tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48182154106896992132024-03-17T23:02:38.537-04:00Shelf ActualizationMacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.comBlogger536125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-59020544911093554732013-08-19T04:00:00.000-04:002013-08-19T04:00:05.965-04:00Author Look-Alikes, Vol. 18<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">I
give you W. H. Auden and the grandpa from the Gilmore Girls (Edward Hermann):<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjurq0JBNOcblZbPC9vebiyqnsTRPai7Mv3Co90ZZ2WJKxeEGVbrYWfWaa8F4s0SPdfslwTGBHo1CuRKo7SQhU62jaY9U_lhpFayEys0JYBHZ6zhAywJujzkOZ6n2mwaMs8Wa5LIQLiSY8/s1600/Auden+Hermann.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjurq0JBNOcblZbPC9vebiyqnsTRPai7Mv3Co90ZZ2WJKxeEGVbrYWfWaa8F4s0SPdfslwTGBHo1CuRKo7SQhU62jaY9U_lhpFayEys0JYBHZ6zhAywJujzkOZ6n2mwaMs8Wa5LIQLiSY8/s640/Auden+Hermann.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Then
there’s Ann Patchett and Laura Linney:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8dKPMvaMHS_T9MNUWMa1dKA-ddouT8VxM1vIi4T0i4VLukvAO45mjZ_AjKlfeENvsmtYvVVLbprBUy0RwJ169WKw_7kUIRE7TbX6cERlfTTNnRyehK2V11ibYcjgGxKV92tOXvzzFCaA/s1600/Patchett+Linney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8dKPMvaMHS_T9MNUWMa1dKA-ddouT8VxM1vIi4T0i4VLukvAO45mjZ_AjKlfeENvsmtYvVVLbprBUy0RwJ169WKw_7kUIRE7TbX6cERlfTTNnRyehK2V11ibYcjgGxKV92tOXvzzFCaA/s640/Patchett+Linney.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Or
Sylvia Plath and Peggy from Mad Men (Elizabeth Moss):<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihduBdlS4erEKnyls5KNHfqCAGOM4q9t8PCEMMYYZsZzoT6sNmw3uMZN_XNPMjj9e3_aSKuF1N0JArAI74PF7qZQpyypWMKOp8jYxCSR8rd85zQiFiTbCGs70tXOeaRLGVudHnCkUnPBU/s1600/Plath+Moss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihduBdlS4erEKnyls5KNHfqCAGOM4q9t8PCEMMYYZsZzoT6sNmw3uMZN_XNPMjj9e3_aSKuF1N0JArAI74PF7qZQpyypWMKOp8jYxCSR8rd85zQiFiTbCGs70tXOeaRLGVudHnCkUnPBU/s640/Plath+Moss.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Even
without gobs of mascara, young Susan Sontag could have given Natalie Wood a run
for her money:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_OIMS-IlwMCyXvnDkyaw7DJpZFmEeUWm-RMro0N4sjLOQRvJSalKVksiu9wLBCc3ih4RyysnDALeX9lzOuFqSTrfFaFtpZFDwZPrRtgfPG1Fppgwebj0MIJjY8NwQ2Zx7EthNTrDXPJI/s1600/Sontag+Wood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_OIMS-IlwMCyXvnDkyaw7DJpZFmEeUWm-RMro0N4sjLOQRvJSalKVksiu9wLBCc3ih4RyysnDALeX9lzOuFqSTrfFaFtpZFDwZPrRtgfPG1Fppgwebj0MIJjY8NwQ2Zx7EthNTrDXPJI/s640/Sontag+Wood.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">And
William Styron looks exactly like you'd imagine an aging Piers Morgan:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZRk-cAOwEnR_AyFb4pg-6YQ0pORiX4XI0JuMRzkdpQaytvCOPAXET2NBqkk0NJDR_appsh3RDa4h74XgxS_gI_QBUauwdCtLPRuFCJIwsM84fjw_3iwY5aXYIex9h4R8wQUTQYIo7PtE/s1600/Styron+Morgan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZRk-cAOwEnR_AyFb4pg-6YQ0pORiX4XI0JuMRzkdpQaytvCOPAXET2NBqkk0NJDR_appsh3RDa4h74XgxS_gI_QBUauwdCtLPRuFCJIwsM84fjw_3iwY5aXYIex9h4R8wQUTQYIo7PtE/s640/Styron+Morgan.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-25075426126941297262013-08-16T04:00:00.000-04:002013-08-16T04:00:06.671-04:00Feature Film Friday:<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">It’s
been a little over a year since Ray Bradbury passed away, and a full fifty
years since this awesome documentary was made. Enjoy!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com104tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-55116811340885672392013-08-15T04:00:00.000-04:002013-08-15T04:00:04.622-04:00See Mexico City! Read a Novel!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.mexicomaxico.org/Reforma/images/PReforma1950B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="402" src="http://www.mexicomaxico.org/Reforma/images/PReforma1950B.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">“A
brief mountain pass took us suddenly to a height from which we saw all of
Mexico City stretched out in its volcanic crater below and spewing city smokes
and early dusklights. Down to it we zoomed, down Insurgentes Boulevard,
