Category Archives: Web/Tech
Jane Austen, Literary Godmother
If you were anywhere near the Internet yesterday, you probably know that it was the 200th anniversary of the debut of Pride and Prejudice. To which we say, Yay Jane! Two centuries of continuous publication is nothing to sneeze at, and the fact that the novel’s commentary on class, marriage, money, and perception still holds [...]
The IMPAC Dublin Long Whateveritis
We’ve made it to the middle of November, and it is with a grateful sense of continuity that I direct your attention to the recently announced IMPAC Dublin Literary Award Longlist. Regular readers know that this is one of my favorite literary competitions for a number of reasons: The books are nominated by librarians worldwide [...]
Presenting Bloom
We’re delighted to announce the launch of Bloom, a new literary site devoted to highlighting, profiling, reviewing, and interviewing authors whose first book was published when they were age 40 or older. Bloom is also a community of artists and readers who believe that “late” is a relative term, not an absolute one, and who [...]
Present Shock: On Ubiquity and Doing Things in One’s Own Time
Remember Future Shock? I was a bit young for Alvin Toffler’s manifesto on the disorientations of technological change when it first came out, but when I finally got to it another 15 years down the line, it was still relevant. At the same time, though, I was young enough to feel deeply smug when I [...]
The Royal Library of the Netherlands’ Word Problem
When it comes to digitizing older and orphan works, most of the copyright controversies I see cropping up have more to do with intellectual property issues than actual conflict. Which is about what you’d expect—any real litigation is going to be hammered out in court rather than in the public debate arena. But what happens [...]
NYRB, Lit Up
I’ve long maintained that my love of New York Review Books extended only as far as the realm of print—that aside from the wise choices in backlist matter it’s their graphic presence, their savory cover stock and tasteful graphics, their perfectly portable size, their handfeel—that makes an NYRB Classic such a harmonious physical object. I [...]
Printer’s Devil: Screwtape and Wormwood Take on Academic Publishing
The golden era of social satire is… yeah, OK, kind of over. In this age of irony, its time may have come and gone. But satire once had its uses, primarily to hold up a funhouse mirror to human foibles in an otherwise earnest world. Ideally, this was hoped to bring about social change through [...]
Train of Thought: The Underground New York Public Library
I’ve lived in New York for a long, long time, and while there are obvious things to hate about it—the dirt, the inequity, the weather, the armies of the oblivious, both native and tourist varieties—I have never not loved it here. Part of that is about the resources, the ready culture, but a lot of [...]
Tennis, Anyone? Banville?
There’s niche blogging and then there’s niche blogging. Bless Tumblr; where once you might have sat around thinking, “Now who exactly is going to appreciate this crazy set of things I’ve found?” now you can make your wackiest, most obscure curatorial impulses public and you know they’ll find appreciation. For instance, John Banville: Booker Prize [...]
Forty at Fifty-Two (Stories, That Is)
Everybody deserves a break sometimes. Especially if you’re in the business of putting up content day in and day out—or, in the case of Cal Morgan’s Fifty-Two Stories, week in and week out. You have to give the man plenty of credit: His weekly series of excellent short stories by fine contemporary writers has been [...]
