Category: literary life

New evidence appears to suggest that Olaudah Equiano, whose memoir about being transported as a slave from Africa to the Carribean was published in 1789 (making it one of the earliest published books by an African author in England) may, in fact, have been born in South Carolina. A baptismal record and a ship’s muster both list the state as a place of birth for Equiano.

Equiano’s significance to transatlantic history has grown precipitously over the last few decades. History professor James Walvin bought a first edition of his book in 1967 for 5 shillings; today it is worth $12,000.

“So many people have a stake in Equiano that it is bound to upset a lot of people,” says Prof Walvin, from York university in England. “These are two documents among many. You can’t ignore them. But if it’s true then it’s a dynamite issue.”

A bit disturbing–that Equiano’s historical significance is measured in dollar amounts. The issue is quite larger, of course, and has to do with history as well as with racial politics. It’ll be interesting to see whether other evidence bears out this new interpretation.

Zadie Smith’s interview on BBC Radio’s Nightwaves appears to be available. (Click on the link for Monday.)

The latest installment of the Bat Segundo Show is up now. Ed talks to Brett Easton Ellis about the origins of Lunar Park, Stephen King, the use of brand name description in fiction, the rules of fiction, subtext, the dramaturgy of writing about writers, episodic fiction vs. narrative fiction, pushing boundaries, 9/11, the generation between 1961 and 1971 and the generation after, keeping track of young writers, and responsibility within Ellis’ work.

Ed also reveals that he had planned an interview with Zadie Smith, but that fell through.

The Best American Short Stories, which this year is guest-edited by Michael Chabon, hits stores in just about three weeks. In his introduction to the twenty stories he selected, Chabon makes a case for reclaiming the notion of entertainment. Too often, he says, artists tend to think that it debases their art to entertain.

Yet entertainment–as I define it, pleasure and all–remains the only sure means we have of bridging, or at least of feeling as if we have bridged, the gulf of consciousness that separates each of us from everybody else. The best response to those who would cheapen and exploit it is not to disparage or repudiate but to reclaim entertainment as a job fit for artists and for audiences, a two-way exchange of attention, experience, and the universal hunger for connection.

And so, he says, he picked the twenty stories that “pleased him best.” They include work by Dennis Lehane, Kelly Link, Charles D’Ambrosio, Edward P. Jones, George Saunders, and others.

Also out in three weeks is The Best American Nonrequired Reading, edited by Dave Eggers, and with an introduction by Beck. I know it’s fashionable to knock Eggers, but I am probably one of only 3 people left in this country who is indifferent to him. I haven’t read his memoir, though I’ve read some of his short work, and I can’t seem to get worked up enough about any of the things that seem to enthrall or antagonize so many people. But I’ve always liked BANR; it’s different, it mixes things up a bit; and it always surprises me.

At any rate, I was happy to see Eggers had selected one of my absolute favorites from the past year: George Saunders’ “Manifesto,” which appeared in Slate. (There you have it: I like an anthology because it reflects my idiosyncratic taste.) Other selections include stories by Daniel Alarcón, Rattawut Lapcharoensap, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Aimee Bender. Look for it starting October 5.

If you’d like to offer your support to Orhan Pamuk and to stand against those ridiculous charges of insulting the Turkish state, you can use one of the many addresses and phone numbers that Bookslut provides here.

Writer, punk rocker, and Vermin on the Mount curator Jim Ruland is interviewed over at L.A.ist. Check it out.