bush, the poet
The full text of the poem George Bush wrote his wife is here. Would you care to take a stab at a parody?
Via TLL.
The full text of the poem George Bush wrote his wife is here. Would you care to take a stab at a parody?
Via TLL.
Via Publishers’ Lunch I hear that The Da Vinci Code will be made into a movie, which will be directed/produced by middle of the middle of the mainstream team of Ron Howard/Brian Grazer.
in the Guardian today.
David Cole, a Georgetown University law professor who is known for his liberal views, and whose new book Enemy Aliens, about the USA PATRIOT Act, is now in bookstores, knows how to throw a book party: He invites the man who is credited with crafting much of the controversial law. That man is Viet Dinh, another Georgetown University law professor. The article tries to be funny by setting up the debate between those two. Worth a read for the contrast between the two professors’ views on civil liberties.
The Academy has made its pick and it’s JM Coetzee. I’m really, really thrilled with the choice. It’s amusing to note that, according to the news story, no one’s been able to reach the man to tell him. Heh. Clickity Click: Waiting for the Barbarians. Disgrace. The Life and Times of Michael K..
Via Moby, I hear that the Nobel Prize in Literature will be announced this Thursday and that the Syrian poet Ali Ahmad Said is considered one of the front-runners. If you’re wondering who the hell is Ali Ahmad Said, well, you’re not alone. He’s better known as Adonis (or Adunis). (Still no help? Get thee to a bookstore.) Adonis is not as popular as Mahmoud Darwish in the Arab world, but he’s still widely read and respected. Here’s my problem. While I think that Adonis is deserving, I’m irked about reports that the choice is motivated by desires to appease Arab audiences after the Iraq war. Adonis should win on the strength of his work, not because the time is right. (By the way, I was equally annoyed in 2001 when the Academy chose notorious Arab-basher V.S. Naipaul as the recipient so soon after the WTC attacks.) Anyway. Time to link. Collections by Adonis available online: The Pages of Day and Night. If Only the Sea Could Sleep.