LongReads Round-Up Volume Ten

 #Feminism

“If you’re starting to suspect that the system is built so that women lose no matter what they do, watch out. Thoughts like that may be rational responses to the world how it actually is, but they also lead one down the dark path towards admitting that you are, in fact, a feminist.” http://prospect.org/article/sorry-feminists%E2%80%94not

#Film

Truman Capote writing about Marlon Brando filming in Japan http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1957/11/09/1957_11_09_053_TNY_CARDS_000252812?currentPage=all

Review of Spielberg's Lincoln film: http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/nov/21/lincoln-authentic-wonderment/

#History

Cracking the cipher of a secret society with computer algorithms http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/11/ff-the-manuscript/all/

#International

An idealist struggles to liberate North Korea http://www.themorningnews.org/article/north-korea-wont-be-liberated-in-a-day

One of those “what we took from history isn’t what actually happened” situations- how the mythology of the Cuban Missile Crisis is harming US foreign policy http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/10/08/the_lie_that_screwed_up_50_years_of_us_foreign_policy?page=full

Rape allegations swallowed up in Chinese bureaucracy http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/11/08/kafka_in_beijing?page=full

Major powers, including China, are turning on the charm in South East Asia. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/11/18/chinas_soft_power_surge?page=full

#Literature

How Charlotte Bronte did it different http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/arts/bee-wilson/charlotte-brontes-silent-revolt

Truman Capote's unfinished last novel that might be responsible for destroying his career http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/12/truman-capote-answered-prayers

Queenan has read approximately six thousand books, and he has strict rules for what he reads next: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444868204578064483923017090.html

#Music

Love Song for Leonard Cohen http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/nov/15/why-i-love-leonard-cohen/

#Photography

Photo series of abandoned world fair structures http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2012/11/jade-doskow-worlds-fairs/?pid=4269

Portraits of men and women suffering from addiction http://www.motherjones.com/photoessays/2012/03/portraits-addiction-bronx/mannyquiles-arnade

#Political

Interesting perspective from a Mormon reporter who followed the Romney campaign http://www.buzzfeed.com/mckaycoppins/a-mormon-reporter-on-the-romney-bus

Uniting behind economic reform http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/dec/06/what-new-president-should-consider/?pagination=false

What should be the new focus of reform, post health care http://prospect.org/article/great-societys-next-frontier

Nate Silver, the great prophet of our age: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/11/16/predicting_the_future_is_easier_than_it_looks?page=full

#Travel

From Harper’s, a ranging history of the Bronx Zoo, from its eugenics fascinated founders to present day http://longform.org/wild-things/

Atlantic City after Sandy: http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/magazine/110217/boardwalk-vampires

If you haven't yet, check out this weekend round-up about workers' conditions and rights in the warehouses that ship for internet omni-retailers. 

The Omni Retailer Warehouse Workers Conditions Round-Up

Three articles by human rights journalist Mac McClelland for Mother Jones. In the first, she observed a warehouse in Ohio that contracts shipping and handling for an internet omni-retailer. Next, an essay from last Christmas season about the conditions of the workers behind internet shopping. Then in her third article, she worked as a "picker" in a similar factory. She faced physically grueling labor at a meager, though legal wage, with inflexible time management demands and impossible goal targets. She packed a (possibly un-)surprising amount of dildos.

http://www.motherjones.com/rights-stuff/2011/07/ohio-warehouse-temps-unemployment

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/12/slave-elves-online-shipping

http://www.motherjones.com/print/161491

Many of these omni-retailers such as Amazon or Walmart Online contract a third party logistics company to staff and manage the shipping and handling aspect of online shopping. These logistics companies hire on a temp basis, where reaching full hire is a Sisyphean task. Companies can afford to fire temp employees easily and frequently, without even requiring to give a reason, because of the overabundance of unemployed people who are willing to step into the role of exploited worker.

Lehigh Valley, PA's newspaper The Morning Call investigated conditions in Amazon's warehouse, where employees frequently faint in 100 degree heat and are called to mandatory overtime regularly.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-allentown-amazon-complaints-20110917,0,7937001,full.story 

Huffington Post wrote about warehouses in the Midwest, and how temporary work perpetuates poverty and job instability.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/20/new-blue-collar-temp-warehouses_n_1158490.html?view=print&comm_ref=false

This holiday season, as many of us begin navigating the frenzied waters of sales and markdowns in the name of gift giving, keep in mind the workers you affect from start to finish in your purchases. I'd like to admonish to shop small, local, or independent whenever you can, but I understand the economic privilege that comes from. When you can buy a novel for full sticker price at an independent bookstore, or get a 42% discount and free shipping from an online omni-retailer, I see and feel the financial pressure to be as thrifty as possible. At all times, remember to be an ally and support of workers who are underpaid and overworked and treated as inhuman cogs in the capitalist machine, both in America and around the world.

