Lit Hub Daily: June 15, 2021

TODAY: In 1894, Norweigan novelist Trygve Gulbranssen is born.   

• “There are no major or minor leagues between genres.” Marissa Levien wonders why anyone limits themselves to a single genre (and why bookstore patrons keep re-shelving books). | Lit Hub

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• In praise of camp: Amelia Abraham considers Susan Sontag, coming out, and the joys of extravagance. | Lit Hub

• Happy New Books Tuesday, AKA your weekly reminder that books > everything. | The Hub

• Ruby McConnell asks what the eruption of Mt. St. Helens can teach us about real-time disasters that “rely on science, policymakers, elected officials, and one another making sound decisions.” | Lit Hub History

• “I don’t want the only time folks recognize our humanity to be when someone is pointing a gun at us.” Nana Nkweti talks to Jane Ciabattari about her new book, Walking on Cowrie Shells. | Lit Hub

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• Kunyalala Ndlovu on the 1966 masterpiece The Endless Summer and how African surf culture subverts Western tropes. | Lit Hub Sports

• After publishing a memoir (about her brother) and a novel (about her youth), Brittany Ackerman considers how much each genre can hold. | Lit Hub Craft

• Jonathan Lee talks to Dwyer Murphy about the man who built New York City… only to disappear into it. | Lit Hub

• “We had fed the heart on fantasies / The heart’s grown brutal from the fare.” A 1928 review of W. B. Yeats’ The Tower. | Book Marks

• Christine Mangan on Gothic Venice and the power of setting. | CrimeReads

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• “We need to be seen or else we feel transparent, even nonexistent.” Elisa Gabbert on a year without strangers. | Harper’s

• Read with caution: A brief history of the aster*sk. | Lapham’s Quarterly

• Raven Leilani recommends six books, from Rachel Cusk to Danez Smith. | The Week

• Lydia Lunch on not wasting your talents or material, owning your output, and focusing on what obsesses you. | The Creative Independent

• So, uh… did Proust really have a fetish for abusing caged rats? | The New Yorker

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• “Jake would drop an allusion, and I would say, ‘That writer’s a jackass!’” Marlon James describes the fun of delving into literary history on his podcast. | Los Angeles Times

• “The style of our moment happens to be earnest, dull, unadventurous, and complacent, and probably makes readers duller by the book.” William Logan talks about poetry and criticism. | Los Angeles Review of Books

Also on Lit Hub: Sir Roderick Floud on the abundant history of Britain’s gardens • John N. Maclean on Meriwether Lewis’ journey through the Blackfoot Valley • Read from Donal Ryan’s latest novel, Strange Flowers

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