If someone asked you to name the world’s most common plot, you’d probably come up with something like this: A hero heeds a call to adventure – perhaps slaying a dragon or protecting their homeland – then they cross an unknown frontier, where they face trials, triumph over a great challenge, and come home with
The best of literary internet Today: In 1892, Walter Benjamin is born. How does it feel when one of your poems literally goes to the moon? | lit hub nature Steven W. Why are Thrasher suing Northwestern University (and the US government)? | Lit Hub Politics “Simply put, people don’t buy books. They buy holograms,
If you’ve ever been to a bookstore with an author, you may have noticed something unique: Authors don’t check out new books like normal people. Your average reader, when picking up a book, will first inspect the cover, then he or she will read the summary, and finally he or she will glance at the
At the bar, it took a while to get service; He was worried that because the twenty-three-year-old woman had been out of his sight for so long, he might return and find her missing. However, she didn’t, and he made sure to express his relief when she reappeared in the corner of the L-shaped room.
National Book Award-winner Sigrid Nunez says, “The reader will forgive the novelist for some things. Like, in a 400-page book, you can have a dozen flat sentences. But in a (short) story? No. You can’t do that.” Article continues after ad Twelve medium sentences in a book of perhaps $6,000 have an authorship hit rate
This is a story we cannot afford to miss. From ancient times to outer space, literature and film are filled with plucky adventurers struggling to get home. This week, Christopher Nolan cashes in on that safe narrative bet New one odyssey Starring Matt Damon and Anne Hathaway. We can debate the success of this latest
He doesn’t remember me, but I know who he is. The biographer and I met at a party, about a year after I arrived in New York. Nathaniel took me to a literary fundraiser in one of those apartments where the elevator opens directly into the living room. “Wilhelmina, this nice man wants to write
The best of literary internet Today: In 1904, Anton Chekhov died of tuberculosis. “I usually write things my own way.” Eric Olsson introducing Sigrid Núñez at the release of her collection, it will come back to you. | Lit Hub Craft Angela Flournoy Finds Out Why Jean Called Makdisi beirut pieces “A Memoir of Surviving
Today, the DAG Foundation announced the winners of its second annual DAG Awards, which award $20,000 to a visual artist, a writer and a musician “whose work expands the possibilities for American art.” Specifically, the DAG Prize for Literature is intended to “support writing that offers significant innovation – for example, at the level of
The best of literary internet Today: In 1930, about 6,000 Spiritualists gathered at the Royal Albert Hall for a memorial to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, including his relatives. Medium Estelle Roberts sent a private message to Doyle’s widow, which she confirmed to be genuine. Article continues after ad