Lit Hub Weekly October 18 - 22, 2021
TODAY: In 1958, Boris Pasternak is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Days later, he is forced by the Russian government to renounce it.
“But fiction is to literal representation what painting is to photography; it’s not claiming to be ‘real’ in the same way.” Mary Gaitskill on borrowing from real life in writing. | Lit Hub
How to memorize the un-memorizable: Marcus du Sautoy offers tips and tricks for building a better “memory palace.” | Lit Hub
Sonya Huber recommends eight great novels that unfold over the course of 24 hours. | Lit Hub Reading Lists
“After the wave of attention from the first night, America seemed to shut down. Not for a natural disaster, but for a cultural awakening.” Wil Haygood on when 130 million Americans tuned in to watch Roots. | Lit Hub TV
Elizabeth Strout’s Oh, William!, Rebecca Solnit’s Orwell’s Roses, and Billy Porter’s Unprotected all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week. | Book Marks
Mark Seal traces the influence of Mario Puzo’s The Godfather on David Chase’s Sopranos. | CrimeReads
Bad news from Vegas: The Believer will stop publishing after its spring 2022 issue. | The Hub 
Helen Macdonald profiles Denis Villeneuve, the filmmaker breaking “the curse of Dune.” | The New York Times Magazine
“Clifton’s purpose is to teach us to see that we are, in fact, moving together and that we are, in fact, part of a large whole.” Tracy K. Smith on the luminous Lucille Clifton. | The Paris Review
Poets of color have ushered in a new golden age for poetry, writes Leah Asmelash. | CNN
On Nella Larsen, Mariah Carey, and the history of passing narratives. | Vulture
“It’s a terrible thing to be estranged from your own language because you don’t feel that you reach a certain standard.” Manon Steffan Ros discusses the spiritual power of translation. | Words Without Borders
“The obsession with this fantasy is reflected at the highest levels of this industry.” On ghostwriting and the myth of the lone creative genius. | Study Hall
Hanif Abdurraqib on the work of Aminah Robinson and how the MacArthur grant could help him impact folks in the city he loves. | Columbus Alive 
“Who are the gatekeepers of history?” Mary Rambaran-Olm on the prevalence of white supremacy in Medieval history, and finding community in the archives. | Public Books
“What I needed was not more brutal truth but a good reason to go on.” Joshua Ferris gives in to illusion. | Esquire
Seven authors consider their favorite “overlooked” Black writers. | The Guardian
Inside the surprising succession news at the Scholastic publishing company. | The New York Times
A tribute to Gary Paulsen, whose stories “affirmed the inexhaustible ability of young people to grow and learn on their own terms.” | Gawker
Chelsea G. Summers reflects on her experience selling books through TikTok and other social media platforms. | Dirt
“Solitude without solace, shorn of Thoreauvian simplicity, of emotional absolution, is also real and too often it is the lot of women.” Rafia Zakaria on searching for Thoreau as a Pakistani American woman. | Slate
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ALSO THIS WEEK ON LITERARY HUB
Rebecca Solnit considers the importance of the rose in art and culture • Jane Goodall still has hope for the planet • On the 29-hour standoff that got Samuel L. Jackson expelled from Morehouse College • Eight teachers across America reflect on teaching through a pandemic • Can you guess these famous authors based on their first bios? • Olivia Rutigliano “reads” Wes Anderson’s oeuvre • On Ross Gay, a true poet of our times • Oedipus at the Bellevue Men’s Shelter • Meriel Schindler on the unusual relationship between Hitler and his family physician • Sesali Bowen on who gets to be a “bad bitch” • Read 19th-century reports about encounters with dragons • What do journalists owe their subjects—especially unwilling ones? • Calculating the cruelty of the American Dream • Louise Fein considers how epilepsy has been (poorly) portrayed in fiction • How second-wave feminists took on gendered drinking discrimination • On the 16-year task of piecing together The Canterbury Tales • How Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx discovered hard rock in small-town Idaho • On rescuing the last diving horse in America • Take an illustrated tour of beloved, diverse indie bookstores • On the lineage of protest music • Sallie Tisdale on the manipulative tactics of reality TV • Patrick Nunn on rising ocean levels and climate change denial • Was Tess of the D’Ubervilles the first #MeToo novel? • How nostalgia leads to political decline • Chris Hedges reflects on teaching playwriting in prison • Finding a book when you can’t remember the title… or author • Oscar Oswald on the search for a wild poetry • Who gets to write about the pandemic? • Amy Lee Lillard on channeling her anger through punk music • Katherine May recommends books about the importance of walking
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