Lit Hub Weekly: October 5 - 9, 2020

• “It’s not laziness, but criminal, to feign ignorance of the havoc we have wrought on the world.” Fatima Bhutto chronicles this world on fire. | Lit Hub Politics
• “Prince always accepted what was coming, and was trying to prepare, he told me as far back as 1985.” Neal Karlen on his complicated relationship with an American icon. | Lit Hub Biography
• “It was a portrait of Jesus—married, living with his wife Mary Magdalene, cursing her detractors—unlike any known to history.” Ariel Sabar on the scrap of papyrus that launched a reconsideration of early Christianity. | Lit Hub History
• On the genius of Edward P. Jones (on his 70th birthday): Emily Temple tries to figure out why, exactly, The Known World is so good • Elizabeth Poliner considers the short stories. | Lit Hub Literary Criticism
• Juan Gabriel Vásquez on Phil Klay’s Missionaries, Lydia Millet on Sayaka Murata’s Earthlings, and more of the Reviews You Need to Read This Week. | Book Marks
• Raymond Chandler’s letters to a younger crime writer offer a revealing—and often ugly—glimpse into his later years. From Curtis Evans. | CrimeReads
• “It seemed to be extremely unlikely that I would ever have this particular event to deal with in my life.” Louise Glück on winning the Nobel Prize in Literature. | The New York Times
• While accepting the New Statesman/Goldsmiths Prize, Bernardine Evaristo envisions “a future literary landscape with a wide range of totally inclusive novels on our bookshelves.” | New Statesman
• “Homer’s rings whirl us toward revelation; the circles in Sebald’s restless narration lead us to a series of locked doors to which there is no key.” Daniel Mendelsohn on W.G. Sebald’s The Rings of Saturn. | The Paris Review
• “What doomed Lawrence, in the long run, was not an accusation of phallocentrism but his elevation to the canon.” Frances Wilson argues that the real (and forgotten) D.H. Lawrence is to be found in his essays, not his famous novels. | The New Yorker
• “If it comes from Latin America, it has to be magical realism, in some way, even if it looks like something completely different.” Fernando Sdrigotti on the long, damaging legacy of One Hundred Years of Solitude. | LARB
• Carlos Lozada read 150 books about the Trump era and lived to tell the tale. | GEN
• A newly-discovered short story by Raymond Chandler, soon to be published for the first time, takes aim at corporate culture. | The Guardian
• From Chaucer to Shakespeare to, uh, Will Smith—disentangling the long, literary history of the word “cuck.” | InsideHook
• “As I watch, I can’t stop thinking about how much better a job the androids are doing than my husband and I and our own machines.” Lydia Kiesling on online kindergarten, escapism, and Ridley Scott’s Raised by Wolves. | The New Yorker
• What makes a book a “people’s history”? | Los Angeles Review of Books
• With film executives home and reading more during the pandemic, there’s been a surge in studios buying book rights. | Los Angeles Times
• This infographic of the most popular books set in every country is . . . a little depressing. | Time Out
• “They were careless people . . .” On the Great Gatsby passage taking on new resonance on the current moment. | The New York Times
• “I’m waiting to see: Will all of the work that was done this summer actually play itself out into real systemic change?” Claudia Rankine on reparations and justice. | Los Angeles Times
• Andri Snær Magnason: It will never be too late to mourn the slow loss of glaciers. | Words Without Borders 

Also on Lit Hub:

Sayaka Murata, Earthling, on making friends with non-Earthlings • On the great Nan Shepherd, poet—and walker—of the Highlands • On Robert D. Richardson’s rare genius for biography • On young Lenin, who may or not have worn Che Guevara t-shirts growing up • Michael Torres on finding life as a poet in Minnesota, far from home • Madeleine Ryan on learning about her autism while finishing her novel • Saanya Jain recommends some sci-fi to help out the economists • Matt Summell on why we love our terrible pets • Emily Temple on the secret history of “Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board” • John Freeman on the moral power of Halldór Laxness • A.J. Lees gets lost in the world of explorer Perry Fawcett • Ishmael Reed weighs in on Hamilton • Where are the unlikable female characters in YA fiction? • Cynthia Tucker writes a letter to a mother—and the South • Isaac Bailey on the DNA of a nation • Neal Karlen on his complicated relationship with Prince • Abby Ellin on baseball, Larry David, and Bill Buckner’s greatest ever catch • Clare Mackintosh on the endless appeal of the “what if?” narrative • Lynne Sharon Schwartz on a lifetime in cars • Ajibola Tolase making the move from Nigeria to the USA • The National’s Matt Berninger talks to Brandon Stosuy about the struggle to be creative in 202 • Scenes from a modern-day refugee camp • Nick Kary wonders where woods come from • Elif Shafak on life from one city to the next city

Best of Book Marks:

New on CrimeReads:

Why Bryn Greenwood is proud to call her books “crime fiction” • Lisa Levy recommends five psychological thrillers to read this October • Oliva Rutigliano introduces Catherine Louisa Pirkis, a 19th century detective novelist with a surprisingly modern heroine • Andrew Nette on New Zealand’s “Jukebox Killer” and the Antipodean obsession with pulp fiction • Michael Cannell on the strange poetry of gangster Dutch Schultz’s last monologue • Heather Redmond recommends 17 series featuring real historical figures as sleuths • Anna Lee Huber draws inspiration from a rich history of ruins • Gillian Flynn talks paranoia, conspiracy theories, and her new life as showrunner, interviewed by Caitlin Flynn • Emily Gray Tedrowe on the role of class in the story of the con artist • 8 dazzling historical thrillers featuring real-life objets d’art, rom Kirsty Manning