Will social media and aggregated preferences sweep away book reviewing and literary culture? There’s nothing new about the death of literatureThe writer Caleb Crain is unhappy about “the intrusion of counting into the life of literature”. He believes that big data and predictive-taste algorithms are cutting humans “out of the loop”, and that social media are undermining our faith in “the mental states of other people” when those inner states aren’t acknowledged in tweets and likes. It seems we are mired in “a new kind of disenchantment”, he says, which is devolving our sense of literary merit. As big data blurs personal opinion into preference aggregates, and as Twitter-propelled article-surfing destroys reviewing communities and the authority of critics alike, Crain contends, we have no choice but to “declare war on counting”. So that, you know, “literature will survive”. Related: Computer says no: Amazon uses AI to combat fake reviews Bad criticism in public is a nuisance. Does it spell the end of days? Hardly [S]uddenly the cosmos seems like one vast plan after all, patterned in such a way that the novel you’re reading at bedtime connects to your astronomy lecture, connects to what you heard on NPR, connects to what your friend discusses in the cafeteria at lunch – and then briefly it’s as if the lid has come off the world, as if the world were a dollhouse, and you can glimpse what it would be like to see it whole, from above – a vertiginous magnificence. Continue... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2015-08-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The award-winning Irish author on losing his father at 18, the drawbacks of English editors and the theme of imprisonment in his workMike McCormack was born in London in 1965 and raised on a farm in County Mayo in the west of Ireland. He published his first story collection, Getting It in the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-11-11 18:00:01 UTC ]
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The bibliophiles in Christopher de Hamel’s lavishly illustrated book ensured the survival of medieval texts over centuries. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-11-11 10:00:39 UTC ]
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Alexandra Alter talks about her profile of the best-selling author behind “Fourth Wing” and Alexandra Jacobs discusses her review of “My Name is Barbra.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-11-10 18:47:36 UTC ]
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I am, primarily, a guitarist. Dabbling in keys and synths has always felt a bit unnatural from a physical standpoint. A keyboard doesn’t respond the way a fretted instrument does. This isn’t surprising, nor is it a bad thing. It’s just not what I’m used to. The better... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-11-10 15:00:28 UTC ]
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The Sonos Beam has been our top pick for compact soundbars for a while now. It offers a lot in a small package and the second-gen version also supports more immersive Dolby Atmos audio. The Beam doesn’t have any upfiring drivers though, so the impact of that spatial... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-11-09 18:30:45 UTC ]
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The bestselling author of The Power talks about her new techno-thriller, coping with grief and finding hope in the darkest of storiesNaomi Alderman, author of the bestselling novel The Power, is just getting over Covid and feeling a bit wiped out. “But don’t worry, I still seem able to talk for... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-11-04 09:00:34 UTC ]
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Jeanne DuPrau’s “Project F,” Patricia Forde’s “The Girl Who Fell to Earth” and Donna Barba Higuera’s “Alebrijes” answer the question, Could this be the beginning of the end? Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-11-03 09:01:10 UTC ]
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When she was in high school in the early 1950’s, Joanna Russ (1930–2011) read Mark Twain’s short story “A Medieval Romance,” about a duke without a male heir who brings his daughter up to fill the role, hiding her gender from all. Things get complicated when the duke’s niece falls in love with... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-11-03 08:41:28 UTC ]
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In an October 30 message, Goodreads officials urged users to report activity designed to “harass readers or authors, or attempt to artificially deflate or inflate the overall rating” of books. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-03 04:00:00 UTC ]
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World Literature Today to Co-host Online “RESISTIR Latin America” Poetry Event and Call for Peace News and Events [email protected] Mon, 10/30/2023 - 15:47 On Saturday, November 18 at 12pm cst, the “RESISTIR Groupe” of Latin American PEN Centers,... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2023-10-30 20:47:30 UTC ]
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World Literature Today to Co-host Online “RESISTIR Latin America” Poetry Event News and Events [email protected] Mon, 10/30/2023 - 15:47 On Saturday, November 18 at 10am cst, the “RESISTIR Groupe” of Latin American PEN Centers, World Literature... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2023-10-30 20:47:30 UTC ]
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Despite an infatuation with most things e-ink, I’ve resisted the world of e-ink notebooks. I’m one of the few who once owned a Kindle DX, that huge e-reader that existed for only a few years before being retired. In the last few years, we’ve seen Amazon get into e-ink... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-10-30 13:30:56 UTC ]
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In “The Woman in Me,” the pop star mines her extraordinary story for generic lessons. But the details speak for themselves. Continue reading at New Yorker
[ New Yorker | 2023-10-29 19:33:11 UTC ]
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The actor Michelle Williams reads the audiobook version of the recently liberated pop star’s memoir, “The Woman in Me.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-10-24 21:32:55 UTC ]
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Novelist, poet, and educator Heba Abu Nada, a beloved figure in the Palestinian literary community and the author of Oxygen is Not for the Dead, was killed in her home south of Gaza City by an Israeli airstrike on Friday. She was thirty-two years old. In her final tweet, written in Arabic on... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-24 15:54:33 UTC ]
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“The Upstairs Delicatessen,” a memoir by Dwight Garner of The New York Times, traces his life’s twin passions. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-10-24 09:00:14 UTC ]
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The leaves are amassing, the skeletons are out, and enormous bags of candy fill the grocery store aisles and threaten to spill their chocolates right into your mouth, through absolutely no fault of your own. Yep, it’s officially spooky season. But if you still need some help getting into the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-23 16:13:33 UTC ]
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The Lviv BookForum was vibrant this year, but still there is the backdrop of conflict and the need to find a place for storytellingLast year’s Lviv BookForum, a literary festival in the elegant western Ukrainian city, was mostly an online affair, held in a basement lecture theatre that might... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-10-21 05:00:38 UTC ]
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From her Louisiana roots to the quasi-imprisonment of her conservatorship, Britney Spears' 'The Woman in Me' paints the pop star's life as a Victorian nightmare. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-10-20 20:46:28 UTC ]
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This letter was originally published by ArabLit. The shocking and tragic events that began on October 7th and are ongoing today have had repercussions all over the globe, including within the publishing world. Award-winning Palestinian author Adania Shibli, who was a finalist for the 2020... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-17 09:05:58 UTC ]
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