straight toward the heart of town at Reforma. Kids played soccer in enormous
sad fields and threw up dust. Taxi-drivers overtook us and wanted to know if we
wanted girls. No, we didn’t want girls now. Long, ragged adobe slums stretched out
on the plain; we saw lonely figures in the dimming alleys. Soon night would
come. Then the city roared in and suddenly we were passing crowded cafes and
theaters and many lights. Newsboys yelled at us. Mechanics slouched by,
barefoot, with wrenches and rags. Mad barefoot Indian drivers cut across us and
surrounded us and tooted and made frantic traffic. The noise was incredible. No
mufflers are used on Mexican cars. Horns are batted with glee continual. “Whee!”
yelled Dean. “Look out!” He staggered the car through the traffic and played
with everybody. He drove like an Indian. He got on a circular glorietta drive
on Reforma Boulevard and rolled around it with its eight spokes shooting cars
at us from all directions, left, right, izquierda, dead ahead, and yelled and
jumped with joy. “This is traffic I’ve always dreamed of! Everybody goes!” An
ambulance came balling through. American ambulances dart and weave through
traffic with siren blowing; the great world-wide Fellahin Indian ambulances
merely come through at eighty miles and hour in the city streets, and everybody
just has to get out of the way and they don’t pause for anybody or any
circumstances and fly straight through. We saw it reeling out of sight on
skittering wheels in the breaking –up moil of dense downtown traffic. The
drivers were Indians. People, even old ladies, ran for buses that never
stopped. Young Mexico City businessmen made bets and ran by squads for buses
and athletically jumped them. The bus-drivers were barefoot, sneering and
insane and sat low and squat in T-shirts at the low, enormous wheels. Ikons
burned over them. The lights in the buses were greenish, and dark faces were
lined on wooden benches.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">“In
downtown Mexico City thousands of hipsters in floppy straw hats and
long-lapeled jackets over bare chests padded along the main drag, some of them
selling crucifixes and weed in the alleys, some of them kneeling in beat
chapels next to Mexican burlesque shows in sheds. Some alleys were rubble, with
open sewers, and little doors led to closet-size bars stuck in adobe walls. You
had to jump over a ditch to get your drink, and in the bottom of the ditch was
the ancient lake of the Aztec. You came out of the bar with your back to the
wall and edged back to the street. They served coffee mixed with rum and
nutmeg. Mambo blared from everywhere. Hundreds of whores lined themselves along
the dark and narrow streets and their sorrowful eyes gleamed at us in the
night. We wandered in a frenzy and a dream. We ate beautiful steaks for
forty-eight cents in a strange tiled Mexican cafeteria with generations of
marimba musicians standing at one immense marimba—also wandering singing
guitarists, and old men on corners blowing trumpets. You went by the sour stink
of pulque saloons; they gave you a water glass of cactus juice in there, two
cents. Nothing stopped; the streets were alive all night. Beggars slept wrapped
in advertising posters torn off fences. Whole families of them sat on the
sidewalk, playing little flutes and chuckling in the night. Their bare feet
stuck out, their dim candles burned, all Mexico was one vast Bohemian camp. On
corners old women cut up the boiled heads of cows and wrapped morsels in
tortillas and served them with hot sauce on newspaper napkins. This was the
great and final wild uninhibited Fellahin-childlike city that we knew we would
find at the end of the road. Dean walked through with his arms hanging zombie-like
at his sides, his mouth open, his eyes gleaming, and conducted a ragged and
holy tour that lasted till dawn in a field with a boy in a straw hat who laughed
and chatted with us and wanted to play catch, for nothing ever ended.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">—
