British libraries are in crisis. “It is tempting to argue that the mission of Andrew Carnegie, the great 19th-century benefactor who saw libraries as the backbone of national culture, is exhausted. Protests from the ageing band of traditionalists who shrink in horror at change provide no answer. The only hope lies in revolution – long overdue, and in places already under way.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
The Comédie-Française, Colonialist In The Suburbs?
“France’s most venerable establishment theatre, the 328-year-old Comédie-Française, has become embroiled in a row with a cutting-edge drama company over the place of high art in Paris’s rough suburbs.” With the backing of the Ministry of Culture, the Comédie-Française decided that a smaller theatre company, MC 93, “was to become its entry point into the suburbs” — a move MC 93 views as a hostile takeover.
Literary Agent Pat Kavanagh Dies At 68
“British writers were yesterday coming to terms with the death of the doyenne of the London literary scene, Pat Kavanagh, paying tribute to her strength of spirit, tenacity and straight-talking. Kavanagh, 68, who was married to the novelist Julian Barnes, was at the summit of her profession, representing writers including Ruth Rendell, Margaret Drabble, Robert Harris, Joanna Trollope, Andrew Motion, Clive James, and Wendy Cope.”
Glimmerglass Names David Angus Its Music Director
“David Angus will become music director at Glimmerglass Opera in upstate New York on November 1. He replaces Stewart Robertson, who left Glimmerglass in 2006 after almost 20 years.”
Cultural Council To Run Governors Island Artists’ Program
“The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council has been selected to run an artists’ studio and exhibition space on Governors Island that will include a year-round artist residency and weekend events. … The selection of the council is the latest effort to transform the 172-acre island in New York Harbor into a destination that is an integral part of city life.”
Hadid’s Chanel Pavilion A Creature Of A Different Age
The Chanel Pavilion in Central Park “certainly oozes glamour. Its mysterious nautiluslike form … reflects the keen architectural intelligence we have come to expect from its creator, Zaha Hadid, the Iraqi-born architect who lives in London. Yet if devoting so much intellectual effort to such a dubious undertaking might have seemed indulgent a year ago, today it looks delusional.”
Small Film Fests Already Hurt By Financial Crisis
“Film festivals have traditionally been an oasis, a heady escape for artists and dealmakers removed from real-world concerns. No longer. The financial crisis is hitting some U.S. film festivals — and hard. Local cash and in-kind sponsorship are drying up quickly. “
In China, A Pearl Buck Museum — And Tourism Industry
“In Zhenjiang, where [Pearl] Buck spent much of her first 18 years, the Chinese are working hard to create a viable, profitable tourist industry based on interest in the writer. They are renovating houses and places tied to her to lure visitors from Europe, the United States and Asia. Today, officials here dedicated a grand new Pearl Buck Museum.”
The Joy Of Sex, Minus Frigidity This Time
“What was the most influential book of the 20th century? Perhaps you’d vote for ‘Relativity,’ by Albert Einstein. But for my money,” Pagan Kennedy writes, “the book that blew the lid off the century could only be ‘The Joy of Sex.'” British sexpert Susan Quilliam talks to Kennedy about her unusual commission: updating the 1972 manual for a 2009 edition.
Blue Humor Isn’t What It Used To Be
John McCain’s appearance last week on David Letterman’s show and Sarah Palin’s “Saturday Night Live” turn “underlined the extent to which comedy has become a liberal genre in America…. Though the nation has been closely divided along partisan lines for years, the funniest and most politically important acts are overwhelmingly at the expense of conservatives and often carry a clear partisan message.”