Category: literary life

A new book on Bernard-Henri Levy has stirred controversy in France for its virulent criticism of the open-shirted philosophe.

The book’s authors are sticking to their guns. ‘We tried to dissect what we call the “BHL system”,’ co-writer Olivier Toscer told The Observer last week. ‘We believe the media has created a myth that underpins who BHL is and what he does.’ Toscer, a journalist at a magazine in Paris, said Levy had become one of France’s ‘sacred cows’ who ‘it was no longer possible to criticise’.

Amusant. Sans plus.

The literary festival season will be starting soon and Simon Hoggart shares some of his experiences over at the Guardian.

Amazingly, real writers – not only hacks like me – seem willing to drop everything and speak at these places for, except rarely, no money at all. Quite a few festivals even jib about train fares and mileage (“we were rather hoping your publishers would fund your travel … “). My theory is that writing proper books is a lonely business, partly because unlike most jobs, it doesn’t provide much chance to meet others for the water cooler chat. (“God, he was the worst agent I’ve ever had.” “You don’t have to tell me!”) You might even sell a few books, though only if you’re famous.

More here.

Oh, goodie: The latest issue of the New York Review of Books is now online, with articles on globalization, Hamas, the Web, and Michelangelo, among others. There’s also an essay by Christopher de Bellaigue, titled “Iran and the Bomb,” which starts:

During the past few months, many nations have reached a consensus on the threat that Iran’s nuclear program poses to international security. A similar consensus eluded the same nations in the debate over invading Saddam Hussein’s Iraq three years ago. On March 8, the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna referred Iran’s case to the Security Council. In public or private, but increasingly in public, senior officials from a wide range of countries—including the US, the EU states that vociferously opposed the invasion of Iraq, as well as India and Japan—speak of Iran’s alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons with a conviction that suggests they regard it as an incontestable fact.

I’m going to go make a cup of coffee and come back to read it.

The shortlist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award has been announced, the Guardian reports. The selected books are:

Graceland by Chris Abani
Maps for Lost Lovers by Nadeem Aslam
Havoc, In Its Third Year by Ronan Bennett
The Closed Circle by Jonathan Coe
An Altered Light by Jens Christian Grondahl – translated from the Danish by Anne Born
The Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra – translated from the French by John Cullen
Breaking the Tongue by Vyvyane Loh
Don’t Move by Margaret Mazzantini – translated from the Italian by John Cullen
The Master by Colm Toibin
The Logogryph by Thomas Wharton

You can view the longlist here. Last year’s winning book was The Known World by Edward P. Jones. In 2004, it was This Blinding Absence of Light by Tahar Ben Jelloun.

Dan Wickett continues his litblogger e-panel series with interviews with SD Byrd, Becky Bame, Jeff Bryant, Steven J. McDermott, Clifford Garstang, Katrina Denza, Kristin, Anne Fernald, and Patrick Rapa.

The latest issue of Granta is available, and the theme is “God’s Own Countries.” Contributors include Pankaj Mishra, Nadeem Aslam, Nell Freudenberger, A.L. Kennedy, and others. None of the texts are available online, unfortunately. Granta is one of my favorite magazines. Check it out.

Link via the indispensable Maud.