Tag: 11.28.14

“If wide notice is taken of a current spat over what we can read about Shakespeare’s sexuality into the sonnets in the correspondence columns of the Times Literary Supplement, Sonnet 20 may be a future favourite at civil unions. “

The State Administration for Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television “has banned wordplay on the grounds that it breaches the law on standard spoken and written Chinese, makes promoting cultural heritage harder and may mislead the public – especially children.” Problem is, puns have been enmeshed in every single aspect of Chinese culture, from the New Year’s menu to wedding gifts to people’s own names – for a few thousand years now.

“A number of companies are latching on to a broader advertising notion of ‘the writer,’ either as a conceptual, disembodied mascot or, in the case of Chipotle, by gathering literary luminaries to form a collective ‘spokescribe.’ As serious literature becomes further marginalized, cloistered from the cultural Kardashians at the gate, brands may be tapping into a quality associated with it that historically seduces aspirational consumers: elitism.”

“Slowly, the hideousness of the stereotype began to sink in. In the eyes of those who told and repeated the jokes, we were shuffling, googly-eyed and lesser than.”

“The cottage campaign … would see the building made into a public centre celebrating Blake and welcoming visitors, poets and artists to continue his legacy.” (But it’s more than £400,000 short right now.)