Lit Hub Daily: May 22, 2023

• Dwight Garner on the late Martin Amis. | New York Times

  Article continues after advertisement

• And here’s Amis on the genius of Jane Austen (and the time he went to the movies with Salman Rushdie). | Lit Hub Criticism

• “The flaming airship, its hydrogen-air combination burning at 3,713°F, is collapsing around him.” S.C. Gwynne recounts the crash of the British Airship R101, one of the world’s largest flying machines. | Lit Hub History

• “It can’t be political propaganda, but it is political.” Curtis Sittenfeld on crafting a feminist voice in fiction.| Lit Hub Radio

• A critic’s advice for writing a great book. | Lit Hub Craft & Advice

  Article continues after advertisement

• Casey Plett on the strange experience of promoting a book she wrote in her mid-twenties. | Lit Hub

• “You’ll be reading me every now and then at least until about 2080, weather permitting.” On the talent—and influence—of Martin Amis. | The Guardian

• “Very tender, very sweet and very generous.” Ian McEwan on the softer side of Martin Amis. | The Independent

• “I first met him in 1969, in Paris, when we both found ourselves staying in the same apartment on the Île Saint-Louis for a few days. I was 17, Martin was 20.” William Boyd on Martin Amis | The Guardian

• A close reading of John Berryman’s “Dream Song 29” to predict the end of Succession. | Vanity Fair

  Article continues after advertisement

• On the battle between “parents’ rights” and attempted book bans in a small town. | The New Yorker

• Siddhartha Mukherjee’s new book tackles difficult questions about ethics in biomedical research. | New York Review of Books

• Salman Rushdie at the PEN America gala: “Violence must not deter us.” | The Guardian

Also on Lit Hub: On perfume production in Central America • Thomas Melle on experiencing psychosis for the first time • Read from Jennifer Neal’s latest novel, Notes on Her Color