May 2007

  • Obituary
    • by Bud Parr on 05/20/07 (0 comments)

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From Life Stories and the Novel:
“In contrast with the epic hero who always feels perfectly at home wherever he is, the novelistic hero always feels a gap between his inner and outer selves, between what he thinks and how the world behaves. In a world of uncertainties and partial truths, the novel offers complete stories at the end of which everything (usually) makes sense. But unlike the heroes of the ancient epics, the hero or heroine of a novel has to learn what’s possible in the real world and what’s not.”

From MacWorld: “At a special event hosted jointly by the EMI Group and Apple, the companies announced plans to offer EMI’s catalog free of digital rights management beginning in May. You will be able to purchase these unprotected tracks—encoded as 256kbps AAC files—for $1.29 per track. If you wish to upgrade any protected EMI tracks you’ve already purchased from the iTunes Store you can do so for 30 cents a track.”

Chloë Schama in The New Republic: Five foreign authors whose domestic reputation exceeds their standing in the United States, and whose work has recently become available in English: Cesar Aira, Ersi Sotiropoulus, Peter Stamm, Tim Winton, and S. Yizhar. Along with a review of Bolaño’s Savage Detectives and Amulet.

“When asked in 1968 how he could write about chairs and trees in so terrible an age, Herbert responded, “And what if the trees are unhappy?” In their stubbornness and vulnerability, Herbert’s objects — lamps, pens, trees, clouds — aim to awaken us to the myriad betrayals of the everyday and inconsequential.” (Washington Post via Cruelest Month)

comment Zbigniew Herbert

Common Species of the Literary World (via Ed)



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