from <i>On the Road</i> , by Jack Kerouac<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?t=shelfactual-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=014312028X&ref=qf_sp_asin_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=FFFFFF&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
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MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com74tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-76777808318789947772013-08-13T04:00:00.000-04:002013-08-13T04:00:06.440-04:00The Quote Board, Vol. 3: Writing as Compulsion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDmiWcH4skfaGeMRM1DFfd3fn4tCi0H8B04cjxA3_IdDVAMh45DJI5f9vYX_Z2Is1RzmEHcaDjyqF7Boly-E3tD1lWwKNDFF9zX9AJC1oaOy8xyTwbO9bMP9DSdz6gjcRuJepIrwmrZ60/s1600/Quote+Board+3+Writing+as+Compulsion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDmiWcH4skfaGeMRM1DFfd3fn4tCi0H8B04cjxA3_IdDVAMh45DJI5f9vYX_Z2Is1RzmEHcaDjyqF7Boly-E3tD1lWwKNDFF9zX9AJC1oaOy8xyTwbO9bMP9DSdz6gjcRuJepIrwmrZ60/s640/Quote+Board+3+Writing+as+Compulsion.jpg" width="484" /></a></div>
<br />MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com163tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-16808483985617303052013-08-12T10:58:00.002-04:002013-08-12T10:58:52.215-04:00"Like looking at Flemish tapestries from the wrong side"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i3.squidoocdn.com/resize/squidoo_images/590/draft_lens17655226module148340170photo_1298055177redlin-cross-stitch-back-" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="416" src="http://i3.squidoocdn.com/resize/squidoo_images/590/draft_lens17655226module148340170photo_1298055177redlin-cross-stitch-back-" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">So
here’s an idea I’ve been toying with: I’m one of roughly two million people on
earth who speak Slovenian (Sounds like a lot, but that equates to less than 3
hundredths of one percent of the world’s population.) The vast majority of the
seven billion <i>other</i> people on earth have never even heard of
Slovenia—and if they have, I’d bet good money that they’ve never picked up a
book of Slovene literature a) because it’s
a small country, b) because it’s only 20
years old, but c) mainly because most of
the Slovene canon remains untranslated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">And
while there are a few academics out there who are slowly working their way
through a couple of the most important works, the door is wide open for, say, a
Slovene-speaking native English speaker, and an English-speaking native Slovene
speaker to put their heads together and start translating some stuff. Mrs. DeMarest and I just happen to fit the
bill. So we’ll see… This would be a
years-long project, of course, and a huge commitment of free time, but it might
just be something I’d look back on with immense satisfaction. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Anyway, while mulling this over I was reminded of a passage from Don Quixote that rang true to me at the time:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">“…it
seems to me that translating from one language to another, unless it is from
Greek and Latin, the queens of all languages, is like looking at Flemish
tapestries from the wrong side, for although the figures are visible, they are
covered by threads that obscure them, and cannot be seen with the smoothness
and color of the right side”</span></blockquote>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">From
<i>Don Quixote</i> , by Miguel Cervantes</span></div>
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MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-65218789769554026972013-08-09T10:31:00.001-04:002013-08-09T10:32:22.597-04:00First Line Friday: On the Road<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://equilibriarte.net/members/stetsontrucker/blog-2012-10-18-08-17-24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="404" src="http://equilibriarte.net/members/stetsontrucker/blog-2012-10-18-08-17-24.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">It’s
been a while since we’ve done one of these, but today’s first line is, in my
opinion, kind of a stinker, even though it leads into one of my favorite books.
