August 27, 2008
Twittering the Classics
I don't know about you, but I have been underwhelmed by Twitter as a vehicle for political coverage. Just because everybody's doing it doesn't mean it's a good idea. Does "twittering" sound like serious reportage to you?
Twittered literature, however--now there's an idea with legs. Call it twitlit. Maud Newton notes that, so far, we have twittered versions of Moby-Dick, Paradise Lost, and William Blake. Others?
Small Wages. Bitter Cold.
No, it's not a job in journalism. The Guardian reports that some intrepid Brits are looking for a hardy soul to accompany them to the South Pole in honor of the 100th anniversary of Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod expedition:
A hundred years after the appearance of one of the strangest and least enticing advertisements in newspaper history - "Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success" - a single brave soul is being sought to shuffle along in the heroic footsteps of Ernest Shackleton.
Shackleton's probably my favorite polar explorer, neither dour (Amundsen) nor doomed (Scott). The 2008 expedition includes Shackleton's great-grandson and other descendants of members of the original crew, and they're likely to have a slightly easier time of it than their predecessors did. Tempted? Apply here.
August 26, 2008
Enough of This Anecdotage!
During my stint as a contributing editor at Book World, the phrase "minor novelist" used to get thrown around once in a while. I always hated it: It's patronizing, and it's almost always used by people who will never get around to writing a novel at all. (Though of course if they did it would be anything but minor.)
After reading a review in the Aug. 1 TLS, though, I'd like to suggest that the phrase "minor memoirist" needs to go into wider circulation, given what the publishing industry has been dishing out. Here's A.N. Wilson (in no sense a minor writer) taking the lash to Jeremy Lewis's Grub Street Irregular:
But in this account of how the author "plumped" for publishing, worked in a minor capacity for a number of firms, and then helped out in an editorial capacity at several small magazines, the reader is left wondering whether anything interesting is going to happen and I may as well spoil it for you by saying that it doesn't. At one point, attending a seminar on the art of biography, the author is sharply upbraided by Roy Foster, who tells him, "I think, Jeremy, that we’ve had enough of this anecdotage."
Exactly.
August 25, 2008
"Semiotic Analysis and Singalongs"
The July 18 issue of the TLS has a report on the Fred Astaire Conference, held in June at Oriel College, Oxford. I've been to a fair number of academic conferences in the last couple of years--some more entertaining than others--and I wish this one had been in the travel budget. Thanks to my dad, I grew up on musicals, and I am delighted that scholars have seen fit to tackle the big questions:
A lively discussion evolved around the subject of Rogers's dresses, traditionally maligned for being 'in the way': a view that is now undergoing revision. Even the famous feather-shedding confection for "Cheek to Cheek" in Top Hat (a dress parodied by Judy Garland and Astaire in Easter Parade) found apologists.
Also discussed: Astaire as "the New Man of the post-First World War era," his "deep understanding" of jazz" ("Astaire was the only film dancer who danced to the Blues"--could that possibly be true?), and his close friendship with George Gershwin. As the TLS article notes, "Gershwin's songs were preternaturally difficult to dance to, and Astaire was probably the only performer who could properly dance to them." Amen to that.
August 22, 2008
"Elephant Legs Are Much Bendier Than Shakespeare Thought"
Everybody gets it wrong sometimes. (Via PlayShakespeare.com.)
