Laura Miller: “If you are, like me, a reader resistant to the type of fiction Munro writes, then the praise of Jonathan Franzen or James Wood or Francine Prose is probably not going to change your mind. On the other hand, you might just listen to me, someone who once shared your resistance, when I tell you that, this time around, the Swedish Academy has gotten it right.”
Category: publishing
France Passes Law To Protect Bookstores From Amazon
“French lawmakers on Thursday took aim at Amazon to protect local bookshops by voting through a law that bars online booksellers from offering free delivery to customers on top of a maximum 5 percent discount on books.”
Why The French Want A Law Protecting Bookstores From Amazon
This summer the culture minister “accused Amazon of driving prices down in order to raise them once a monopoly had been secured. The concept is so repellent to national sentiment that an English word has been commandeered to describe it: dumping. … As online sales rise, Amazon has come to be seen in France as le mastodonte américain, the mammoth capitalist interloper rumbling across the Atlantic to trample on the delicacies of culture.”
Translating Classical Literature: Two Critics Weigh In
Daniel Mendelsohn: “Tone is everything. Translating Agamemnon? Clytemnestra shouldn’t sound like Joan Crawford.” Dana Stevens: “In their eagerness to make Homer accessible to impatient 21st-century ears, [two] new translations sometimes opt for speed and directness at the cost of nobility.”
Study: Reading Literary Fiction Helps Us Better Read People
“If the idea of plowing through a Pynchon feels a bit too much like work, here’s a piece of news that may inspire you: Doing so may help you better discern the beliefs, motivations, and emotions of those around you.”
Why Artists Are Key To The Future Of Publishing
“The New Yorker’s digital wonks tracked 645 million mainstream media impressions of the cover image and a similar number of impressions on social media. They estimate it has been viewed 1.3 billion times in the three months since its publication.”
At The World’s Biggest Book Fair – New Alliances For Publishers
“The dividing line is no longer between old and new, print and e-books, analogue and digital. Instead it runs between those who have a passion for content and who want to provide access to it, and those who don’t really care what they’re selling.”
The Pastor Strays, But Churchgoing Readers Pay – For More Than A Million Books
“As much as [Roby’s] novels traffic in Mr. Black’s sins — living large and cheating on two wives while presenting himself as the symbol of moral authority — they also depict in knowledgeable and even tender ways black Christianity’s deep sense of community and a fabric of meaningful ritual. It is precisely because Mr. Black serves so valuable a tradition that his failings hit with such impact.”
How Out Of Touch Is The Literature Nobel Jury?
“Meet Jon Fosse, the angst-filled Norwegian journalist and novelist who turned to playwriting in his 30s and now, at 53, finds himself among the favorites to win this year’s prize.”
One Way To Profit from E-books (Hey, Big Publishers? Take Note)
“Success in digital publishing, say Endeavour’s founders, lies in volume (outsourcing editing and cover design, they publish eight titles a week and are hoping to reach 10 by Christmas) and flexibility with pricing.”