Category Archives for novels
On the Academic and the Personal
[A word to the wise: what follows is twice as long as it ought to be, and very rambly. I’m operating on three nights in a row of three hours of sleep, and am correspondingly stupid beyond belief.] I’ve expended … Continue reading
Coetzee
The Swedish Academy has this morning announced that this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded to South African novelist J. M. Coetzee. From the New York Times: In its citation, the academy spoke of the “well-crafted composition, pregnant … Continue reading
On the Truth Value of Memoir
This thread just goes on: today on Salon (via Bookslut), a memoirist accused of fabricating some of the details of her life’s narrative defends the license she took, arguing that the genre of the memoir has been mistakenly associated with … Continue reading
On Rereading Gibson
Determined to heed Francois’s advice and practice my rereading of Neuromancer in the hope that some of its details might adhere, this go-round, I’ve decided to blog certain of the comments and questions that arise as I make my way … Continue reading
On the Need to Reread
I’m about to begin a rereading of Neuromancer for that article on spatial metaphors, geopolitics, and cyberspace I’ve been working on. And it suddenly occurs to me: I’m re-reading this novel for the umpteenth time. I’ve read it for fun. … Continue reading
Crime and Punishment
Today on MetaFilter: a link to a report of a Pennsylvania man who, accused of spitting at a police officer, has been sentenced to read To Kill a Mockingbird. The discussion focuses mostly on those texts with some apparent punitive … Continue reading
Hype, Literary Anxiety, and Cultural Studies
Bill directs our attention to a pretty hefty MeFi discussion of A. S. Byatt’s rather persnickety thoughts about the popularity of the Harry Potter series among adult readers. Byatt seems, in some utterly inexplicable fashion, to blame “cultural studies” for … Continue reading
Actual Book News Contained Herein
Neal Stephenson, author of the riotous Snow Crash, the envy-inspiring The Diamond Age, and the at times breathtaking Cryptonomicon is returning to the Waterhouse and Shaftoe families for a bit of a prequel. On September 23, 2003, Quicksilver hits the … Continue reading
Harry Potter Mania
Yes, mania. According to the Beeb, not only did the Daily News violate the strictest of literary embargoes by running a story that contained “excerpts and details” about the imminent fifth volume in the series, Harry Potter and the Order … Continue reading
