Alice Munro’s latest book is set to be her most successful yet. The reviews are rapturous, and it’s selling well. “So late in life,” she admits, it has occurred to her to stop writing. Working on Runaway, Munro was tempted by the idea, she says, of becoming a “normal person.” It hasn’t come down to that yet, because, for one thing, she thinks her best work is still ahead of her. “This, of course, is a fallacy that probably keeps you going,” she says
Tag: 12.27.04
Poetic Justice – What’s A Poet Laureate To Do?
California is looking for a new poet laureate, joining 35 states that have designated poets. But what, if anything, does the job entail? “These jobs come with almost no job description and little if any pay, so we start from scratch and decide what we want to do and how to do it.”
Departure Puts Chicago Lyric Opera Back Into The Pack
Matthew Epstein’s departure from Chicago Lyric Opera won’t affect the company’s day-to-day operations much. But the experienced administrator brought a forward-thinking style that set the company apart. “Epstein’s departure at Lyric leaves no leading American opera company except David Gockley’s Houston Grand Opera with a bold artistic visionary among its top administrators. Everybody else is taking a cautious line and blaming artistic reticence on a sputtering economy.”
America’s Disappearing Music
Rarities of American music are disappearing because care isn’t being taken to preserve old movies, recordings and sheet music. “The irony is that original artifacts are vanishing, but the golden era of American song is enjoying a comeback. New recordings of old standards by Rod Stewart and other artists have sold millions of copies, and record companies are forever reissuing classic albums. Songs made famous by Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Billie Holiday provide nostalgic soundtracks for films, sitcoms and television commercials.”
The Email Mystery
A new book is published over the internet in the form of a series of emails. “Those who order the book receive 98 e-mail messages during a three-week period from a sender identified as “e-mail mystery.” Readers are then treated to the voyeuristic experience of reading Sam’s correspondence. As the plot thicken and Sam’s life is threatened, e-mails arrive in a sudden flurry. Then, just when readers worry about Sam’s safety, they have to wait for an update.”
Prince Tour Tops Box Office
Prince’s tour of North America was the best-selling live tour of 2004. “His 69 city, 96 show tour took $87.4m during 2004, beating Celine Dion’s Las Vegas residency, which came in second, taking $80.4m.”
A New Weapon For Tracking Art Thieves
New software will soon make it possible for investigators to instantly check whether a piece of art in front of them is stolen. “With Derdack’s software, investigators can take a photo of a suspicious painting with a cellphone or a personal digital assistant, send it wirelessly by GPRS or UMTS networks to international databases of stolen art and make a match – within seconds.”
Record Numbers To UK Museums In 2004 – Is This Good?
Britons flocked to UK museums this year – “6 million more people passed through their doors, bringing the overall increase since admission charges were ditched for important national collections to 75%. Yesterday, the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, called the figures “incredible”, and promised that free admission would continue to be a cornerstone of government policy. However, the Art Fund charity warned that the spectacular increase may prove “a hollow victory” without proper compensation for museums that formerly charged or adequate funds for museums that never charged but have lost out badly in recent spending rounds.”
Are The Barnes’ Plans Reasonable?
The decision to allow the Barnes Collection to move to Philadelphia is just the beginning of a long process. And are the Barnes’ projections realistic? “The Barnes has budgeted $150 million to build a 120,000- to 150,000-square-foot building, to move into it, and to create an endowment.” Some experts question the plan: “All of the numbers are perfectly reasonable, but all are at the optimistic end of the scale of reasonable. Together in combination, the overall outcome is unreasonable. So the Barnes must either raise more than $150 million up front, or scale back its plans. That would require some tough, tough choices.”