Category: literary life
Josh Levin compares rappers and bloggers over at Slate.
Those of you obsessed with external appearances may think I’m kidding. What, you ask, could those champagne-swilling, “bitch”-shouting rappers have in common with those Jolt-pounding, “read the whole thing“-writing bloggers?
For starters, both groups share a love of loose-fitting, pajama-style apparel. Still not satisfied? Bloggers and rappers are equally obsessed with social networking. Every rapper rolls with his entourage; every blogger rolls with his blog roll. Women can’t win an audience in either profession without raunching it up like Lil’ Kim or Wonkette.
And don’t forget those silly, silly names. Even if he didn’t flaunt his devotion to pimping and pit bulls, you’d probably guess Snoop Dogg is a rapper. And Fedlawyerguy-yeah, probably a blogger. But the “blogger or rapper?” parlor game can stump even the nerdiest gangsta. Does uggabugga hate on wack emcees or wack Charles Krauthammer? What about Mad Kane? Big Noyd, Justus League, Uppity Negro, Little Brother, Cold Fury, and South Knox Bubba? (Answers: blogger, blogger, rapper, rap group, blogger, rap group, blogger, blogger.)
No one is safe from that book.
Forget Clinton’s book launch party. Books by statesmen (statesmen lit?) are taking on a whole new dimension in Turkmenistan, according to the Post.
In Sicily, a reception was held recently to launch the Italian translation of a controversial book written by Saparmurad Niyazov, dictator and “president for life” of Turkmenistan. In Amsterdam, a Dutch translation of the book was unveiled at a party in a historic 17th-century house.
The various releases this month of the two-volume “Book of Spirit” — “Ruhnama” in Turkmen — are part of an international drive to boost the book’s circulation as well as what the government-controlled Turkmen media call a “victorious march around the world” by the author-president, 65, also known in his country as Turkmenbashi the Great.
Even more disturbing is the fact that Niyazov has reportedly ordered all the libraries in his country closed. The book’s translation in other languages is “funded” by corporations eager to do business in the oil-rich nation. And what do the corporate spokespersons have to say about this? Why, that it’s harmless of course:
“We sponsored it for inter-cultural understanding,” said Arantxa Doerrie, a spokeswoman for Zeppelin Baumaschinen, a German machinery company that translated the second volume of the book and presented it to Niyazov this month. The company plans to distribute the book in Germany, she said.
“In principle, yes, it is a dictatorship,” Doerrie said, “but simultaneously we see that very much is being done to help the people there — for the infrastructure with the building of streets, for example. That is what we understand. We sell building equipment, so yes, there is a market for us there, but we see our contribution as a way to help the people there.”
Way to help.
Amy Tan picks apart the Cliffs Notes of The Joy Luck Club and discusses labels applied to her work, according to this Tallahasse Democrat article. She apparently also brings her pet Yorkies (in “black, purse-sized bags”) to public events.
Some writers are committed to publishing their work no matter what. How committed? How does $15,000 sound?
Looks like Dan Wickett is a recidivist. Last month, he hosted an e-panel with the editors of several prominent literary journals. He does it again this month. His guests are David Lynn of The Kenyon Review, Gina Frangello of Other Voices, Jason Sanford of storySouth, Martin Lammon of Arts & Letters, Don Lee of Ploughshares, Esther Lee of Indiana Review, Barry Silesky of Another Chicago Magazine and Aaron Burch of Hobart.