Mark Sarvas's Blog, page 30

EVE REDEEMED

I've never fully understood the appeal of R. Crumb (despite having run a laudatory guest review here ages ago, link to follow) but Maud Newton's enthusiasm for his Book of Genesis is enough to make me take a second look.

Really, who could blame Eve for eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil when she just wanted to be wise? I suppose walking naked with the Lord and Adam, surrounded by plants and animals, was pretty idyllic, but let's be real. One of her companions...

HAMMER AUDIO

For those who missed it and are interested, the Hammer Museum has posted a high-quality audio of my recent appearance there.  I read briefly from Harry, Revised and from my new novel, and take some very interesting questions, including one on overrated writers.

NOW WE ARE 30

The Financial Times takes note of the London Review of Books' 30th anniversary.  (Thanks, EG)

The initial idea, finance, and title came from The New York Review of Books, itself founded during The New York Times printing strike of 1963. And, for its first six months, issues of the LRB were folded, "marsupially", as the joke went, inside imported copies of the NYRB. The British pages were under the control of Karl Miller, a Cambridge-educated Scot in his mid-40s who had previously edited the...

A LITTLE NIGHT READING

(Preston Sturges, image provenance unknown.)

Via Antoine Wilson's blog, I belatedly discovered David Ulin's recent L.A. Times essay on his newfound difficulties reading. It is, in reliable Ulin fashion, thoughtful, generous and astute. Since the piece (broadly summarized) is about how the internet has fractured our attention spans, it seems against the spirit of thing to excerpt it here, but I will, if you promise to go read it in its entirety. The gravamen:

Such a state is increasingly...

PHILIP ROTH INTERVIEW

Philip Roth sits down with Tina Brown for a rare series of video interviews, in which he discusses the new novel, The Humbling, writing about sex, and other topics.  (We share Roth's approval of Tina Brown's useful designation, the "vomit draft".)

Philip Roth on Writing 'The Humbling' from The Daily Beast Video on Vimeo .

The other parts of the interview can be found here at The Daily Beast.

MONDAY MARGINALIA - ALL YOU CAN EAT EDITION

* We are thoroughly enjoying Padgett Powell's fascinating novel, The Interrogative Mood - watch for an upcoming giveaway - and it's nice to see him get an appropriate level of love from the Sunday Times Magazine. CBS also beats us to mentioning it and interviewing the author.

Jeff Glor: What inspired you to write this book?

Padgett Powell: Let us say I received workplace emails exclusively in the interrogative, like this: "Is it time for our esteemed Director [I was the Director:] to have a...

MORNING WOOD

James Wood reviews the recent Lydia David collection at the New Yorker - sadly, only available in abstract online but worth reading in its entirety.

At nine pages, "Glenn Gould," a monologue by Lydia Davis, is longer than most of her work, which are typically between three and four; many are as brief as a paragraph, or a sentence. Most of them are not conventional "stories"—they usually feature people who are unnamed, are often set in unnamed towns or states, and lack the formal comportment...

WHEW

Thank God.  A happy ending.

Now that it's over, I can ask - am I the only who immediately thought of the stomach churning opening of Enduring Love?

(True story.  I found a copy of the McEwan novel in a second hand bookstore in London, took it back to my hotel and started reading at 9 p.m.  It was nearly 2 a.m. before I finally was able to set it down.)

WORKING ...

Have had some Typepad challenges today but am working up a deluxe edition of Marginalia with all sorts of back news that should keep you busy through the weekend. 

EVENT: HAMMER MUSEUM

If you're a subscriber to the maliing list of the excellent Hammer Museum reading series, you will have gotten the announcement today of my appearance there next Tuesday.  For those who don't subscribe, the details are here.

It's a great venue, a great series, and I unworthily follow in the footsteps of the likes of Joseph O'Neill.  As a bonus, I will actually be reading a short excerpt from my new novel in progress for the first time, and the event is free with plenty of parking, so what's...