The great man said that his advice was going to be painful—or maybe that was just in his tone—but he knew what he was talking about, and if I wanted to make a go of it as a novelist, I would do well to pay attention. The guy was nearly twice my age, but he was not old. He was young enough, for example, to wear black Chuck Taylors. He was young enough to smile ironically at himself, laying the Polonius routine on some raw hurler of metaphors out of U.C. Irvine. “Don’t have children,” he said. “That’s it. Do not.” The smile faded, but its ghost lingered a moment in his blue eyes. “That is the whole of the law.”
Tag: 04.27.18
In The Wake Of #MeToo, Publishers Are Adding Morality Clauses To Writers’ Contracts
“Until recently, the term ‘moral turpitude’ is not one that crossed the lips of too many people in book publishing. But Bill O’Reilly, Milo Yiannopoulos, Sherman Alexie, Jay Asher, and James Dashner changed all that. … Major publishers are increasingly inserting language into their contracts – referred to as morality clauses – that allows them to terminate agreements in response to a broad range of behavior by authors. And agents, most of whom spoke with PW on the condition of anonymity, say the change is worrying in an industry built on a commitment to defending free speech.”
A Great Writer Warned Michael Chabon Never To Have Kids If He Wanted A Successful Writing Career
The unnamed éminence grise warned the young novelist-to-be that human spawn are giant time thieves and that each child would be a book he never wrote. Chabon gives his reply here.
The Nobel Prize For Literature May Be Cancelled This Year
Yes, the fallout from the sexual harassment scandal has gotten that bad: “The Swedish Academy yesterday discussed the Nobel prize and came to no decision,” said the head of the panel last week. “After our next Thursday meeting there will most probably be a statement on whether we will award a prize this year or reserve it for next year, in which case two prizes for literature will be announced in October 2019.”
Director Of Rome’s Galleria Borghese Charged With Crime For Going To The Gym While Clocked In At The Office
“Anna Coliva, the well-respected director of Rome’s Galleria Borghese, one of Italy’s top museums, is to stand trial on charges of absenteeism and defrauding the public purse … In total, she was absent from the museum for 41 hours over 12 days, according to evidence reviewed in court. At a hearing, Coliva said that the overtime she had worked more than made up for her absences.”
Poland’s Theatres Kick Back Against A Hard Nationalist Turn
If, as Dostoevsky contends, ideas are demons, they are also nourishment that can forge collective bonds and reinvigorate human connectivity. Contemporary reality, in Poland and elsewhere, has flown off the rails. Click, rewind. Start again.
Another Reason The Whole Shakespeare-Couldn’t-Have-Written-Shakespeare Argument Is Ridiculous
Most of the Will-Shakespeare-of-Stratford skeptics, such as Mark Rylance, seem convinced that no one from a 16th-century small-city artisan-marchant background could possibly have written such artful and erudite drama. That’s ridiculous because, points out Oxford historian Jonathan Healey, “many, perhaps most, of the greatest minds of the age were people of ‘middling’ origins.”
Arts Orgs Fear They Simply Can’t Afford To Turn Down Donations From Ethically Dubious Sources
“Although the vast majority are concerned that taking the ‘wrong’ sort of money could damage their reputation, just one in four report that their organisation has any sort of ethical fundraising policy. The findings emerge out of a survey of over 500 arts workers who shared their views on ethical fundraising and sponsorship. Their comments also reveal why organisations do or do not have a policy in place, and how useful they consider such policies to be.”
Resellers Who Use Bots To Buy Up Hot Tickets Could See Their Fines Soar
Under a new law submitted in the UK Parliament last week, “anyone caught using automated software to instantly buy tickets in such a way will face an unlimited fine. The move is part of a wider government drive to protect ‘real fans’ whose experience is being soured by inflated prices and limited ticket availability.”
In Interview On Record-Breaking Episode, ‘Simpsons’ Creator Matt Groening Puts His Foot In It
With its 636th having aired last weekend, The Simpsons now holds the record for most episodes of any scripted prime-time series. Said Groening, “I actually sometimes meet a famous actor and say, ‘Aw, you should do The Simpsons sometime.’ And they say, ‘I already did.'” But that’s not where he put his foot in it – his comment about the Apu controversy is what has Twitter a-twitter.