Category: words

DOES A NEW LIBRARY REALLY NEED BOOKS?

Marquette University is building a new library. Only one problem – too many books to get in the way. Originally the $70 million library was to be conventional – just bigger. “But that began to seem old-fashioned. Now, the proposal is to keep books in the old library, and in the new one create a cyber cafe, complete with Internet hookups, a ‘technology warehouse,’ and spaces for live video conferences and large, computer-driven presentations. ” – Chicago Tribune

THE “POPE OF LITERATURE”

“Marcel Reich-Ranicki is not merely the most influential literary critic in Germany–the country which created modern criticism – he is also an educator and an impresario of literature; the man who has made housewives read serious novels and poetry. By exploiting the postmodern media, he has enabled millions of ordinary Germans to rediscover the premodern pleasures of the literary imagination.” – Prospect

41,000 DOWNLOADS LATER, —

— Stephen King has confirmed his faith in the popularity of internet publishing. Fans flocked to his website Monday as soon as the first installment of his new novel “The Plant” was posted. An amazing 78% abided by the honor system and actually paid the $1 download fee. – Inside.com

  • THE HORROR: “King is one of about 25 fiction writers capable of pulling off this sort of thing: He has a substantial, loyal fan base; he has developed a solid relationship with his readers through his Web site and various fan organs; and he writes the kind of fiction that’s really, really hard to stop reading once you start.” – Salon
  • NOT QUITE THE MONSTER: “‘The Plant’ is a story recycled, in part, from a manuscript begun in the 1980s. Despite a flurry of interest from the press, it hasn’t received much publicity. And at its current rate of sales, it remains to be seen whether the book will prove very profitable for any of the parties involved.” – Variety

IDENTITY ISSUES

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri (“Interpreter of Maladies”) reflects on the elusive nature of identity politics and the need of readers and critics alike to compartmentalize authors. “Take, for instance, the various ways I am described: as an American author, as an Indian-American author, as a British-born author, as an Anglo-Indian author, as an NRI (non-resident Indian) author, as an ABCD author (ABCD stands for American born confused “desi”). According to Indian academics, I’ve written something known as “Diaspora fiction”; in the U.S., it’s “immigrant fiction.” In a way, all of this amuses me.” – Feed

IS STEPHEN KING LEADING A REVOLUTION —

— in book publishing, as he’d have us believe, or “just exploring the power of celebrity in the digital age?” After the success of his earlier e-tale, King releases his next e-novel – this time available in installments over the net. “The launch has touched off a debate over whether the Web can liberate authors from their dependence on publishers, or just make it easier for truly famous people to rally their fans.” – New York Times

RETHINKING VANITY PRESS

“While in the past, self-publishing meant paying for costly print runs and then praying the books would sell, new digital technology enables books to be printed on demand quickly and inexpensively. Barnes & Noble is already using print-on-demand machines in their regional centres, and in July Simon & Schuster enlisted the Lightning Source unit of Ingram Industries to fulfill its print-on-demand orders.” – National Post (Canada)

ORIGINAL CHAUCER ANYONE?

In the 1560s Archbishop Thomas traveled England looking for the oldest books and manuscripts he could find to try to prove that the Church of England was the true church. That collection sat in a library in Cambridge, available only to scholars all these years. The school recently had the 500 manuscripts appraised and discovered they were worth about £500 million, forcing the school to try to build a proper home for the collection and open it to the public for the first time. – Financial Times

KING OF THE WEB, PART II

Stephen King plans to publish his next novel online in installments, beginning Monday. Readers would pay through the honor system – “to send King a check or money order for $1 per installment in a direct transaction that King describes as a way to thumb your nose at the publishing industry.” – Seattle Times (AP)

IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES

“American poetry has never passed through such a scattered era. This diffusion may be a result of the deaths in the last few decades of so many of its ablest practitioners and guides (Eliot, Frost, Roethke, Bishop, Berryman—and these but begin the unhappy list), or perhaps it is tied to the larger directionlessness that seems presently to haunt so many of the arts.” – New Criterion