The first two lines, as a matter of fact, are bits of back story we don’t
really need, and that don’t figure in the rest of the novel. But that <i>third line</i> , now, that third line is
great. If you ask me, it is the rightful heir to the first line throne. And if I were Kerouac’s editor, I would have lopped off the first two and made
that one my opener:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">“I
first met Dean not long after my wife and I split up. I had just gotten over a
serious illness that I won’t bother to talk about, except that it had something
to do with the miserably weary split-up and my feeling that everything was
dead. <b>With the coming of Dean Moriarty
began the part of my life you could call my life on the road.</b> Before that
I’d often dreamed of going West to see the country, always vaguely planning and
never taking off.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">What
do you think? Am I off here? Of course I'm not...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-62033823076437946182013-08-08T04:00:00.000-04:002013-08-08T04:00:03.807-04:00"let fly with the secret pleasure of a bedwetter"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/mcininch/mcininch1209/mcininch120900052/15171792-an-attractive-young-volunteer-pouring-a-drink-for-an-elderly-man-in-a-wheel-chair--on-a-white-backgr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/mcininch/mcininch1209/mcininch120900052/15171792-an-attractive-young-volunteer-pouring-a-drink-for-an-elderly-man-in-a-wheel-chair--on-a-white-backgr.jpg" width="512" /></a></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“My bladder was beginning to be
insistent, too, and though I was armed with my Policeman’s Friend and would
have ordinarily have let fly with the secret pleasure of a bedwetter, I
couldn’t see myself pissing down a tube with a lady standing six feet from me.”</span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: right; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Vollkorn Regular";">—<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">From Wallace Stegner’s <i>Angle
of Repose</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The internet is surprisingly short on
information about the “Policeman’s Friend” apparatus that Stegner’s narrator is
describing above, but I imagine it’s a close cousin of the Stadium Pal "accessory" described by
David Sedaris below. Another reason to love curmudeonly ol’ Lyman Ward:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-78292983824897357712013-08-07T04:00:00.000-04:002013-08-07T04:00:07.861-04:00How Mark Twain gave us Thurgood Marshall<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihiCd-CKpCfnIOD9WSnQUkdPmUp8lU6a1HSSpWg9m6BartaGtnCsNcyvPPQXucybKgwThNLkIgBRkaemtePezDPwnLUFKZEhTm-iqsBLZFyppau3TGaqvVac-UCphVNWZWIGBXuwhtijQ/s1600/Twain+Mitchell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihiCd-CKpCfnIOD9WSnQUkdPmUp8lU6a1HSSpWg9m6BartaGtnCsNcyvPPQXucybKgwThNLkIgBRkaemtePezDPwnLUFKZEhTm-iqsBLZFyppau3TGaqvVac-UCphVNWZWIGBXuwhtijQ/s640/Twain+Mitchell.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Margaret
Mitchell and Mark Twain are two authors who are often discussed in the context
of racism in literature. <i>Gone With the
Wind</i> and <i>The Adventures of Huck Finn</i> are
two of the most frequently banned books across the U.S. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">But
while debate rages in school boards across the country, it’s interesting to
note that in their personal lives Mitchell and Twain were quite generous to aspiring
black professional students. Over a number of years Mitchell secretly funded dozens
of African American medical students at Morehouse college and elsewhere,
helping to lift up a class of black professionals in the segregated South. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">And
while Twain’s philanthropy centered on one student in particular, it may have
had an even more powerful impact on society. Warner T. McGuinn, the man whose
room and board Twain paid at Yale Law School, graduated #1 in his class and
went on to become a force in the early civil rights movement in Maryland and a mentor to
Thurgood Marshall. In a letter to the dean of the law school, Twain explained his reasoning for supporting McGuinn:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">“I
do not believe I would very cheerfully help a white student who would ask for
the benevolence of a stranger, but I do not feel so about the other color. We
have ground the manhood out of them, and the shame is ours, not theirs, and we
should pay for it.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;"> Interesting, no?</span></div>
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MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-37924847092491046052013-08-06T04:00:00.000-04:002013-08-06T04:00:03.809-04:00Thurber gets a reboot<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Here’s
one I really want to see: James Thurber’s short story “The Secret Life of
Walter Mitty” is being re-made into a movie this year. The last time this was
tried, in 1947, Danny Kaye turned the picture into a screwball comedy only loosely
based on the original. Okay, fine, whatever. Thurber was a very humorous
writer, and “Mitty” was a slightly campy tale that could certainly be taken
that direction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">This
