The Myths of Nonprofit Literary Publishing: “If a for-profit group had grants, no income tax liability and a free workforce, someone would be making good money and fewer small businesses would go under. Why does a nonprofit have these savings and still claim to be too poor to pay its bills, namely the writing content that serves as the very foundation of the publication?” (via The Publishing Spot)
Month / June 2006
Roundup
- Robert D. Kaplan’s insufferable wonkage was one of the reasons I let my subscription to The Atlantic lapse. But I’ve never had the time, much less the synaptic capacity to pinpoint exactly why. Thankfully, Tom Bissell, a much smarter guy than me, tells us precisely why Kaplan’s such a problematic writer.
- I should observe that Neve wasn’t the only one who talked to Updike about fellatio. I’ll say no more. Just wait until Show #50. That’s all I have to say.
- There are e-book standards? Who knew? (via Booksquare)
- As widely reported, the Center for Book Culture’s latest issue of Context is out. I concur with the Rake that Anne Burke is right on the money when it comes to James’ jihads.
- Alice Munro: to retire or not to retire? (via Mark)
- I’ll confess. I was dubious about The Picolata Review, until I stumbled upon interviews with RotR fave Lee Martin and Dan Wickett.
- Derik Badman test-drives the 1959-1960 Peanuts volume.
- Is knowledge of the Bible necessary to study literature?
- Bengali writer Sunil Gangopadhyay has won a Calcutta suit where he allegedly defiled an idol of a Hindu goddess. Gangopadhyay insisted that the only defilement that concerned him was satisfying specific requests originating from his nubile groupies.
- Ed Guthmann remembers Judith Moore.
- Bridget Jones turns ten.
- Cringe-worthy moment in television history: the Growing Pains intro.
Self Reflection
Somehow the folks at Splinters have convinced Will Self to blog. Let’s hope he doesn’t fizzle out after a few posts.
Rapid Roundup
- Tayari Jones hosts a Q&A with her publicist Lauren Cerand.
- Robert Birnbaum chats with Susan Orlean.
- C. Max Magee serves up a list of forthcoming 2006 books. Surely, a nocturnal emission is to be found in there somewhere.
- Matt Cheney chats with editorial director Tina Pohlman.
- Louis Menand on Timothy Leary.
- Finnish crime novelist Mauri Sariola used a ghost writer for sixteen crime novels.
- New York Times Corrections: “A report in the What’s Online column in Business Day on Saturday, about the dismissal of two investigative reporters at Time magazine, misspelled the surname of one reporter. He is Donald Barlett, not Bartlett.” Indeed. Bartlett rose to prominence with James Steele with a series of Washington Post columns turned into books (America: What Went Wrong? being the most prominent). The last thing the Gray Lady wants is to throw the arc on their more grammatically able competitors.
- Time has listed five mystery writers worth investigating (including recent LBC nominee Jeffrey Ford). (via Gwenda)
- If the recent bookstore closings have depressed any San Franciscans reading this blog, I should note that we’re getting our first branch library in 40 years. Hurray!
- Teachers vs. Plagiarists. Film at eleven. (via Bookninja)
- Scientists are hoping to reassemble Maimonides’ works. (via Books, Words & Writing)
- Box of Books has been serving up interviews with various litbloggers.
- The Huntington Library is all set to receive the Charles Bukowski archive.
- The Los Angeles Times offers a report of the McSweeney’s “World Explained” show.
- David Thayer speculates on what the hell Updike is getting at.
The Lesser of Two Evils?
Dan Green takes umbrage with Wendy Lesser’s establishing principles behind The Lesser Blog. I’m a big fan of The Threepenny Review (and Lesser was once interviewed for The Bat Segundo Show; ironically, paired up with a certain poet-litblogger), but I actually agree with Dan that there are already plenty of “self-contained essays” to be found within the litblogging community. Of course, if Lesser really does desire to organize her blog, she can start by offering an RSS feed for those of us who hope to keep up with her thoughts. Lesser may claim to offer content which resembles “a printed article more than most blog entries do,” but I presume she refers to the completely disorganized navigation currently found at the Lesser Blog rather than any elitist qualifier. At least I hope that is the intent.
Nevertheless, Lesser’s stance continues the troubling hard line spouted off by John Updike and those dashing critics who seem to prefer gasconade over civil discourse. The continuing assumption that print is somehow superior to online writing simply because trees are massacred is as disingenuous a claim as Intelligent Design or proving the existence of the Tooth Fairy. Perhaps if these print-to-online greenhorns actually presented convincing arguments rather than generalized castigations sans examples, proponents of both mediums might find ways to learn and benefit from each other. Which seems to me a more constructive use of the Internet.
[6/21/06 UPDATE: Interestingly, Lesser has amended her post and removed the offending remarks from her blog. While it’s good to know that Lesser is reading the blogs and responding accordingly, one would hope, however, that Lesser (or another critic) could simply offer an explanation of where she’s coming from instead of a wholesale deletion. Perhaps one print critic being honest about the way she feels might lead to both sides understanding why there’s this continuing divide, driven by a fey animosity, between print and online mediums. As I suggested in my initial post, I believe that both sides have a lot to learn from each other. And wouldn’t the willful antagonism of the Sam Tanenhauses and the John Freemans of our world be better expressed with open communication and respectful conversation? (Thanks for the tip, Scott.)]