• Neal Stephenson’s “It’s All Geek to Me” (via Books, Inq.)
• Widely linked (and, as observed by Scott, apparently outside the NYTBR‘s purview) is this previously unpublished Susan Sontag essay.
• I missed this profile last week, but the Guardian also has a profile of agent Ed Victor.
• Literary pilfering has a long and rich history.
• Charlie Anders offers a brief report of Friday’s R. Crumb opening at the Yerba Buena and later opines that Crumb’s work is “more dated than the music videos from 1930-ish.” While I agree that Crumb’s tendency to reflect the 1960s’ counterculture has cast an undeniable imprint upon his work, I’m wondering if Charlie’s objections are more reflective of a general arts-related problem. A work may reflect a particular period decades later and thus appear “dated,” particularly when the past looms in recent memory. But is it not possible that, a decade or two down the line, it may end up reflecting something bold and innovative? Were Lovecraft’s tales, for examples, “dated” in the 1950s? Were Philip K. Dick’s novels “dated” in the 1980s? Given the ever-shifting nature of time, I’m wondering if “dated” is a valid criticism when discussing art. And I’m hoping to find some time to examine this interesting trajectory of critical reception at length in a future post.
• Two months after Smashing Telly and I rued over opening credits, the Onion has seen fit to rip off the idea.
• Extras is dead. Gervais and Merchant plan a one-off conclusion and that’s it. No third season.
• The Orange Prize longlist has been announced. I’m not sure if Lionel Shriver’s The Post-Birthday World was released early enough to make the cut, but if it was, it is utterly criminal that Shriver’s spot was taken up by the ignoble Anne Tyler, who seems to have confused braying melodrama with “observation.” Oh well, at least we can be grateful that Chimamanda Adichie is on the list.
• Jerome Weeks is looking for a job.
• Pete Anderson thinks the Tribune is living up to its literary coverage this week.
• Steve Clackson was kind enough to award me a Thinking Blogger Award, but John Baker uncovers the truth.
• Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Books reveals the anti-Harriet Klausner movement.
• Why are three paragraphs devoted to Britney Spears in this San Diego Union-Tribune book review? Surely, there are better representative examples of virginity to draw from.
• How Colette became a writer.
• Mysterious Object at Noon: strangest film in some time?
• On the Purpose of Public Libraries (via Maxine)

© 2007, Edward Champion. All rights reserved.

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