time around Ben Stiller acts and directs in a reboot that promises to be much
truer to the heart of “Mitty.” I can’t comment on its merits as a
true-to-the-story adaptation, but it looks like it’ll deliver far less mad-cap
comedy, and far more insight into the secret psyche of the inveterate
daydreamer- which is really what the original story was all about.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">But
don’t take my word for it. Here is a <a href="http://bnrg.eecs.berkeley.edu/~randy/mitty.html">link</a> to the original story, and here is
Stiller’s latest trailer:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">For
comparison, have a look at the 1947 version:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">We're definitely getting better at movie trailers, but I also think we’re getting better at this adaptation thing…<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-30239731522596369522013-08-05T04:00:00.000-04:002013-08-05T04:00:11.037-04:00Buyer Beware: Vol. 14<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;">We're on vacation until August 6th. Until then, buyer beware: this </span><b style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;"><i>isn’t</i></b><span style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;"> the book you’re looking for…</span></div>
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MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-4759016906492052522013-08-02T04:00:00.000-04:002013-08-02T04:00:09.755-04:00Buyer Beware: Vol. 13<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;">We're on vacation until August 6th. Until then, buyer beware: this </span><b style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;"><i>isn’t</i></b><span style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;"> the book you’re looking for…</span></div>
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MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-38915539546267968902013-08-01T04:00:00.000-04:002013-08-01T04:00:02.887-04:00Buyer Beware: Vol. 12<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;">We're on vacation until August 6th. Until then, buyer beware: this </span><b style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;"><i>isn’t</i></b><span style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;"> the book you’re looking for…</span></div>
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MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-72603729541355823892013-07-31T04:00:00.000-04:002013-07-31T04:00:09.049-04:00Buyer Beware: Vol. 11<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;">We're on vacation until August 6th. Until then, buyer beware: this </span><b style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;"><i>isn’t</i></b><span style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;"> the book you’re looking for…</span></div>
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MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-81817420435275117592013-07-30T04:00:00.000-04:002013-07-30T04:00:08.678-04:00Buyer Beware: Vol. 10<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;">We're on vacation until August 6th. Until then, buyer beware: this </span><b style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;"><i>isn’t</i></b><span style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;"> the book you’re looking for…</span></div>
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MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-24535024202765542452013-07-29T04:00:00.000-04:002013-07-29T04:00:10.930-04:00Buyer Beware: Vol. 9<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;">We're on vacation until August 6th. Until then, buyer beware: this </span><b style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;"><i>isn’t</i></b><span style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;"> the book you’re looking for…</span></div>
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MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-17184010799728910802013-07-26T04:00:00.000-04:002013-07-26T04:00:00.531-04:00Buyer Beware: Vol. 8<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;">We're on vacation until August 6th. Until then, buyer beware: this </span><b style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;"><i>isn’t</i></b><span style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;"> the book you’re looking for…</span></div>
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MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com42tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-49593664242898906322013-07-25T04:00:00.000-04:002013-07-25T04:00:07.973-04:00Buyer Beware: Vol. 7<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;">We're on vacation until August 6th. Until then, buyer beware: this </span><b style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;"><i>isn’t</i></b><span style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;"> the book you’re looking for…</span></div>
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MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-36882745149251404032013-07-24T04:00:00.000-04:002013-07-24T04:00:00.703-04:00Buyer Beware: Vol. 6<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;">We're on vacation until August 6th. Until then, buyer beware: this </span><b style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;"><i>isn’t</i></b><span style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;"> the book you’re looking for…</span></div>
