Alex Kudera's Blog, page 54

verboten

"Unfortunately Charlie was not sober, strictly speaking, nor had he been sober for the previous six months. On the contrary: now that he was no longer drinking, he was taking more pills than ever. As he'd later admit to AA (claiming he didn't realize, at the time, that it was verboten): 'I couldn't meet a friend for lunch, I couldn't write a line, I couldn't attend an AA meeting, without the help of these drugs.'"
~~ from Blake Bailey's Farther and Wilder: The Lost Weekends and Literary Dreams of                                           Charles  Jackson

the fiction market was simply drying up

 "Back in 1953, at any rate, the fiction market was simply drying up, as more and more middle-class readers turned to television for entertainment, while many of the slicks had either reduced or stopped running fiction altogether--an irreversible trend. At the end of that torturous but productive year, [Charles] Jackson had sold a single story (for all of $250) and yet remained philosophical to an almost heedless degree: 'It isn't only that the fiction market grows less and less,' he wrote Brackett; 'the failure was entirely in me, I think. I didn't do [the stories] quite wholeheartedly . . . and I think the reason was partly financial but even more, because my real love is the novel."

~~ from Blake Bailey's Farther and Wilder: The Lost Weekends and Literary Dreams of Charles Jackson

degrees of SNAP

"While nearly 53% of all people who earned bachelor’s degrees were women, almost 64% of SNAP recipients with bachelor’s degrees were women.

Similarly, the study said, Black people made up almost 9% of all adults with a bachelor’s degree. But Black people were around 25% of those with a bachelor’s degree who were also getting SNAP.

And, Hispanic adults made up almost 9% of all adults with a bachelor’s degree, but 18% of those with a bachelor’s degree who received SNAP were Hispanic people."

and then they came for the poets

Consider another reminder of how writers may live under military dictatorship.

acquired again

Daniel Ross Goodman added this postscript to his opinion piece that the authorized Philip Roth biography should not be judged by its author or subject, and that readers and scholars ought to have access to the book.

Postscript: On May 17th, it was announced that Skyhorse Publishing had acquired Philip Roth: The Biography, and that it intends to begin distributing it in paperback, e-book, and audiobook formats on June 15. Informing the press of its decision, Tom Lyons, the president of Skyhorse, stated that “a biography must be judged by the quality of the writing, the importance of the subject matter, and the value of the scholarship,” and that its editors had concluded that [Blake] Bailey’s book met these criteria. “This is obviously an important and comprehensive book about an author The New Yorker called a ‘literary genius,’ said Lyons. “I’m proud to publish it.”

Read more at the paper of moderately capitalist record.

Although I don't plan on reading this book, I'm glad I stuck with Bailey's Charles Jackson biography. It would appeal to anyone interested in alcoholism, AA, fleeting fame, obscurity, writers in Hollywood, pre-Stonewall sexual identities, and much more.

Hampshire stays open

A random reader found a past note here on Hamphire College's financial difficulties which led me to discover the good news that it appears Hampshire will remain open for years to come.

The Daily Hampshire Gazette included this note in its recent article on Hampshire's 2021 graduation:

"The tenacity of Hampshire College as an institution was also a key theme for the graduation, as speakers painfully remembered the college’s brief plans to shut down due to budgetary concerns in 2019.

"'Hampshire College is still here because many of you insisted that it must be,' Wingenbach said to graduating students in his speech. 'And because of the passions, effort and commitment of both you and a broader community that loves what this college and this college alone stands for, Hampshire will be here in another 50 years, when you return to celebrate our 100th anniversary.'"

America's Dead Souls

Among many others, then, we have The Brothers K by David James Duncan, "Errand" from Raymond Carver, "The Overcoat II" by T. C. Boyle, and the American healthcare system by Nikolai Gogol according to Molly McGhee, author of "America's Dead Souls." Dare to tell me that one of these does not belong. 

$3.79

And if the price drops any lower, Bezos and his minions will be at my door demanding cash!

$4.65

 Enjoy the best paperback book bargain on the internet!

five dollars flat

 Enjoy the best paperback book bargain on the internet!