Roberto Bolaño’s Tantrums, by Ilan Stavans

Essay “Literature was a vast minefield occupied by enemies,” Roberto Bolaño, who enjoyed accruing enemies in the pantheon of Latin American letters, writes in the short story “Meeting with Enrique Lihn” (New Yorker, December 22, 2008): except for a few classic authors (just a few), and every day I had to walk through that minefield, where any false move could be fatal, with only the poems of Archilochus to guide me. It’s like that for all young writers. There comes a time when you have no support, not even from friends, forget about mentors, and there’s no one to give you a hand; publication, prizes, and grants are reserved for the others, the ones who said “Yes, sir,” over and over, or those who praised the literary mandarins, a never-ending horde distinguished only by their aptitude for discipline and punishment—nothing escapes them and they forgive nothing. Aptitude for discipline and punishment Bolaño himself had aplenty, too. And in spite of his precarious health, he had stamina. At a young age, he had made up his mind he would die. Who cared if he annoyed others? His mission, as is clear from The Savage Detectives (1998), was to upend that tradition, to take it by the neck and expose its platitudes. What is the use of sacred cows if not to be desecrated? Indeed, every tradition needs an enfant terrible, maybe more than one. When was the last time a rabble-rouser came along in Latin American literature? As Bolaño put it in... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'

[ World Literature Today | 2022-02-28 21:05:10 UTC ]

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The Intensive Care Unit’ by J. G. Ballard: An Analysis

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) Of all the writers of science fiction and speculative fiction writing in the twentieth century, a few names spring to mind as candidates for the most ‘prophetic’ writers in the field: William Gibson, who popularised the term ‘cyberspace’ and the idea... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2023-04-03 14:00:15 UTC ]
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[ Book Riot | 2023-03-27 13:20:56 UTC ]
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Two Seattle Indie Publishers Unite Around Small-Press Distribution

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Eric Brown, science fiction author and Guardian critic, dies aged 62

Writers, publishers and agents pay tribute to a warm, generous figure, author of more than 50 books ranging from SFF to crime to children’s literatureEric Brown, a prolific, award-winning author who published more than 50 novels, children’s books and short story collections, and who was the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-03-23 13:58:10 UTC ]
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Lockdown in Literature, by The Editors of WLT

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Book Riot’s SFF Deals for March 20, 2023

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Book Riot’s SFF Deals for March 13, 2023

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Last Year's Sci-Fi Was More Genre-Bending Than Ever

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2023 Nebula Award Finalists Announced

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We want and we fear emotions in our robots. Here's what science fiction can teach us about flashes of emotion from Bing

It is one thing to treat AI as a tool when it has no scope for emotion. It is quite another when AI has a full suite of emotional responses. Continue reading at The Conversation

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Find new inspiration with this CES-featured app

It often feels like the buzziest things to come out of CES every year are fascinating hardware, new applications of AI, and things that feel right out of science fiction movies. But, sometimes, the coolest things you find at CES are the most useful. Take, for instance, Deepstash... Continue reading at PC World

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Researchers are using sound-waves and holograms to instantly mold tiny 3D shapes

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How NASA pulled off the DART mission, making science fiction a reality

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Science Fiction Tried to Warn Us about AI. Or Did It?, by Tom Gammarino

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Barnes & Noble is stealing the indie shop playbook, and it’s working

James Daunt launched his first indie bookshop in London 33 years ago. The Barnes & Noble CEO is now bringing the lessons he learned to the biggest bookseller in America. If you’re strolling down the Marylebone High Street in London, you’ll stumble across a popular bookstore called Daunt... Continue reading at Fast Company

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