Chris Barsanti's Blog, page 15
April 28, 2024
Writer’s Desk: Taylor Swift’s Pens
So now that Taylor Swift is name-checking Dylan Thomas and Patti Smith, creating library-themed pop-ups, and igniting fierce debate over apostrophes, it seems time to welcome her to the literary community, yes? In a sense, Taylor was already here, as is any songwriter who tries to write lyrics with story, character, and meaning rather than …
April 24, 2024
Shameless Self-Promotion: ‘The Writer’s Year’
You may have noticed those ‘Writer’s Desk‘ posts which have been appearing on this site for a few years now. Or not (lot of content out there). In any case, a little while back I thought it made sense to try and put some of these ideas to paper. Since I’ve been doing some writing …
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April 21, 2024
Writer’s Desk: Apprentice for Life
You would think that writers like David Baldacci have it easy. Forty-something novels, a ridiculous percentage of which are bestsellers; clearly writing another one is just like rolling out of bed. Right? Yeah, no, says Baldacci: You have to ask yourself why you want to be a writer and you have to have passion in …
April 14, 2024
Writer’s Desk: Keep it Loose
Sherwood Anderson, the roustabout journeyman who scrabbled around in manual labor and lived in a Chicago tenement before achieving fame with Winesburg, Ohio and then never managed to top himself no matter how much he wrote, had ideas about what made for subpar writing: What did Anderson approve of? Keeping it “loose.” Nice and specific, …
April 7, 2024
Writer’s Desk: Read Some Poetry
Lois Lowry does not write poetry. But she finds it useful. Here is what she said about poetry and writer’s block: Blocked or not (and in truth I seldom am), I begin each day by reading poetry. I’m not a poet myself. But somehow to enter that world where language is distilled and precise, and …
March 31, 2024
Writer’s Desk: One Day, One Page
Back in 2017, when John Grisham had only sold a few quadrillion books, he very helpfully agreed to jot down some ideas for writing success in the New York Times. A few of these are somewhat self-evident but nevertheless sterling pieces of advice to keep in mind: Do: Write a page every day.Don’t: Keep a …
March 30, 2024
Screening Room: ‘Coup de Chance’
Woody Allen is still making movies. And judging by his latest, he hasn’t lost a step. Coup de Chance opens next week in limited release and then should be on digital pretty soon. My review is at Slant Magazine: Woody Allen’s Coup de Chance starts appropriately with a random encounter and finishes with an out-of-nowhere intervention. But …
March 25, 2024
TV Room: ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’
My review of the new adaptation of A Gentleman in Moscow, which premieres this Friday, ran today in Slant Magazine: Amor Towles’s A Gentleman in Moscow was published in 2016, five years before Russia’s top opposition leader (and Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe) Alexei Navalny returned to his homeland and was immediately imprisoned. Showtime’s eight-part adaptation of Towles’s …
March 24, 2024
Writer’s Desk: Three Words About Narrative
Over the course of a rumination about Orson Welles’ late masterpiece F for Fake (which is always worth pinning an essay or two on), Emily St. James breaks down narrative into just three concepts: But: This introduces the idea of opposition. The hero has done something, but the villain has done something to oppose it. Therefore: This …
March 20, 2024
Screening Room: ‘Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World’
The new film from Radu Jude (Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn) is opening in limited release this Friday. Do what you have to do, but find it. Nothing else like it in theaters right now. My review is at PopMatters: As the title of Radu Jude’s new film suggests, things end not with a …
Continue reading Screening Room: ‘Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World’
