Irish crime fiction.
- From Ireland to Iowa, Sara Baume tries to understand America one pattern at a time.
- Junot Diaz and Hilton Als talk masculinity, science fiction, and writing as an act of defiance.
- Why you should watch the new Nora Ephron documentary: Michelle Dean on the art of Ephronology.
- When the apocalypse is your religion: on leaving the church and finding a haven in science fiction.
Bookforum
Broadly
BuzzFeed Books
Flavorwire
Full Stop
Guernica
LA Times
lithub daily
The Cut
The Guardian
The New Yorker
The Paris Review
The Rumpus
The Scofield
The Toast
Vulture

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