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MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-52503937414038244562013-07-23T04:00:00.000-04:002013-07-23T04:00:02.763-04:00Buyer Beware: Vol. 5<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;">We're on vacation until August 6th. Until then, buyer beware: this </span><b style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;"><i>isn’t</i></b><span style="font-family: 'Vollkorn Regular'; font-size: 17px;"> the book you’re looking for…</span></div>
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MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-79049527010744510222013-07-22T04:00:00.000-04:002013-07-22T04:00:00.310-04:00Buyer Beware: Vol. 4<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">We're on vacation until August 6th. Until then, buyer beware: this
<b><i>isn’t</i></b>
the book you’re looking for…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-40708048601752617202013-07-19T04:00:00.000-04:002013-07-19T04:00:02.733-04:00Review: The Monkey Wrench Gang, by Edward Abbey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.fruitapulp.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/tumblr_md7su1Qhec1qbd3oxo1_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="452" src="http://www.fruitapulp.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/tumblr_md7su1Qhec1qbd3oxo1_1280.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">So,
I’ve mentioned the <i>Monkey Wrench Gang</i>
a couple times already, but now that I’m
through with it I might as well put a few thoughts together by way of review.
What an entertaining book! It’s its own strange mix of humor and melancholy, hope
and defeat, beauty and crassness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Dubbed
by Larry McMurtry as the Thoreau of the American West, Abbey can paint effortless
word pictures like this one…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">“He
remembered the real Colorado, before damnation, when the river flowed unchained
and unchanneled in the joyous floods of May and June, swollen with snow melt. Boulders
crunching and clacking and grumbling, tumbling along on the river’s bedrock
bed, the noise like that of grinding molars in a giant jaw.” </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">…
and a minute later, refer to a truck’s “<a href="http://www.shelfactualization.com/2013/07/literary-devices-with-edward-abbey.html">seared differential scrota</a>” without
batting an eyelash. The biggest coups he manages to pull off, though, are the well-drawn,
memorable characters: the loveable Jack-Mormon river guide, the crude PTSD-stricken
Viet Nam vet, the refined and aging surgeon, the beautiful yet aimless female Brooklyn
transplant, and of course, the stunning, forbidding, alluring canyon country of
southern Utah and northern Arizona, which is perhaps the most important
character of all. Even the villains jump off the page and make a deep
impression.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">There’s
plenty of pastoral contemplation coupled with truckloads of surprise and
suspense, and the whole time the reader is drawn right into the characters’ eco-activist
conspiracy. There are cliffhangers (like, literally) and a surprise ending that
made me want to go right out and buy the sequel. (There really is one!) Anyway,
I highly recommend it.</span></div>
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MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-92006170210591911612013-07-18T04:00:00.000-04:002013-07-18T04:00:01.864-04:00Books on Screen<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/dam/images/2011/01/pixarss_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="470" src="http://www.vanityfair.com/dam/images/2011/01/pixarss_1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">We hope you're making time for a few literary adaptations in between summer blockbusters, moviegoers. Here are a couple I've recently watched.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><b>On
the Road (2012) </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">I
<a href="http://www.shelfactualization.com/2012/05/in-defense-of-books-you-hate-on-road.html">loved</a> this book, and I was really looking forward to the film. After I missed it
in theaters, though, it was kind of hard to get a hold of until it popped up on
my On Demand offerings—I hoped this scarcity meant that it was just too awesome
for the unwashed masses to appreciate, but that I would still love it. Alas,
no, it was just okay. And it was a bit depressing. And it was kind of boring. I
mean, look, there are moments in the book like this one:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">“At
dawn I got my New York bus and said good-by to Dean and Marylou. They wanted
some of my sandwiches. I told them no. It was a sullen moment. We were all
thinking we’d never see one another again and we didn’t care.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">…that
clearly show there were some lulls and some downers in Sal’s adventures. But to
see those moments pervade the entire film was a bit of a letdown. Here’s the other
thing: what excitement there was, was mainly focused on drugs, sex and fast
driving, all of which were played up disproportionately compared to the book.
