The Yalta dacha where Chekhov wrote “Three Sisters” and “The Cherry Orchard” is plagued by mold and a leaky roof. A campaign to save it is under way, sans state aid. As the head of the campaign explained, “The Russian government didn’t want to fund the restoration because the house is in Ukraine, and the Ukrainian government didn’t want to pay to promote a Russian author.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
On His Way Out The Door, LA Phil Fetes Salonen
“If any city knows how to hype someone, it’s LA. But it says something that even in a place more internationally famous for its silicon implants than its orchestral music, they can really put out the bunting – literally, since Salonen’s mugshot is all over downtown LA – for their music director.”
Lee, De Havilland, Ford’s Theatre Get Arts Medal From Bush
“Stan Lee, who helped create hundreds of comic book superheroes, including ‘Spider-Man,’ and Olivia de Havilland, 92, who was nominated for an Academy Award in 1939 for her portrayal of Melanie Hamilton in ‘Gone With the Wind,’ were among the recipients of the National Medal of Arts and the National Humanities Medal at the White House yesterday.”
No, No, The Author Insists: My Book Really Isn’t That Good
Joe Queenan broaches “the least-discussed subject in the world of belles-lettres: book reviews that any author worth his salt knows are unjustifiably enthusiastic.” Are such reviews unethical? No. Immoral? No. But they are common. They’re also “unfair to the reader, who may be hornswoggled….”
Gormley’s Maquette Isn’t Actually An Antique, But …
“Anthony Gormley’s design model for his Angel of the North sculpture has become the first £1m object to be valued on BBC One’s Antiques Roadshow. The model was one of a number Gormley made to win over sceptical councillors ahead of the statue’s commissioning.”
To Avert Further Collapse, Build (Beautifully) For The Future
“We need to do for the 21st century what FDR did for the twentieth–invest in worn-out highways, our frail electrical grid, our public transit, brittle bridges, and water supplies. … This late-model WPA would take advantage of a moment when great architecture, buoyed by a long construction boom and debilitated by the bubble’s pop, is looking for a purpose.”
With Jobs Scarce, Architects Will Tone Down The Glamour
Work for architects dries up in recessions; in the last one, 40 percent of architects lost their jobs. As for what does get built, it won’t be the sort of thing we’ve seen in recent years. “Indeed, what we may see is a swing towards a less showy architecture, with invention squeezed into pint pots. “
On Darwin £10 Note, A Bit Too Much Artistic License
“It is the ultimate, infallible tribute to a Briton: placing their portrait on a banknote alongside images of their life and work. But now a leading UK biologist has announced that pictures on the £10 note, which commemorates the achievements of Charles Darwin, are ‘little better than fiction’.” The problem is the hummingbird….
Post-Mortier, What’s City Opera’s New New Direction?
“[D]espite the Mortier fiasco, a bold, exciting (but cheaper) agenda remains exactly what the company needs,” Justin Davidson prescribes. “It needs to reconnect with the reasons Fiorello La Guardia founded the ‘People’s Opera’ in the first place–as a frothier, less pretentious, and more affordable alternative to the Met.”
Why Are Female Authors So Seldom In Awards Limelight?
Brian Schofield, who found himself shortlisted last week for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, doesn’t blame publishers or jurors for the total absence of women from the list. “But does the literary industry as a whole – agents, editors, booksellers and critics – currently offer disproportionate encouragement to aspiring male writers to produce the kind of serious-minded, bookish work that gets on shortlists, compared to young female writers? Now, I suspect, we’re on to something.”