“Shame is one of the central subjects of Giovanni’s Room … But that’s not stating it strongly enough: the whole novel is a kind of anatomy of shame, of its roots and the myths that perpetuate it, of the damage it can do. … That was the balm of the book when I first read it, the sense it gives that the tragedy it recounts is anything but inevitable.”
Tag: 11.19.16
An Olfactory Artist Recreates The Aromas Of 35 Cities
Sissel Tolaas has a collection – a library, if you will – of more than 6,500 odors in airtight cans as well as a “smell camera” she travels with. She’s created what she calls SmellScapes of towns as varied as Mexico City, Paris, Berlin, Cape Town, London, Kansas City, and, most recently, Singapore. Here’s how she does it.
Now That Computers Dominate Chess, Some Of The Art Of The Game Has Been Lost
“Grandmasters that have grown up with most of their training in the computer era play a much more objective style of chess. They’re less willing to dismiss a move because it’s ugly, or doesn’t appeal to their aesthetics.”
Survey: More UK Adults Prefer Theatre Than Sport For A Night Out
“A forthcoming report finds 26% of British adults identify theatre or opera as a great evening activity, compared with 17% who said the same for sports. Overall, 45% of British adults enjoy going to see live performance across all genres, rising to 63% among the under 25s.”
Are The Van Goghs Real Or Not – There’s Money And Reputations On The Line
If you do the math, 65 times, it amounts to more than $180 million: a handsome sum for an offhand find and well worth continuing to court experts over, even in the face of expert dismissals and disavowals. When the Van Gogh Museum rejected the sketchbook outright in 2008 — calling the works “monotonous, clumsy and spiritless” — the owners simply sought more opinions until they found one that fit.
The Steven Galloway Scandal Has Fractured Canada’s Star Literary Community
“Canada’s literary community punches above its weight. Its achievements are notable, but its numbers are relatively small. People tend to know one another – from school, teaching gigs, the writers’ festival circuit. All of this has now ruptured. Some long, meaningful friendships have dissolved. The program Galloway once led has ugly scars and deep divisions. Some very good people have left, or are leaving.”
Want To Study The British Monarchy’s Archives? Better Have A Non-propelling Pencil
This is a truly creepy story of mysterious secrets controlled by a private cabal of gatekeepers who deny researchers for no clear reason and seem to “regard their role, in part, as guarding the reputation of the British monarchy.”
The Factory Practice Of Reading Out Loud Inspired And Mobilized Workers In Cigar Factories
This is a story of the human readers – called “lectors” – and their political affiliations, and how technology changed everything.
Leonard Cohen Was Many Things, And One Was That He Was Unapologetically ‘Judaism’s Bard’
“It seems an obvious point, but it nods to a larger one that was either overlooked or underplayed in the extensive obituaries that followed Cohen’s death last week. Put simply, Cohen was an intensely Jewish artist — along with Philip Roth, perhaps the most deeply Jewish artist of the last century.”
The Beatdown About How The U.S. Should Archive Fashion
Essentially, there’s an argument between two methods. Both methods are on display right now, one in Michigan and one at the Met. “It seems we are a country riven not just by politics but — though rather more gently — curatorial approaches to clothes: populist versus elite; contextualized versus abstracted; local versus global.”