But where was the unbridled exuberance? And the sense of wonder? Where was the
fun? They tried to sell us on Sal’s and Dean’s friendship with lots of intense,
heartfelt man hugs—a constant coming and going where locked eyes and sincere,
sullen glances were supposed to communicate everything. They didn’t. I thinkall
but the most hardcore Kerouac fans, and even a good number of those, can skip
this one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><b>The
Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)</b><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Ten
years before he became Atticus Finch, Gregory Peck played the role of Harry
Street in the adaptation of Hemingway’s classic short story. But while it
starts off true enough to the original—the necrotic leg injury, the vultures,
the desperate wait for a plane—it takes some liberties that rubbed me the wrong
way. For one, the flashback action was just a cheap rehash of Hemingway’s own
life story: Spanish Civil War, expat Paris, big game hunting, bullfights in
Pamplona. I guess if you’re trying to get Hemingway nuts into the theater, that’s
one way to do it. But it cheapens the work of fiction that’s supposed to be
played out on screen. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">And while the trail of tortured romances opened up roles
for Ava Gardner and Susan Hayward, that’s not what the story’s really about. <i>Snows</i> is about examining one’s life, finding it
wanting, resolving to change and redeem oneself… only to have the chance whisked
away at the last second. Bittersweet brilliance. Which brings me to the most
egregious crime of all: the ending. Instead of flying off into the <a href="http://www.shelfactualization.com/2013/05/the-literal-snows-of-kilimanjaro.html">metaphorical snows</a> of Kilimanjaro, a peaceful resignation to death and dying, Harry Street
(and his romance!) are saved. The plane arrives, the vultures disappear, and
all’s well that ends well. I haven’t had a film betrayal like that since <i>The Grapes of Wrath</i> , <a href="http://www.shelfactualization.com/2013/02/the-grapes-of-wrath-movie.html">the movie</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-81875025698669624832013-07-17T04:00:00.000-04:002013-07-17T04:00:11.366-04:00Makin' it Twain!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQrunI32zElbS-cfg9ljhp1pATXud3kjP1pYFTifVPtE7l1f3oOA-ggsulJJ2It0Z-dJemVOqSSkhNhLWvTkaT8r5RdTn-fV24tKejgP1ajj0QP_KIVRqpBtduAxJmqupbMt1c4vy1BHQ/s1600/twain+money.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="374" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQrunI32zElbS-cfg9ljhp1pATXud3kjP1pYFTifVPtE7l1f3oOA-ggsulJJ2It0Z-dJemVOqSSkhNhLWvTkaT8r5RdTn-fV24tKejgP1ajj0QP_KIVRqpBtduAxJmqupbMt1c4vy1BHQ/s640/twain+money.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Here’s
a fun fact for you: At a time when the average household income was less than
$500 per year, that venerated man of the people, Mark Twain, had household
expenses in excess of $30,000 per year. Sixty times the median. In today’s
dollars, that would be more than $3,000,000
per year. And he <i>still </i> had to hit the lecture circuit to make ends
meet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-12143622284136129572013-07-16T04:00:00.000-04:002013-07-16T04:00:09.957-04:00Literary Devices with Edward Abbey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://johngushue.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451f25369e2017ee63152ba970d-800wi" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="476" src="http://johngushue.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451f25369e2017ee63152ba970d-800wi" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">A
couple choice excerpts from Abbey’s <i>The
Monkey Wrench Gang</i>:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">“They
roared down the high-centered road, bristly blackbrush and spiny prickly pear
clawing at the truck <b>along the greasy
perineum of its General Motors crotch</b>.”</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">“The
enemy, only a few miles behind, out of sight but closing the gap, spurred on
with extra vigor by the indignity of <b>singed
bottoms, scorched automotive coccyges, seared differential scrota</b>, would
soon come round the last bend in the trail and see them—Hayduke and Smith, Inc.—crawling
slow and beetle-like up this improbable exit way.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Gotta admit, the man has a way with words. Of course, the
<i>technical</i> term for this literary device is "<a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/anthropomorphization">anthropomorphization</a>." And for those interested in further study, its
