“An unpublished sonnet that Sylvia Plath wrote in college while pondering themes in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ will appear Wednesday in a Virginia online literary journal. Plath, who committed suicide in 1963 at 30, wrote ‘Ennui’ in 1955 in her senior year at Smith College.”
Tag: 10.31.06
Museum Director Pontus Hulten, 82
“Pontus Hulten, a visionary art impresario who embraced artists of many persuasions, conceived of museums as public forums for mind-bending experiences and infused his ideas into the foundations of several major institutions, including the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, died Wednesday at his home in Stockholm.”
Reticence, A Scarce Quantity On The Big Screen
“Everywhere we look, we live in a confessional age. The novel has been replaced by the memoir as our most talked-about literary genre. The sitcom, for years TV’s water-cooler conversation starter, has been superseded by reality TV and talk shows, forms that thrive on exhibitionism. Hip-hop has done such a good job of blurring the lines between self-expression and self-promotion that it’s almost impossible to tell the difference between Jay-Z’s new album and his beer ad.” No wonder stoicism has largely disappeared from our movie screens — or are we aping what Hollywood shows us?
D.C. Authors Settle Scores By Telling All
“It used to be that telling tales out of the White House was déclassé, even tawdry.” No longer. “These days, book parties have replaced cocktail hours in Washington social circles, and power is no longer measured in proximity to the Oval Office but in phone time with Bob Barnett, book agent to Bob Woodward and other aspiring political literary stars. Things have gotten so bad that the 8 a.m. staff meetings at the White House have reportedly gone chilly, with participants reluctant to express their views for fear someone at the table is taking notes or planning revenge — by the book.”
As If Switching The Clocks Back Weren’t Confusing Enough …
“A matinee of ‘The Little Dog Laughed’ was delayed on Sunday because the show’s star was at Bed Bath & Beyond buying mattress pads.” The Broadway play, in previews, had pushed its regular 3 o’clock matinee up to 2 o’clock. “The audience understood the new schedule. So did the stage manager, and the director, and most of the actors. Just about everyone did except for the play’s star, Julie White. ‘It gets to be about noon, which is the time I would start getting ready to go to the theater for a 2 o’clock,’ Ms. White said yesterday. ‘And I think, “Oh wait, I have a whole ’nother hour, and I hate my mattress pads!” ‘ “
Lortel Foundation Names First Playwriting Fellows
“The Lucille Lortel Foundation, which recently started a program to award fellowships to playwrights every two years, announced the first eight recipients. Melissa James Gibson (‘[sic]’), David Greenspan (‘She Stoops to Comedy’), Jessica Hagedorn (‘Dogeaters’), Julia Jordan (‘Tatjana in Color’), Lisa Kron (‘Well’), Lynn Nottage (‘Intimate Apparel’), Dael Orlandersmith (‘Yellowman’) and Adam Rapp (‘Red Light Winter’) will each receive $50,000. … The winners were selected by a seven-member panel that included the playwrights David Henry Hwang and Paula Vogel.” (sixth item)
Drama Critic Richard Gilman, 83
“Richard Gilman, the drama and literary critic whose elegant, contentious voice resonated through four decades in American letters, earning him both admirers and enemies of partisan fierceness, died Saturday at his home in Kusatsu, Japan.”
Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Saved
“The community has bailed out the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, saving it from looming bankruptcy and closure. In less than a month, more than 1,400 people pledged a total of $2.3 million to the struggling orchestra. It’s enough money to ensure the symphony will not be forced to shut down at the end of this month. … On Oct. 4, the symphony announced it needed $2.5 million by the end of the month or it wouldn’t be able to carry on.” As the symphony works on a sustainability plan, musicians and staff have taken pay cuts.
Whitney To Move Downtown?
“The museum won its struggle to have the city approve a tower designed by the architect Renzo Piano. But after weighing the pros and cons, those familiar with the process say, the Whitney has determined that the Piano project may not get the museum sufficient additional space for the money. The museum has instead set its sights on a location downtown at the entrance to the High Line, an abandoned elevated railway that is to become a landscaped esplanade.”
The Painter To The Court
Andrew Vicari is the offical court painter to the royal Saudi family. “Goya, van Dyck and Holbein were all court painters, and so I am just following in a great tradition. Some people sneer at the thought of court painter, I don’t know why. It’s a great privilege. Some of the best paintings in the world were done of kings and princes.”