“As a literary showdown, Mario Vargas Llosa vs. Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez ranks with some of the most famous feuds, including Lillian Hellman vs. Mary McCarthy, Vladimir Nabokov vs. Edmund Wilson, and Norman Mailer vs. Gore Vidal.” Now, 31 years later, the mystery of the fight has been solved.
Tag: 03.28.07
Memoirs Bigger Than Ourselves
Memoirs are everywhere; everyone writes them. “What has been most striking to us at Slate is how many memoirs these days are anything but coming-of-age stories; instead, they tackle issues and subjects larger than the self.”
YouTube Is A Jazz Goldmine
“Pop music’s big live moments tend to take place in front of massive audiences and are well documented in film. But golden moments in jazz are often improvised and unexpected, as likely to have taken place in someone’s front room or at a private party, as at an organised concert.” That’s where YouTube comes in with a trove of vintage musical footage, particularly for jazz fans.
English National Opera’s Darkest Night?
Just when the ENO’s artistic fortunes seem to be turning, the company hits a low point. “Plans for a ten percent staff cut have been stalled by procedural chaos and a memo, circulating at the Department of Culture, recommends that Tessa Jowell should scrap the company to save money for the Olympics. In a history fraught with survival threats, this may be ENO’s lowest moment – and it’s starting to show.”
Oprah Picks Reclusive Writer For Book Club
Cormac McCarthy, one of the country’s most revered and press-shy authors — a man only slightly more accessible than J.D. Salinger — will give his first ever television interview, lured by the long arm of Winfrey, publishing’s biggest hit-maker and a media superstar.
Study: Online Newspaper Readers Read More
“When readers chose to read an online story, they usually read an average of 77% of the story, compared to 62% in broadsheets and 57% in tabloids. The survey, in which 600 newspaper readers from six different newspapers were studied, utilized electronic eyetracking equipment that readers wore while they read broadsheet, tabloid and online editions of newspapers.”
Can 3D Save The Movies?
The head of a top American movie theatre chain says that “box office results from the handful of 3D films released so far convinced him of the potential advantages for theaters, not just studios in switching to digital projection systems that support modern 3D technology… Audiences were willing to pay premium ticket prices for 3D films, and said they preferred them by a 2-to-1 margin.”
Reaffirming August Wilson’s Greatness
August Wilson’s “great plays are surely without equal in our time. The staggering King Hedley II–the ninth in his magnificent 10-play cycle of African-American life–has now been excellently revived by the Signature Theatre Company, and it still frightens me. The concluding scene of accidental murder and messianic biblical incantation leaves us devastated and helpless, as if we were watching ritual human sacrifice.”
What Ails The Smithsonian
“No one disputes that it is an unwieldy institution — an amorphous amalgam of arts and sciences, research and entertainment. Because it receives most of its money from taxpayers, the Smithsonian needs a leader who can be an advocate to the public and to Congress. Mr. Small has been ineffective in both roles. The Smithsonian needs a leader who understands and can balance the needs of its many separate museums and entities. As Mr. Small leaves, a new report says the Smithsonian’s eight art museums are drastically underfinanced in comparison with its history and science museums.”
Smithsonian Needs An Overhaul
The Smithsonian has made the right move in removing Lawrence Small as director. It’s a move that should have happened much earlier, writes Eric Gibson. “But overdue as it was, Mr. Small’s departure will amount to very little unless it becomes an occasion to address some longstanding problems. The first is the Smithsonian’s governance.”