“Greed is eternal, but when the money flows as plentifully upward as in London circa 1873 or New York circa 2013, and is as unequally distributed, it becomes a moral toxin, saturates the world of culture, makes relationships more competitive, turns desire into the pursuit of status … And, as in Trollope’s London, money and its pursuit can have a democratizing effect.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Here’s A Shakespeare Update That Could Really Work
Tom Sutcliffe argues that an Islamic setting of Measure for Measure – say, in a small Gulf state – “would make it less of a problem play than it usually is.”
Remembering The Women Of The Bauhaus
“Most of the … female students had been forced to study the supposedly ‘feminine’ subjects of weaving or ceramics too. The Bauhaus Archive in Berlin is now trying to make amends to the women like them, who felt marginalized at the school, by celebrating their work in the ‘Female Bauhaus’ series of exhibitions.”
Vladimir Nabokov As Lit Professor
“He said we did not need to know anything about their historical context, and that we should under no circumstance identify with any of the characters in them, since novels are works of pure invention. The authors, he continued, had one and only one purpose: to enchant the reader. So all we needed to appreciate them, aside from a pocket dictionary and a good memory, was our own spines.”
Oscar Wilde’s Advice To Writers
“The best work in literature is always done by those who do not depend on it for their daily bread and the highest form of literature, Poetry, brings no wealth to the singer. Make some sacrifice for your art and you will be repaid but ask of art to sacrifice herself for you and a bitter disappointment may come to you.”
The Birth Of The American Summer Vacation
“One of the little-known turning points in the history of American travel occurred in the spring of 1869, when a handsome young preacher from Boston named William H.H. Murray published one of the first guidebooks to a wilderness area.”
Livening Up That Boring Old Seder
“Some folks are flinging marshmallows and ping-pong balls at one another to simulate hail. … For a bit of aesthetic flair, a website offers a special manicure theme. ‘You won’t want to Pass-over these Ten Plagues Nail Decals!’ declares midrashmanicures.com. ‘These adorable frogs, flies, and locusts are bound to be a hit at your Seder.’ As for Elijah the prophet? Well, he just might show up.”
Chinua Achebe, 82, ‘Grandfather Of African Literature’
“His creation of a hybrid that combined oral and literary modes, and his refashioning of the English language to convey Igbo voices and concepts, established a model and an inspiration for other novelists throughout the African continent.”
How Chinua Achebe’s Most Famous Novel Was Almost Lost For Good
“[The] English typists to whom the author sent his manuscript [of Things Fall Apart] in the late 1950s dismissed it ‘as a joke.’ … It’s important to remember that that manuscript, which was handwritten, was ‘the only manuscript in the entire world’.”
Michelle Shocked Apologizes For Anti-Gay Rant
“I do not, nor have I ever, said or believed that God hates homosexuals (or anyone else). I said that some of His followers believe that. … I am damn sorry. If I could repeat the evening, I would make a clearer distinction between a set of beliefs I abhor, and my human sympathy for the folks who hold them.”