
Best of the Week: Sept 28 - Oct 2, 2015
THE BEST OF THE LITERARY INTERNET
TODAY: In 1925, Eugene Louis (later known as Gore) Vidal is born.
- Fan letter turned friendship turned flirtation: The sitcom of Eudora Welty’s and Ross MacDonald’s not-quite-romantic relationship. | The Paris Review
- On the mysterious death and lasting influence of Walter Benjamin, forefather of today’s overly intellectual TV bloggers. | The Guardian
- You’ll claw yourself (with pleasure?): A compelling take on book blurbs. | NPR
- Jonathan Franzen reviews a book about technology’s impact on human interaction; you will not believe how he feels. (Hint: “Our rapturous submission to digital technology has led to an atrophying of human capacities like empathy and self-reflection.”) | The New York Times Sunday Book Review
- “When I got very stoned and watched Planet Earth, I thought a lot about sand.” Claire Vaye Watkins on the origin of her debut novel, interrogating the myth of the American West, and the comfort of apocalyptic thinking. | Vol 1. Brooklyn
- A series of “thought-provoking missive[s] re: Lispector’s short stories:” a collaborative critical look at The Complete Stories. | Full Stop
- “I guess I’m just having a big-ass Fall.” Eileen Myles talks sexism, outer space, and what lies ahead. | Broadly
- Six writers look back at their first novels with affection–and/or slightly gritted teeth. | The Millions
- “See how much you love me when I’m not giving you what you want!” New fiction from Atticus Lish. | Granta
- In which Hemingway’s love triangle sounds exactly like you thought it would: “Hadley submissive, willing, a follower. Pauline explosive, wildly demonstrative, in charge, mounts me.” | Smithsonian Magazine
- In case a tsunami of think pieces has attempted to convince you otherwise, books by queer authors and authors of color remain disproportionately banned. | Flavorwire
- Revisiting William Delisle Hay’s The Doom of the Great City, a Victorian horror story and the spiritual prequel to “An Inconvenient Truth.” | Public Domain Review
- Seattle: City of White Literature? Why Ryan Boudinot’s new anthology is a failure of representation. | The Seattle Review of Books
- Adrian Tomine talks fatherhood, his new graphic novel, and the dearth of Asian-Americans mainstream culture. | Guernica
- “After my son was born, everyone told me to write it all down. Instead I went home and cancelled my credit cards.” A birth story from Mia You. | Poetry Foundation
And on Literary Hub:
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- Exploring Patrick Modiano’s melancholy fiction and his Paris. | Literary Hub
- What happens when social progress moves faster than your novel-in-progress. | Literary Hub
- Jonathan Russell Clark got really stoned and interviewed Jesse Eisenberg. | Literary Hub
- How Donna Tartt, Lorrie Moore, and Richard Ford are the literary heirs of the great Nick Carraway. | Literary Hub
- The second part of Paul Holdengraber’s conversation with Neil Gaiman, in which bees, fatherhood, and magic are discussed. (From our new podcast, A Phone Call From Paul.) | Literary Hub
- Sloane Crosley on battling novel dysmorphia, realizing her 700-page first novel was not so big after all. | Literary Hub
- A conversation with Jonathan Franzen, who just wants everyone to have a good time. | Literary Hub
- From Pliny the Elder to Twin Peaks, the poetics of everyone’s favorite “monster of the night,” owls. | Literary Hub
Broadly
Flavorwire
Full Stop
Granta
Guernica
lithub daily
NPR
Poetry Foundation
Public Domain Review
Smithsonian Magazine
The Guardian
The Millions
The New York Times Sunday Book Review
The Paris Review
The Seattle Review of Books
Vol. 1 Brooklyn

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