August 2011
3 posts
Watch This Space!
We have it from a reliable source that a spooky dream I had will appear on the blog of a well-known literary critic. Stay tuned!
Update: Posted! SPOOKY READER DREAM REVEALS POTENTIAL LOCATION OF LOST DANTE MSS
I Saw Nick Drake: A Note on My Fifth Dispatch
I titled my fifth McSweeney’s dispatch on the Tunisian revolution “Ways of Seeing,” after the Jon Berger’s slender collection of art criticism.
I was either paying tribute to Berger’s book, or stealing its title, I’m not sure which. But I spent a lot of time wondering whether I should find a way to acknowledge that it was Berger’s title, not mine. I...
The Douchebags of Florence
The always-entertaining Elif Batuman has written four blog posts over the last several weeks about her back-and-forth with a Harper’s editor over her use of the word “douchebags” to describe the residents of Florence as they appear in Dante’s Inferno.
There are four posts, and they are worth your careful study (start here), not only because they are entertaining, but also...
