Literary Hub - Lit Hub Weekly: March 15-19, 2021

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Lit Hub Weekly

March 15 - 19, 2021

TODAY: In 43 BCE, Publius Ovidius Naso, known as Ovid, is born.

“I found myself straddling two very different identities, as a committed nun and as a woman experiencing myself as a sexual person for the first time.” Patricia M. Dwyer on the life-changing poetry of Elizabeth Bishop. | Lit Hub Criticism

In part two of The Longest Year: 2020, Marvin Heiferman reflects on documenting his grief on Instagram after the loss of his husband. | Lit Hub

Paul Sen on the great uncertainty of Charles Darwin, who “never suspected that the mathematical equations of thermodynamics would torment him till his death.” | Lit Hub Science

“Within our racial discourse there’s often no room for the Asian American voice, which is precisely why I wrote the book.” Alexander Chee and Cathy Park Hong discuss how the pandemic has cracked open discrimination against Asian American communities. | GEN

Christina Baker Kline reads Lolita as a gothic horror novel. | CrimeReads

James Parker on Blake Bailey’s Philip Roth biography, Brandon Taylor on Michael Lowenthal’s Sex with Strangers, and more of the Reviews You Need to Read this Week. | Book Marks

Casey Cep details the Raven bookstore’s fight with Amazon. | The New Yorker

“By the time I was thirteen, I had divorced my body. Not before or since have I felt such animosity toward another being.” Melissa Febos on finding the sublime in a body. | The Yale Review

Jessica Winter considers the default assumption of fiction-as-autofiction. | New York Times

An oral history of bookselling in a pandemic: six indie bookstore owners reflect on the past year. | Washington Post

“That’s the thing about surviving the white gaze: It’s the default. It’s everywhere. It’s the air.” Rebecca Carroll on her memoir, the institution of whiteness, and adoption. | Bitch Media

“I wanted to invite whatever disaster, complication, or weirdness into it just to see what would happen.” Chang-rae Lee on what it takes to write creatively. | The Believer

“The world is watching, and the translator is no longer invisible.” Translators weigh in on the Amanda Gorman controversy. | Asymptote

Kaitlyn Greenidge reflects on the legacy of love and devotion in her family. | Harper’s Bazaar

“I have a lot of unresolved issues with Chicago. And to me, it’s a reconciliation, a healing.” Sandra Cisneros on winning the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame’s Fuller Award and the legacy of The House on Mango Street. | WBEZ

“Why do we keep hearing the same names again and again in the canon?” Lesley Chow on her new book and women of color in music. | The Creative Independent

Well, that’s nice: online writing groups have been thriving during the pandemic. | New York Times

“The thing about prophets, even bad prophets, was that they were always in search of an audience. They were hungry and deprived.” Read a new short story by Brandon Taylor. | Joyland

Alissa Wilkinson spoke with Emily St. John Mandel, David France, and others whose work took on new significance in light of the pandemic. | Vox

Kazuo Ishiguro on the ways that his relationship to songwriting and music “define[s] my decisions as a novelist.” | NPR

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JOIN US ON MONDAY

In honor of Women’s History Month, we're getting together with Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants on Facebook Live on Monday for a conversation with two amazing & inspiring female contemporary authors: Imbolo Mbue and Patricia Lockwood. We’ll hear them speak firsthand about the boundary-pushing subject matter they tackle in their works, their process, and their unique sources of inspiration. To tune in to the panel, join us on Facebook on March 22nd at 1pm ET/10am PT.

ALSO THIS WEEK ON LITERARY HUB

Emily Layden on the secret lives of teenage girls • Cal Newport suggests a better way to email • The surprising contributions authors have made to language • Elon Green looks back to the NYC-based 1980s Anti-Violence Project • Fatima Shaik on a hidden history of Black brotherhood • What to do when you need to write (good) song lyrics • How dipping into the waters of stepmotherhood inspired Emma Duffy-Comparone’s new book • Kate Washington on caregiver burnout and Jane Eyre • Layla AlAmmar on the literature of revolution • America’s first blockbuster murder trial • Unraveling the Southern myths of Mississippi’s Piney Woods • Imbolo Mbue talks to Jane Ciabattari • “My dad published Lolita” • Nona Hendryx on Afrofuturist histories • The two kinds of Nabokov readers • What we really want from a story • Nick Bryant on the most performative presidency of all time • Are novels-about-writers their own subgenre yet? • Brock Clarke makes a case for meanness in fiction • Laura Imai Messina on Japan’s wind phone • Vivian Gornick on the “wild and elusive” Edna St. Vincent Millay • The sacred role of the hair metal ballad • Jay Neugeboren reflects on mortality and posthumous publishing • After writing a novel about two men isolated at sea, Paul Lynch experiences his own isolation • How Cairo became a cosmopolitan destination • Thomas Dyja considers how the early internet transformed New York City • How New York City’s tap water model could change the world • In praise of of women writing autofiction • Why do we love historic literary homes? • How the Barbizon Hotel gave Plath and Didion the freedom to write • The New Press editors on working at the intersection of publishing and social justice • How Margaret Hermes finally finished her book (after four decades) • Jamie Vander Broek compares the library and the museum • A conversation about Southern chef Edna Lewis’ legacy • Nige Tassell on the Coen brothers’ cinematic sleight of hand • Alejandro Ruiz remembers the dishes of his Oaxaca childhood

THE BEST OF BOOK MARKS

Sula, The English Patient, The Portrait of a Lady, and more rapid-fire book recs from Miranda Popkey • “The Remains of the Day is a dream of a book”: a classic review of Kazuo Ishiguro’s achingly beautiful third novel • The Lover, King Lear, A Little Life, and more rapid-fire book recs from Sanaë Lemoine • New titles from Nona Fernández, Jo Ann Beard, and Glenn Frankel all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week