Lit Hub Daily: April 9, 2021

• Rebecca Lizard was trying to change her ugly, reptilian, thoroughly unacceptable last name.” Emily Temple on the masterful use of authorial intrusion in Donald Barthelme’s underrated story “Rebecca.” | Lit Hub Criticism
• “The first experience of literary love tends, like the first experience of erotic love, to come in youth.” Mark Edmundson confesses his boyhood (and perpetual) love for Walt Whitman. | Lit Hub
• “Where do Asian American adoptees belong in the telling of the so-called great American project?” Tiana Nobile on origin stories, displacement, and taking control of her own narrative. | Lit Hub Memoir
• After spending a year writing about rejection, Jessica Bacal has some advice for moving on from “no.” | Lit Hub
• Kate Lebo traces a symbolic history of pomegranates through the ages, beginning with Persephone and Demeter. | Lit Hub Food
• Targeted ads are more than just creepy—they’re also incredibly dangerous to democracy, writes Carissa Véliz. | Lit Hub Tech
• Jeffrey Siger on traveling through fiction as a form of ecotourism. | CrimeReads
• New titles by Haruki Murakami, Jeff VanderMeer, Rachel Kushner, and Brandi Carlile all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week. | Book Marks
• “Before 2020, I had never before thought to explore theater beyond one or two plays, considering it a luxury for those more able-bodied or in certain cities.” Esmé Weijun Wang on the increased accessiblity of theater amid the pandemic. | The New York Times Magazine
• Karla Cornejo Villavicencio explores the joy of watching her mother transform into “the undocumented Gwyneth Paltrow” after her separation. | Harper’s Bazaar
• Reading early in the morning, it turns out, is pretty great. | New York Magazine
• A scientific journal from the 19th century—that includes an “epoch-making” announcement on the importance of handwashing—is going up for auction. | The Guardian
• When writing about addiction, Lilly Dancyger finds a way to balance empathy with examination. | The Rumpus
• Nipsey Hussle wasn’t just a rapper, he was a voracious reader who devoured everything from Behold a Pale Horse to Contagious: Why Things Catch On. | Publishers Weekly
• Jeff VanderMeer points out what’s wrong with our conversations about the climate crisis. | Interview Magazine

Also on Lit Hub: How to raise kids in a history of protest • Jasmin Darznik on legendary photographer Dorothea Lange • Read Jane Pek’s short story from Conjunctions