“In the 15th and 16th centuries in Western Europe, the oldest published recipe collections emanated from the palaces of monarchs, princes, and grandes señores. … Gradually, technology broadened cookbooks’ intended audiences … [and,] in time, as new ideas formed about equality, democracy, and social stratification, presenting certain books as best suited for rich or for poor was no longer considered effective marketing, but culinary literature nonetheless has borne class markers for as long as it has existed.”
Tag: 10.27.17
In This Day And Age, Is There Any Point In Knowing The Bible? (Yea, Verily)
As literary scholar Grant Shreve argues, themes, characters, and memes from the Bible are everywhere in American culture, even in 2017. (Besides, he says, knowing your Bible might have helped you figure out what the hell was going on in mother!.)
How Bang On A Can Opened The Floodgates For The Alt-Classical Music
In Part II of an extended profile of the new-music powerhouse (see Part I here), Allan Kozinn gives an overview of the now-renowned composers and ensembles that Bang on a Can spawned and/or nurtured – not to mention a record label, a summer festival (popularly referred to as “Banglewood”), an educational program, and an avant-garde marching band – and considers the changes that the Bangers wrought in the entire U.S. musical ecosystem.
Harold Pinter’s Widow Finds Unknown Play – And Prints It In The Guardian
Antonia Fraser: “I did something I’ve never done before. I scribbled some notes on a page from one of Harold’s yellow legal pads because I was waiting for a taxi to go to Mass, and too lazy to go upstairs. … When I had written the note, I stripped off the yellow page. Then I nearly fainted. Beneath lay Harold’s unforgettable handwriting – although rather frail – and a title: ‘The Pres and the Officer’. Six pages followed, his handwriting getting noticeably stronger.” (includes complete script)
How Hollywood Is Cashing In On The Nostalgia Economy
These companies tap into our emotional longing for simpler times; even Socrates yearned for the days before this new-fangled technology called “reading” ruined everything (paywall). Never content with the cards we’ve been dealt, we keep on turning old ones over, wanting to escape into their familiar embrace.
How To Make Hollywood More Accessible To Deaf People?
“Closed captioning is widely but not unfailingly available in theaters; that should improve by next summer, when all theaters showing digital movies must comply with a new federal rule under the Americans With Disabilities Act. As for performers, ask people to name deaf movie actors — or films about deaf people starring deaf people — and you’ll probably get exactly one name and title: Marlee Matlin, who won an Oscar for her turn in “Children of a Lesser God” 30 years ago. Then, crickets.”
Change La Boheme? Are You Frickin’ Kidding?
“These new takes on this classic of classics raise the question of whether “La Bohème” should be messed with at all. We seem to have an almost instinctive desire for this piece to remain the same, to be the opera we encountered as children. Is that something we should resist or accept?”
Seattle’s Intiman Theatre Has A New Artistic Director
Jennifer Zeyl: “Theatre at its best—I’m beginning to see a pattern as an independent producer, a devised theatre-maker and a director—I think that autobiographical narrative is incredibly powerful. Talking about intersectionality and all the nuanced combination of identifiers that make one person. And how complex that is, and how unique it is, and how beautiful it is. And at a time, a political climate like we’re experiencing right now, to be able to stand in that and celebrate it and be heard and seen, I think is an act of revolution. That’s what we need right now. We really need to show up. People need to stand in their identities. That’s what actually makes America great.”
What’s Up With Predatory Men Like Terry Richardson Hiding Behind ‘Art’?
What in the WORLD, every magazine that ever bought into this: “Richardson’s aesthetic has been described as ‘sleaze fashion.’ His photos feature nudity, sexual innuendo and not-so-inventive uses of popsicles. The photographer, a wiry 52-year-old who’s often seen in thickly rimmed hipster glasses and flannel shirts, leans into his ‘pervy’ reputation, projecting a certain male fantasy of a nerd-turned-horndog.”
Canadian Lit Has A Lot Of Prizes – Perhaps Too Many Prizes
“It seems it is only a matter of time before there is an award for the best award – as if no Canadian author or publishing house should be left out in the cold.”