Lit Hub Daily: August 16, 2023

• “Of all the writers I’ve known, Hilary was the most single-minded.” Miranda Miller remembers her friend Hilary Mantel’s incredible talents. | Lit Hub

• What it’s like to direct the legendary director Werner Herzog… as he narrates your AI poetry collection. | Lit Hub

• Ron Rosenbaum asks a burning question: Was Tolstoy an enemy of love? | Lit Hub Criticism

• Ethan Warren reflects on reading Robert McCloskey’s Maine trilogy—starting with Blueberries for Sal—as an antidote to climate change despair. | Lit Hub

• Lewis Buzbee considers the difficulty of getting rid of books: “I don’t get rid of them, per se; rather, I set them afloat, in search of new homes.” | Lit Hub

• “I was completely and utterly consumed into the BTS content production machinery.” Anton Hur on keeping the secret of the biggest translation project of his life. | Open Secrets

• Dave Zirin considers The Blind Side and the white-savior trope. | The Nation

• Mark Athitakis looks to Arizona-set books of the past—from Willa Cather to Denis Johnson—for lessons for a parched future. | The Washington Post

• “In the reflecting pool of the uncanny, the inert, unsexed, and grief-stricken women of her stories discover a space for self-making.” Jamie Hood on Rachel Ingalls. | The Baffler

• Lincoln Michel on the virtues of the “clarifying cut” in revision. | Counter Craft

Also on Lit Hub: Michaele Weissman on food, marriage, and identity • New poetry by Robyn Schiff • Read from Ebru Ojen’s newly translated novel, Lojman (tr. Aron Aji and Selin Gökcesu)