“The point to stress is that the characters [in Don Quixote] can argue about the nature of their perceptions only insofar as we, the readers, have a concept of reality that is independent of their various reports. In fact, the common notion of objective reality that most of us would recognize today … is mutually dependent on” the concept of a fictional narrative.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Banned In Beijing: New Opera About China’s First President
“An opera [by composer Huang Ruo] about Sun Yat-sen, China’s first president and Nationalist leader, has been canceled shortly before its scheduled opening at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing because of official objections to the music.”
Why Paulo Coelho Gives His Novels Away Online
“I saw the first pirated edition of one of my books, so I said I’m going to post it online. … I put this first copy online and I sold, in the first year, 10,000 copies there. And in the second year it jumped to 100,000 copies. … Then I started putting other books online, knowing that if people read a little bit and they like it, they are going to buy the book.”
No Biography Can Encompass Charles Dickens
Even Dickens’s first biographer, his longtime friend John Forster, “found himself emphasising how many different versions of [Dickens] there were. Seen through his eyes, ‘Dickens’ started to sound suspiciously like a group of friends who merely happened to share the same skin.”
Justice Served: Dancing With The Stars‘ Professional Dancers Draw More Attention Than Celebrity Partners
“Six years [after its debut,] the construct of Dancing With the Stars is being turned on its head. In some ways those pros – ‘Cheryl! Maks! Derek!’ – have now become the headliners. The increasingly C-list celebrities lined up to participate have found they are no longer alone in the spotlight.”
Battle In Moscow Over Russia’s Oscar Nominee
“A row has broken out over Russia’s nomination for the best foreign language film at the Oscars after the most expensive movie in the country’s history” – Nikita Mikhalkov’s Burnt by the Sun 2: Citadel – “was chosen despite being a flop and panned by the critics.”
Des McAnuff – The Leader Stratford Always Wanted?
For all the grumbling and sniping aimed at McAnuff’s commitments outside the Stratford Festival and at his showy Broadway-bound transfers, “both McAnuff’s fans and his detractors love the way he has transformed the near-monochromatic company into something far more multicultural” – and ended the festival’s relative isolation from the wider theatrical world both within and outside Canada.
Remember When A Dictionary Could Cause Outrage?
When it was published in 1961, Webster’s Third New International Dictionary “was widely denounced for what critics viewed as a lax admissions policy: it opened its columns to parvenus like ‘litterbug’ and ‘wise up,’ declined to condemn ‘ain’t,’ and illustrated its definitions with quotations from down-market sources like Ethel Merman and Betty Grable.”
Menil Collection Returns Byzantine Frescoes To Cyprus
“Houston’s Menil Collection on Friday said it had agreed to return the 700-year-old wall paintings to the Greek Orthodox Church in Cyprus, ending a long-term loan arrangement” established after Dominique de Menil helped ransom the frescoes from looters.
Finding Felliniesque Scenes In Real-Life Rome
“The further away one stands from Rome and Italy, the more likely one is to read [many of the director’s fantastical set pieces] as the work of a genial fantasist. Spend some time in the Eternal City, and you realize that in many respects Fellini was an out-and-out realist.”