George Hodgman, author of Bettyville: “You kind of have to face the fact if you write a memoir that you are a somewhat aggressive person, that you are appropriating lives, in a way, that aren’t yours. And you put yourself out there and you try to be really generous, and you do what you can to get permission, but a lot of times the permission is meaningless because they have no idea to the extent that you’re going to examine, or what you’re going to say. … So memoir is a total minefield, as you know. It’s best if you write the book and leave the country.”
Tag: 04.28.15
How Eduardo Galeano Changed Writing (It Wasn’t With His Leftism)
The great Uruguayan author is best known for his 1971 anti-capitalist manifesto Open Veins of Latin America – a work he repudiated last year. (He calls the prose unreadable.) But his later “technique is difficult to precisely describe, but it is easy enough to read. The word most often applied is ‘fragmentary,’ though the fragments are carefully arranged into unified wholes.”
A Little Dose Of Nastiness Can Be A Creative Thing (Wait, What?)
“A spate of research published over the past couple of years reveals something surprising and new: measured amounts of dark-side traits, expressed at lower levels – too little to be considered a diagnosable personality disorder – open the doors of perception, helping us see the world through an edgier, more on-the-bias creative lens.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 04.28.15
Come Spring!
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2015-04-28
And the Buffalo Roam
AJBlog: Plain English Published 2015-04-28
Burroughs Makes Inroads, But What About Algren?
AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2015-04-28
[ssba_hide]
Chandos Founder Brian Couzens Changed Classical Music Recording In Britain
“He steered the label through some of the recording industry’s most turbulent times, in the process championing neglected British composers, and regularly winning international awards for audio quality as well as musical excellence.”
In A Decade, The Percentage Of Female Playwrights In Britain Has Changed By … One Percent
“What the latest research demonstrates is how little progress has been made in the last 10 years on gender and play production. A decade ago, 30% of new plays produced in UK theatres were written by women. In 2013, it was 31%.”
The Oscar-Winning Cinematographer For Lord Of The Rings Dies At 59
“Words cannot express the absolute feeling of loss, particularly for his immediate family. Andrew gave us many personal cinema moments, moments that will live with us forever, and yet he has been taken from us way too early.”
These Musicians Are Memorizing Entire Symphonies
“Neuroscientists are still trying to discover why music can be resistant to memory problems. One possibility is that music, like smell, taps into primitive emotional centres in the brain that have widespread connections to other brain areas.”
The Director Of The National Museum of African American History Decides How To Curate #BlackLivesMatter
“‘It’s our job to give people voice that have been voiceless and make visible those that have been invisible,’ said [Lonnie] Bunch, addressing why the NMAAHC decided to host a symposium on such a controversial topic. ‘This must be a museum that helps America remember its past to better understand its present.'”
Opera Changed The World Of The Arts (And It’s Still Alive And Evolving For The Digital Age)
“As we become increasingly distracted, encouraged as we are in all aspects of life to contribute to the glut the Internet offers, opera and its cycle of reforms take on new importance. It is an art form inspired by the past that has proved essential to the future.”