Fiction is Real: Captain Ahab’s Ship Found
It’s true! American marine archaeologists have discovered the sunken whaling ship that belonged to the captain whose whaling disaster inspired Melville’s classic novel Moby Dick. The ship had basically disintegrated, but researchers found harpoons, a hook for stripping whales of their blubber, and cauldrons used to turn the blubber into oil.
A Bookstore Near You – It’s Not Borders
“Edward Champion’s Reluctant Habits,” a literature and culture blog, has generated a state-by-state list of independent bookstores located in the vicinity of the Borders’ that have closed/gone out of business.
A Hockey Lesson from Margaret Atwood
As your token Canadian blogger, I do feel responsible to bring you the best and most absurd from Canadian literary culture. And what could be more Canadian than hockey and Margaret Atwood? Don’t worry if you’re not an expert; Peggy tells all, right here, right now.
Probably my favorite essay this week is Adam Kirsch’s piece in The New Republic on today’s bestselling book in France.
Classic Crime Writers from Beyond the Grave
Today in bizarre literary confluences: The editor of The Strand discovers 15 unpublished stories by the mystery writer Dashiell Hammett at the Harry Ranson Center in Texas. Apparently they’re really good. Meanwhile, Raymond Chandler’s wife’s ashes are sprinkled on his grave, 60 years after his death. While researching the author a historian discovered Chandler had […]
This Woman Had Her Roots in Me
You may have seen this one already – it made the rounds this week. Lisa Catherine Harper reads herself through her ex’s collection of poems in “Poems from My Ex“: Clearly, this woman had her roots in me, but she had morphed, under the pressure of image, under the compression of language, across the controlled […]
Today in music you haven’t heard of
As a native Montrealer I felt some civic pride to see that the Arcade Fire won the Grammy for Best Album the other night. It was also very cool to see Marika Shaw, my high school orchestra teacher, go up on stage and receive the award from Barbara Streisand and co. Ms. Shaw–okay, Marika– is […]
Yesterday brought you Full Stop editors as famous authors. Today, in Really Very Important Breaking Literary News, we bring you authors as legos.
Notes Towards an Editorial Statement
“I want to take a stand for the way reflection and interpretation, dealing in ambiguity and paradox, living with fiction, being critical and imaginative readers, can make us stronger socially and spiritually.”
the Shubert Sunday night roundup
I read a lot of great stuff online this week. Check it out.