TODAY: In 1954, the Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to Ernest Hemingway, “for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style.”
- How to resist late-stage capitalism—and other lessons from Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White’s modern classic of radical decency. | Lit Hub
- John Edgar Wideman on the impassable divides of the prison visiting room. | Lit Hub
- “That languor is, at present, typically debased does not mean it is beyond recuperation.” Charlie Tyson on the philosophical implications of a world with less work. | Lit Hub
- “Of course I tipped him—extra, in fact. You don’t want the garage attendant going behind your back saying that Hitler stiffed him.” John Hodgman on the perils of (sometimes) looking like Hitler. | Lit Hub
- There’s no such thing as a stupid question, but here are a bunch very strange ones, courtesy of the infinitely patient staff of the New York Public Library. | Lit Hub
- In pursuit of the elusive Spanish Forger: Lydia Pyne on one of the great art criminals of all time. | Lit Hub
- Miriam Toews’ Women Talking, Valeria Luiselli’s Tell Me How It Ends, Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, and more rapid fire book recs from R.O. Kwon. | Book Marks
- Alert: soon you will be able to read Patricia Highsmith’s diaries. (!!!) | The New York Times
- “What the books share is a sense of abiding fear—fear that is infrastructural and architectural.” On the defining horror of #MeToo stories. | The Atlantic
- “Jack Keroac was my boyfriend then, and I was very young.” Joyce Johnson describes what followed the publication of On the Road. | New York Review of Books
- On the “continental pretensions” of Call Me By Your Name’s literary world. | The Nation
- Carrie Fisher’s ex-husband and daughter have dismissed Sheila Weller’s upcoming biography of the actress as “unauthorized.” | Los Angeles Times
- It seems like Kathryn Hahn was the perfect candidate to play Mrs. Fletcher, the protagonist of the HBO miniseries based on Tom Perrotta’s novel. | The Ringer
- The Astro Poets recommend perfumes based on your Zodiac sign (is a very 2019 statement). | Vanity Fair
Also on Lit Hub: If you think there’s a lot of trash on Earth, we regret to inform you that humans have managed to float 6,000 tons of junk into outer space • This Mexico City artist created an Instagram-based library • Read an excerpt from Meghan Tifft’s new novel, From Hell to Breakfast.
