English is in an age of decline; English is in an age of vigor. No language, not even Latin when it was lingua franca, has attained the full-spectrum dominance of Global English. Meanwhile in the home territories, the quality of written English has declined as its quantity has increased. In expression, the hierarchies of formality are flattened rather than reinforced. Grammar, once a benchmark of basic literacy, is now a luxury. In spelling, the prizes go to texted acronyms. KWIM?
Category: words
How To Pack, And Unpack, A Library
Alberto Manguel: “The unpacking of books, perhaps because it is essentially chaotic, is a creative act, and as in every creative act, the materials employed lose in the process their individual nature: they become part of something different, something that encompasses and at the same time transforms them.”
This Woman Wrote A Book That Seems To Be A Roman À Clef About An Affair With Philip Roth
Lisa Halliday won the Whiting Award for her first novel, in which an editorial assistant meets a famous writer on a bench. The writer is pretty clearly modeled on Roth. “The likeness is no accident. Ms. Halliday, 41, and Mr. Roth, 84, are good friends. And for a time, when she was in her 20s and working at the Wylie Agency, which represents him, they had a romantic relationship.” (Should any of this matter in the reception of the book?)
The Best One-Star Reviews Of James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’
“If you want to read through a magnifying glass, you will like this book. Otherwise, it is worthless as the pages are too thick for toilet paper.”
The Book Trade Is Booming In Kabul, Even Though Most Afghans Can’t Read (Yet)
About 40 percent of the adult population is literate, and wars both international and civil still rock the country. But, says one bookseller, “In a turbulent, troubled society, curling up with a book has become the best tonic around.”
What Made Elena Ferrante Into A Writer
As generations of parents giving daughters journals and blank books might suspect, it was a diary – but not simply the mechanical act of writing down her day or recording her thoughts. Instead, the break between who she was in person and who she was in her diary became too strong. “I had to stop writing my diary and channel the desire to tell the truth – my most unutterable truths – into an invented story.”
The Government Of Ukraine Tried To Ban A Book About Stalingrad, And Its Author Reflects On What That Means
Antony Beever, the historian whose 20-year-old book was suddenly banned in Ukraine (and who has seen his books banned in Russia as well), writes, “It was an astonishing own goal by the Ukrainian committee of experts when the country wants to be seen as more democratic and western than Vladimir Putin’s Russia to their north.”
Bookseller Abducted Twice By Chinese Police Wins ‘Freedom To Publish’ Award
“Recently in the news again for a reported state abduction from a Chinese train, publisher and bookseller Gui Minhai has been named the recipient of the 2018 Prix Voltaire from the International Publishers Association. … The Prix Voltaire honors the struggles faced by those in international book publishing who have, in many cases, endured serious adversity for the sake of the freedom to publish.”
National Book Awards Add Prize For Works In Translation
“The new category marks a radical departure for awards, which began in 1950 ‘to celebrate the best of American literature.’ The prize will be given jointly to authors and translators, and will be limited to fiction and nonfiction works by living authors that are published in the United States. International authors who write in English won’t be eligible.”
The Crucial Quality Missing From Google’s Translator
The practical utility of Google Translate and similar technologies is undeniable, and probably it’s a good thing overall, but there is still something deeply lacking in the approach, which is conveyed by a single word: understanding. Machine translation has never focused on understanding language. Instead, the field has always tried to “decode”—to get away without worrying about what understanding and meaning are.