Friday book news: cellphones, Le Clezio, short stories and more
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- Blogging at Powell’s, Thomas Kostigen -- author of ‘You Are Here’ -- asks if you really need a new cellphone, then explains what happens to your old one.
- David L. Ulin takes a closer look at the choice of Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio for the Nobel Prize in Literature (note to Joyce Carol Oates -- don’t read this piece, you’ll be displeased).
- In the N.Y. Times last weekend, Stephen Millhauser imagined short stories to be quiet, unassuming gardeners plowed down by novels, which he compares to condo developers and Wal-Marts. ‘What the novel cares about is vastness, is power. ... The novel wants things. It wants territory. It wants the whole world.’ (Millhauser’s latest book, ‘Dangerous Laughter,’ is a collection of short stories, but he’s written novels too). His essay was embraced by The Sycamore Review and taken up with some interest by Hayden’s Ferry Review, two journals that publish short stories. But others were frustrated, as the blog Litkicks puts it, by Millhauser’s ‘hackneyed claims’ of ‘the sublime art of the short story.’ I’m going to stay out of this one: I like reading both short stories and novels.
- American composer John Adams’ autobiography ‘Hallelujah Junction: Composing an American Life’ is reviewed in our pages by Mark Swed.
In telling his story, Adams provides the background for his major works, spells out themes in American music and gives his impressions of such important colleagues as Peter Sellars, Frank Gehry and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Writing with an eye on history, he worries about setting the record straight. Interesting as all this is, a few more revelations might have been welcome. ... But ‘Hallelujah Junction’ offers the voice of America straight from the horse’s mouth, and to read something so intelligent, reasoned and caring sure feels good these days.
After the jump, video of a performance of John Adams’ ‘Hallelujah Junction.’
Hallelujah Junction, performed by the duo Gerwig & Gonzalez (German Christine Gerwig and Efraín Gonzalez of Mexico). Part 1.
Hallelujah Junction, performed by Gerwig & Gonzalez, part 2.
barnoid via Flickr.