"Reading Alberto Moravia in Silvio Berlusconi’s Italy"
This past weekend, the NY Times Book Review included this interesting essay by Rachel Donadio about reading Alberto Moravia: In its culture as in its politics, Italy lives under the shadow of Silvio Berlusconi. With his endless legal entanglements and sexual imbroglios and his colorful manner of governing (or not ...
>
Guardian on Houellebecq's Latest
Not sure if the infamous French author is still missing or not, but his last novel, The Map and the Territory, just came out in the UK (it’s due out here in January) and the Guardian has a really enthusiastic write-up: Michel Houellebecq’s new novel The Map and the Territory opens with an artist at work on a ...
>
Translators Needed for Occupy Wall Street
As you hopefully know, the Occupy Wall Street protests are now into their third week, with people of all ages and from all over the country descending on Liberty Square to speak up about a number of injustices, especially related to banks, Wall Street, and the growing disparity between the top 1% and everyone else. Aside ...
>
Nobel Prize in Literature To Be Announced on Thursday
According to various reports, this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature will be announced on Thursday around lunchtime. As always, the announcement of the forthcoming announcement brings out the speculation as to who will win, the complaints about why Americans don’t win every year, and the betting. Since I ...
>
TQC Long Essays
This morning at Conversation Reading, Scott Esposito announced an exciting new project of his to publish long essays: So here’s the deal: I’ve long made my love of long essays known around here. From books like Nicholson Baker’s U&I to Barthes’ S/Z to the work of Geoff Dyer, William H. Gass, Michael Martone, ...
>
New Issue of Portuguese Literary & Cultural Studies: Facts and Fictions of Antonio Lobo Antunes
Since every day is a good day to talk about how great Antonio Lobo Antunes’s works are, I was really excited to get a copy of the new double-sized issue of Portuguese Literary & Cultural Studies in the mail today and find that it’s dedicated to Antunes. There are a lot of articles in here that sound really ...
>
Is That a Fish in Your Ear?
It makes a strange sort of sense that the man who translated Life A User’s Manual would subtitle his new book “Translation and the Meaning of Everything.” Clearly, David Bellos isn’t lacking in ambition, and without giving away too much too soon, that’s for the best. Maybe it’s because of ...
>