Monday arrives on a somber note. The news from Iran, while heartening to some extent, has got us fuddled. Such dramatic events force hard questions. In terms of literature, what can be done immediately, as the protests continue? N+1 tackles the debate of new media and the current of modern language. Maud Newton recalls a revolutionary in her own right and the Guardian serves a dish of hope: If you have a story and you want to publish it and win some money and see your work in a major periodical then get your pages in order and submit to this year’s short story contest. NPR talks about books about Nikita Krushchev, the world’s first reality television star. There’s a powerful new book by Urrea which alerts readers to the Mexican experience, and finally, Thai writers and readers talk about their influences. It’s all good reading, and worthy of your time. It confirms the power of the written word, and lends credence to the struggle for justice the world wide. — Kevin Murphy
– Jean Rhys’ final novel and masterpiece, Wide Sargasso Sea, bestows a life on Jane Eyre’s offstage villain, the Creole madwoman in the attic. Although the book appeared to wide acclaim, Rhys held a grudge against editor Diana Athill for, she believed, publishing it prematurely. “‘It was not finished,’ she said coldly. She then pointed out the existence in the book of two unnecessary words. One was ‘then,’ the other ‘quite.’” — Jean Rhys in Maud Newton
– Every year, in August, the Guardian’s Weekend magazine publishes a selection of original fictions by the some of the best authors writing today. Last August’s fiction special featured Annie Proulx, Julian Barnes, Alice Sebold and Tessa Hadley, among others, and this summer we’ll be unveiling another line up of stellar names. — Story Contest in the Guardian
– Their names may seem mysterious to us; ironically, these writers know the breadth and depth of Thai literature, more so than our knowledge about theirs. A number of Laotian readers have dug into our literature the same way Thais breathe Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Milan Kundera or Haruki Murakami. — Thai Literature in the Bangkok Post
– The pages in Proust’s long novel describing a first-ever telephone call are often admired for their rare sensitivity to the experience of a new technology. The narrator is speaking, across the miles of cable, to his grandmother. More than speak, he listens. — Modern Language in N+1
– A professor of creative writing at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Urrea continues to explore border culture in his latest novel, “Into the Beautiful North,” a spirited and enjoyable fable of sorts that follows a group of young, strong-willed Mexicans who venture into the States to bring the men of their village back home. — Luis Urrea in SF Gate
– Nikita Khrushchev may well have been the first reality television star. In 1959, the pugnacious general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union undertook a tour across America, during which he alternately greeted crowds, kissed babies and criticized the local way of life — all to the delight of the press corps following his every move. — Nikita Krushchev in NPR
Video of Krushchev at the General Assembly
