Carver wrote multiple versions of his stories, cutting them down and making them lean. His editor was complicit in the style that emerged. But his wife is attempting to undo the editor’s influences…
Tag: 07.20.09
For A Wet And Steamy Metropolis, A Dissolving Skyscraper
“It is impossible to compete with Bangkok’s existing exotic menagerie of skyscrapers, so [architect Ole] Scheeren proposes a monolith, an un-twin tower, the dumb, extruded box of modernist orthodoxy – but then begins to erode its perfection. It is as if a computer virus has begun to eat away at an image, pixellating it, or as if a tower of sugar cubes is dissolving away.”
Dilbert‘s Mastermind Battles For His Own Larynx
Scott Adams “was a cartoonist, but he was also an engineer, and both fields have a tendency to attract stubborn people who are immune to rejection and who disregard obstacles.” He needed all those qualities, plus his considerable powers of observation, over the past four years as he dealt with vocal cords that simply stopped working at certain times and places.
Walter Cronkite Interviews Gertrude Stein
The Daily Texan has unearthed a profile of The Quotable One which the late newscaster wrote while he was a student at the University of Texas. Among Miss Stein’s observations: “A writer isn’t anything but contemporary. The trouble is that the people are living Twentieth Century and thinking Nineteenth Century. … [At a school Stein had recently visited,] the girls of from fourteen to seventeen understood [her writing] perfectly, but their teachers did not.”
High-Risk Investments To Blame For Orgs’ Ailing Budgets
“If the investment goal of arts endowments is the preservation of capital, how can they now face decreases of 35%, aside from the criminal actions of investors like Bernard Madoff? For the answer, look to nonprofit money managers and ‘managers of managers,'” which “have encouraged arts organizations to seek ‘total returns,’ including capital appreciation, from their endowments, rather than merely preserving capital and accruing dividend income.”
Foster And Koolhaas To Plan Hong Kong’s New Cultural District
“Foster + Partners has been given a second chance to masterplan the $2.7 billion West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong The British starchitect, together with Rem Koolhaas and local designer Rocco Yim Sen-kee, make up the three-strong team named as consultants on the conceptual plans for the cultural and artistic hub.” Foster’s previous plan was shelved in 2006 following objections to his proposed 2.4km glass canopy.
Being ‘Colonized, Linguistically And Culturally’ By A New Tongue
Katherine Russell Rich, author of Dreaming in Hindi: Coming Awake in Another Language: “After six months of living in India, I had gone from hard-charging New Yorker to a woman who preferred to keep her head covered.”
Guthrie Reports First Deficit In 14 Years (But It’s Slight)
“Despite increases in ticket revenue and contributions, the Guthrie Theater reported a small budget deficit — its first in 14 years — for the fiscal period that ended March 31. The deficit was $67,898 on expenses of $27.88 million, and the organization will cover that with funds from prior surpluses.” Ticket sales were strong until September, when they “headed south and never recovered.”
Skylight Soap Opera: Performers Fired, Former A.D. Quits
William Theisen, the former artistic director of Skylight Opera Theatre whose June firing ignited controversy and protests, has canceled his agreement to direct four shows in the company’s upcoming season. “Theisen backed out because the company’s managing director, Eric Dillner, fired two of his cast members,” who had “supported Theisen and criticized Dillner in comments on Facebook and on blogs.” Theisen’s withdrawal was followed by a cascade of artist departures.
Author Gordon Burn Dies At 61
“The writer and novelist Gordon Burn, whose work explored the boundaries between fact and fiction, has died aged 61, his publisher announced today. … Burn examined the contemporary obsession with celebrity in a series of books spanning three decades, including an account of the Yorkshire Ripper, a study of Fred and Rosemary West and a Whitbread award-wininng novel which imagined an alternative life for the British singer Alma Cogan.”