What John Dos Passos’s ‘1919’ (And The Rest Of The ‘U.S.A.’ Trilogy) Got Right About 2019

“We’re often told, in hand-wringing tones, about the growing differences between red and blue states, and about our increasingly divisive political and social rhetoric. But, in Dos Passos’s view, division has been the rule in American life, not the exception; he considered it to be authentically American. The U.S.A. novels plumbed the depths of our rifts, and explored how they might be widened by a media-saturated age, and by the fragmentation of information and the latent social hysteria that come with it.” – The New Yorker

Alasdair Gray, Godfather Of Scotland’s Late-20th-Century Literary Renaissance, Dead At 85

“Irvine Welsh, Alan Warner, AL Kennedy and Janice Galloway, among others, were all Gray’s bairns. Authors invited Gray to illustrate their books. Little magazines sported his self-portraits and cursive designs on their covers. A graphic artist known locally for his eccentric appearance and behaviour became, at the age of nearly 50, a central figure of the literary world.” – The Guardian

Europe’s Utter Failure To Protect Liberty In Hungary

Why hasn’t the EU acted to curb Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s clearly problematic takeover of the media? (Or theatre, for that matter?) Well. “European countries have dragged their feet with Hungary’s Article 7 investigation, reluctant to question a fellow member state over an issue—media policy and regulation—that many European governments believe is a national matter. Were they to carry out an aggressive inquiry, that could set a precedent for investigations into their own domestic issues.” – The Atlantic

The New York Times’ Highlights Of This Year In Books

There’s so much – so many Best lists, so many ideas about gifts, so many essays about types in books – and then … “What have tweets and emojis done to the novel? According to the writer Charles Finch, the digital age has ushered in new ways of reading — and revived old ones (the scroll and the ideogram). But could it also explain the rise of autofiction?” – The New York Times