“The idea that you write to express yourself seems to me revolting. The idea that you write to glorify or to make glorious the art of expressiveness seems to me spot on.”
Tag: 12.15.13
A New Industry In Reviving Dead Literary Characters
“The incentive for publishers and the estates of dead authors is clear: keeping the brand alive expands the number of titles from which revenue can be gained, while fuelling interest in the original works. But what impact do literary franchises have on the industry’s appetite for new talent?”
If We Get Too Good Will We Lose Our Ability To Fail?
“Certainly the promise of continual human progress and improvement is alluring. But there is a danger there, too — that in this more perfect future, failure will become obsolete.”
The Future Of Trying To Be A Musician
“It’s becoming much more difficult to be a reclusive artist and make a living. The system has become weirdly Darwinian. But you need to look at the larger picture: the record industry did create a safe space for shy artists like PJ Harvey or Cat Power, but artists always had to market themselves.”
When A Top Poet Marries Her Chief Translator
Says Steven Seymour of wife and best-selling, award-winning Russian poet Vera Pavlova (whose English is excellent), “The main difference with translating Vera is that my other clients don’t argue with me.”
US Versus UK – A Telling Shakespeare Comparison
“Comparisons are odorous, as the linguistically challenged Dogberry contends in “Much Ado About Nothing,” but they can also be instructive. These productions are a study in cultural contrasts, shedding light on the difficulty of translating Shakespeare from the page to the stage on either side of the pond but ours especially.”
Hunting For Beethoven
“His job over the years has evolved into that of detective, applying his considerable forensic skills and his vast knowledge of the composer and his times to track down, verify and if possible acquire Beethoven documents and personal effects.”
Roland Paoletti, 82, Architect Of London’s Jubilee Line
“The inside story of Paoletti’s career is more remarkable, proving that enduring public architecture at its best depends on a balance of personal strength, technical gumption, steadfast collaboration and a sharp sense of opportunity and tactics.”
New Zealand, Land Of Films (Three More Avatar Movies To Be Filmed There)
In the country where all three Lord of the Rings and all three Hobbits have been (or will soon be) filmed, James Cameron will use Peter Jackson’s workshop, Weta.
Joan Fontaine, 96, Star Of Hitchcock’s ‘Rebecca’ And ‘Suspicion’
“It was Hitchcock, with his penchant for ‘cool blondes, who brought Fontaine to the forefront when he cast her as the second Mrs. de Winter in Rebecca (1940), the director’s American debut. Her performance as the new wife of Laurence Olivier in a household haunted by the death of his first wife earned her an Academy Award nomination.”