The Difficult Lillian Hellman

“Once celebrated for her taut writing and devotion to social justice, her image since her death in 1984, aged 79, has curdled into something villainous. Her plays are still performed … but they are often dismissed as moralising melodramas. Her name now tends to invite vitriol about her being a Stalinist and a liar.”

Werner Herzog On The Future Of Humanity

“Microbes can come and wipe us out. It can happen fast. Avian virus or mad cow disease, you name it. … Or a cataclysmic volcanic eruption which would darken the skies for 10 years … Trilobites died out, dinosaurs died out. Life on our planet has been a constant series of cataclysmic events, and we are more suitable for extinction than a trilobite or a reptile. So we will vanish.”

Critiquing The Critics Of NY Public Library’s Renovation

The New York Public Library has instituted a public relations blitz to respond to its critics (including literary and scholarly luminaries), who “question how users of the libraries to be sold will fit inside the main building (its number of annual visitors — 1.6 million — is expected to more than double) and whether books moved to New Jersey really will be available within 24 hours, as the library has promised.”

Censoring The London Book Fair To Please China – What A Terrible Idea For Britain

The London Book Fair has invited Chinese authors specifically sanctioned by the state – and that’s far from enough, especially when the event takes public funding. “If British publishing goes along with this grubby stitch-up, it will indeed dishonour not just its best traditions but the best traditions of this country, which we – silly, complacent people that we are – do too little to defend.”

Having A Hard Time Getting Off The Sofa? Grab A Good (Audio)Book

“It is we amateur runners who are likeliest to turn to audiobooks as a training accompaniment, I suspect. Far from wanting to ‘listen to our breathing’ to achieve an optimum split time, we’d rather drown it out with something more interesting that will distract our minds from the miles of unrun road ahead. As I found with The Fear Index, a cliffhanging chapter ending will force the most reluctant runner into his or her trainers again, not for the fun of training but simply to find out what happens next.”

Acting, Alone (Or, How Maybe Mike Daisey Isn’t The Anti-Christ)

“I’m still in suspense. Where’s the smoking gun? I keep thinking that someone or something else was betrayed and no one has noticed. I know this sounds stupid, but I gotta ask: Did Mike Daisey act alone? For such a big betrayal he must have had accomplices, right? I mean people helped him put this piece on. Did they commission him? They certainly encouraged the guy.”