Lauren Elkin

Lauren Elkin, Flâneuse (Penguin Books, 2016)

Sonny Rollins, Newk’s Time (Blue Note, 1957)

This is the fifth in a new weekly series that brings together the articles, reviews, interviews and miscellany that has caught my eye over the past seven days. Including: Thelonious Monk’s tips for playing a gig; a free course on creative writing from William Burroughs; and a review of the first authorised biography of Angela Carter. Take a look, and feel free to share!

Literature, Poetry, Theatre

• John Keats, ‘To Autumn’
• Lauren Elkin on her new book, Flâneuse
• Katie Gramich on the life and poetry of Edward Thomas
• Samuel Beckett declined an invitation from Esquire to cover the 1968 Democratic Party Convention in Chicago
• ‘Life does not tell stories. Life is chaotic, fluid, random’ — B. S. Johnson
• Alain Robbe-Grillet‘s provocative essays on creating new literature outside the ‘dead rules’ of the past resonate now
• On adapting Thomas Bernhard‘s The Loser for opera
• Anthony Burgess lists his favourite dystopian novels
• Dostoevsky vs. Tolstoy: A Competitive Family Vacation
• A full page of The New York Times dedicated to one poem
• William S. Burroughs teaches a free course in Creative Writing and Reading
• The Marquis de Sade and the office novel
• Lisa Stead on women writers and cinema
• 18 books Ernest Hemingway wished he could read again for the first time
• 15 best poetry books of all time
• Carla Hayden takes charge of the world’s largest library
• Ted Gioia reviews Angela Carter’s The Magic Toyshop
• The first authorised biography of Angela Carter
• 55 free online literature courses
• Jorge Luis Borges‘ Norton lectures on poetry
• 10 giant translated novels that make a mockery of subway reading
• Who will win the Nobel Prize for Literature? Place your bets

Art, Design, Photography

• Georgia O’Keefe at the Tate runs until 30 October
• Comics circulation hits a 20-year high
• Tokyo Nights photography by Liam Wong
• The mysterious muse of Gustav Klimt
• Francis Bacon at the Guggenheim (September 2016-January 2017)

Philosophy & Theory

• How The Storyteller sheds new light on Walter Benjamin’s philosophy
• Review of The Dream of Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Philosophy
• The Camus Investigation
• The Jazz Loft
• Walter Benjamin, ‘Detective Novels, On Tour’
• Wittgenstein biographer Ray Monk is interviewed by Philosophy Bites

Music

• The making of David Bowie’s lost soul album
• Thelonious Monk‘s tips for playing a gig
• What is jazz giant John Coltrane had lived?
• Why liner notes matter
• Brian Eno on The Velvet Underground
• The origin of Sonny Rollins’ nickname, ‘Newk’
• On Jackie McLean’s Destination… Out!

Film & TV

• Polaroids from the set of the Coen Brothers’ Blood Simple
• Richard Brody on Terrence Malick’s Voyage of Time

News & Politics

• Henry Louis Gates Jr on Restoring Black History
• MacArthur Foundation announces this year’s Genius Grants
• Marking the 20th anniversary of Ken Burns’ The West

Miscellaneous

• The British Association for Modernist Studies Essay Prize 2016
• How I Got Into College

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