commercial application, can be explored <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truck_nuts">here</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818215410689699213.post-72734689626641159612013-07-14T16:24:00.000-04:002013-07-14T16:25:01.609-04:00J.K. Rowling & Little Brown: 1, Honest Business Practices: 0<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://thecollegevoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/jk-rowling_78113-1920x1200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://thecollegevoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/jk-rowling_78113-1920x1200.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">In
case you haven’t heard, J.K. Rowling has been unmasked as the true identity behind
“Robert Galbraith,” a Little Brown author who recently released a detective
novel to mostly positive reviews. The news is being hailed far and wide as the
greatest literary coup since Stephen King took up the pen name “Richard Bachman”
back in the 80s. But there’s an important question no one is asking: Is this kind
of thing actually ethical?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Because to me it stinks to high heaven.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Not
the use of a pen name, mind you. Let me state at the outset that I am <i>all for</i> the use of pen names. If an author has a
reason to stay incognito, power to them. We’ve covered that topic <a href="http://w.shelfactualization.com/2011/12/art-of-pseudonym.">here</a>. But
when <i>the publisher </i> goes so far as to fabricate an author bio in
order to lend credibility to an unknown author, I have to admit that as a
reader, I’m a little miffed. Here is what Little Brown says about Mr. Galbraith
while pitching his book <a href="http://www.littlebrown.co.uk/books/detail.page?isbn=9781408703991">on their site</a>:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">“A
remarkable debut…” <span style="color: red;">(LIE)</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">“Robert
Galbraith is married with two sons. <span style="color: red;">(LIE) </span>After several years with the Royal
Military Police <span style="color: red;">(LIE)</span>, he was attached to the SIB (Special Investigation
Branch) <span style="color: red;">(LIE)</span>, the plain-clothes branch of the RMP. He left the military in
2003 <span style="color: red;">(LIE)</span> and has been working since then in the civilian security industry. <span style="color: red;">(LIE)</span>
The idea for protagonist Cormoran Strike grew directly out of his own
experiences and those of his military friends who have returned to the civilian
world. <span style="color: red;">(LIE)</span> Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym. (TRUE! But all the lies above
kind of lead us to believe the pseudonym is simply a necessity in Galbraith’s
line of work, so… <span style="color: red;">LIE!</span>)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Did
the fabrications accomplish what Little Brown wanted it to? Sure. Getting
reviewed as a “major new talent,” or having your work praised as an “auspicious-”
or “stellar-” or “remarkably mature debut” is a heckuvalot better than getting
reviews that say, “J.K. Rowling seems to have righted the ship after her last
non-Harry Potter project, which actually had a lot of her fans quite worried.”
But it’s patently dishonest. Fiction is what’s inside the book. We expect the
packaging and the credentials on the outside to represent the publisher’s best,
but honest, effort to get us to buy what’s inside. Lying to me about the author’s
background so that I’m more likely to pick up the book, is two or three
kinds of shady.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">After
all, where do we draw the line? Can a publisher pull non-existent blurbs out of
thin air to sway potential readers? Can they throw “New York Times Bestseller” on
the cover if it will help them sell copies? How about an Oprah’s Book Club
seal? Or “Winner of the Man-Booker Prize?” Made-up snippets from national media
outlets? Or outlets that sound like national media authorities?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Vollkorn Regular"; font-size: 13.0pt;">I’m
happy the Rowling’s written a great book, but as long she uses snake oil
salesmen to hawk it, I’m not buying.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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MacEvoy DeMaresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017894338443984921noreply@blogger.com6