Tag: 12.09.19

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Demands Correction On Clint Eastwood Film

The Clint Eastwood film looks at the media circus that broke out around Jewell, a security guard who came under suspicion for orchestrating the Centennial Olympic Park bombing before being exonerated. Scruggs, an employee at the paper, broke the story that Jewell was under investigation by the FBI. The film shows Scruggs, portrayed by Olivia Wilde, sleeping with an FBI agent (Jon Hamm) to get the story. Scruggs died in 2001 at the age of 42. The paper has maintained that there is no evidence that Scruggs slept with anyone involved in the Jewell investigation. – Variety

In The Footsteps Of Peter Handke In Bosnia, Seeing What He Did, And Didn’t, See

Controversy has raged over the awarding of this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature to the Austrian writer, acknowledged as an accomplished author but accused by many observers of denying or defending Serbian war crimes in Bosnia in the 1990s. So John Erik Riley decided to reread the Handke essays at the heart of the dispute and visit Sarajevo, Goražde, Višegrad, and the site of the massacre at Srebrenica. – Literary Hub

William Luce, Playwright Of ‘Belle Of Amherst’ And ‘Barrymore’, Dead At 88

“Over a 40-year career, Luce … worked with the likes of Zoe Caldwell, George C. Scott and Claire Bloom as he wrote about the private lives of Charlotte Brontë, Lillian Hellman, Isak Dinesen, Zelda Fitzgerald and others. The Belle of Amherst, his portrait of the reclusive Massachusetts poet Emily Dickinson, won [Julie] Harris the fifth of her six Tony Awards … Barrymore, about the gifted and self-destructive actor John Barrymore, earned [Christopher] Plummer his second Tony and was filmed for television.” – The Hollywood Reporter

St. Petersburg Museums Struggle With Surge Of Chinese Tourists

Visits by Chinese citizens to Russia have been growing by 20% a year, and that rate will likely increase in 2020, when electronic visas become available. The extra crowds have caused particular problems at the Hermitage and, especially, at the Catherine Palace in nearby Tsarskoe Selo, where there are wait times of up to four hours as Chinese groups flock to see the famous Amber Room. – The Art Newspaper

Elena Ferrante’s Literary Success Has Changed The Role Of Women Writers In Italy

Her ascent, and the rediscovery of some of the last century’s great Italian female writers, has encouraged a new wave of women and shaken the country’s literary establishment. Women writers here are winning prestigious prizes, getting translated and selling copies. Their achievements have set off a wider debate in Italy about what constitutes literature in a country where self-referential virtuosity is often valued over storytelling, emotional resonance and issues like sexism or gender roles. – The New York Times

Ailey’s First Resident Choreographer Talks Disruption

Ailey formed his company, in part, to give people of color a place to dance, Jamar Roberts said. It was also a place for him to to tell their stories. Mr. Roberts wants to continue that, but times have changed. “Are we just saying, ‘Yay, we have a place to dance’ and is that a responsible conversation?” he said. “Is that relevant considering all that’s still going on? I feel wrong for asking these questions. I have a problem when I feel like I’m being disruptive.” – The New York Times

La Scala Gala Opens With 15 Minutes Of Applause For Italy’s President

For the second year, the performance opened with long applause for Italy’s president, Sergio Mattarella, sitting in the royal box with four government ministers. As last year, the Italian government is struggling, and the long applause was seen as a show of support for Italian institutions, which Mattarella represents in a non-partisan role. – Washington Post (AP)