The Wal-Mart Black Friday strike is just one effort to bring more attention to workers' rights.

http://prospect.org/article/wal-mart-always-low-wages 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/22/walmart-strike-dallas_n_2175697.html
http://www.thenation.com/blog/171425/black-friday-strike-will-test-power-high-stakes-online-organizing
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/11/201211227838361804.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/20/walmart-unrest-black-friday-strike
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/wal-marts-looming-black-friday-strike-could-make-for-an-unexpectedly-painful-holiday-season/2012/11/19/70d5eba4-3209-11e2-92f0-496af208bf23_story.html

LongReads Round-Up Volume Nine

#Environment

Calling President Obama to end the magical denial of climate change on Capitol Hill http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2012/11/19/121119taco_talk_remnick

#Essay

This article ended a year-long column chronicling life after the author’s young son died of cancer. http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/epilogue-deadkidistan

#Fashion

Zara and fast fashion, the ultimate unsustainable economic model http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/magazine/how-zara-grew-into-the-worlds-largest-fashion-retailer.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Ex-Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka are now employed in the garment factory industry http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/3173c7e8-21be-11e2-b5d2-00144feabdc0.html

#Female Genital Mutilation

A recent article in The Guardian discussed the oft-secret practices of FGM in Indonesia. As a Peace Corps volunteer in the country, I've been shocked at the revelation. Female circumcision has never been mentioned to me, and was not mentioned in our volunteer training. These are a few articles and studies on FGM in Indonesia:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/nov/18/female-genital-mutilation-circumcision-indonesia

2011 article by activist Julia Lalla-Marharajh in HuffPo http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julia-lallamaharajh/indonesias-new-guidelines_b_1030330.html 

Historical survey and modern study of FGM, connecting it to practicioners of Islam (instead of cultural practice pre-conversion) http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/arch_0044-8613_1998_num_56_1_3495 

2003 study completed by Population Council Jakarta in partnership with USAID: http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNACU138.pdf 

#Feminism

The push and pull of women’s economic progress: improvement does not mean the battle is finished http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2012/11/why-do-some-feminists-get-uneasy-when-women-make-progress/265171/ #feminismaintdeadyet

How “girl” centric TV is giving more complex representations of women http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2012/11/the-upside-to-girly-tv-shows-they-understand-that-women-struggle/265151/

#Film

“Pulp Fiction” seems to mark a change in film culture… for an older generation, the end of great film and for the younger, just the beginning http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/10/film-culture-isnt-dead-its-just-more-fun/263264/

Comparison of the original “Prometheus” script and the final product, a few plot holes tied up http://io9.com/5960275/what-did-damon-lindelof-add-to-prometheus-the-biggest-differences-with-the-original-draft

#Food

Essay on food as the gateway to acculturating in the American South http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2012/11/08/smoke-lingers/

#Health

Children who feel no pain. Waiting for this to be adapted into a gritty graphic novel and then subsequently a slightly less gritty film http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/18/magazine/ashlyn-blocker-feels-no-pain.html?pagewanted=all

Sexual health practices in the porn industry, and the law that wants to make all actos wear condoms: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/06/health/unlikely-model-for-hiv-prevention-porn-industry.html?pagewanted=all

Adult actress Stoya makes the case for refuting the condom law:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/16/stoya-measureb-porn-condoms-la

#International

On the new presidency in China: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/11/07/xi_jinpings_challenge?page=full

#Literature

A few articles on experimental literature:

http://htmlgiant.com/random/what-is-experimental-literature-five-questions-bhanu-kapil/

 http://htmlgiant.com/author-spotlight/unfold-is-the-wrong-word-an-interview-with-bhanu-kapil/

http://www.bostonreview.net/BR31.4/welish.php

A prose poem by experimental writer Bhanu Kapil http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/239154

His Dark Materials author Phillip Pullman has a new retelling of the Grimm Fairytales http://www.npr.org/2012/11/11/164432853/philip-pullman-rewriting-the-brothers-grimm

Mapping European crime novels across the continent: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/oct/26/crimes-grand-tour-european-detective-fiction

#Political

Appreciating this flowchart of the David Petraeus scandal by Gawker http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18571gytxfkj7jpg/original.jpg

What the generation that is coming of age in America will expect from their government: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2012/11/the-malia-generation.html

Election season can tear apart friendships over party loyalties: http://www.salon.com/2012/11/17/game_over_conservative_friend/ #essay

#Photography

Beautiful collection of celebrations and preparations for Diwali http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/11/diwali-the-festival-of-lights/100404/

#Poverty

Using direct deposits for poverty level families, India sees a marked upswing in improved nutrition and quality of living, and a downturn in corruption http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21565966-debate-growing-about-how-get-welfare-needy-money-where-your-mouth

Fifteen percent of Americans live below the poverty line, and even more live in a daily struggle to meet monthly needs. http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21565956-americas-poor-were-little-mentioned-barack-obamas-re-election-campaign-they-deserve

#Workforce

Walmart workers are gearing up for Black Friday strikes http://www.thenation.com/blog/171299/walmart-strike-spreads-texas-organizers-promise-massive-black-friday-protest

LongReads Round-Up Volume Eight

#Art

Some trippy art for your Monday morning: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/11/03/llewellyn-mejia-draws-your-nightmares-on-peyote-art/

#Astrology

Evolutionary astrology: http://www.realitysandwich.com/evolutionary_astrology #reincarnation

Astrology and sexuality: http://www.realitysandwich.com/mars_neptune_orgasm_addiction_sharing_sexual_energies

Give in to Mercury in Retrograde this month http://galadarling.com/article/10-magical-ways-to-make-the-most-of-mercury-retrograde

#Booze

Presidential drinking habits: http://www.themorningnews.org/article/four-more-beers

50 American Gins: http://www.foodandwine.com/slideshows/american-gin-renaissance

#Comics

Interview with Glyn Dillon about his new graphic novel and small press publishing: http://www.tcj.com/the-now-of-glyn-an-interview-with-glyn-dillon/

Three interviews with Theo Ellsworth, author of Capacity and upcoming The Understanding Monster trilogy. His work is partly trippy surrealism, partly exploration of the artistic subconscious, partly reminiscent of my favorite Outsider artist, Adolf Wolfli. Amazing black and white pattern and texture work.

http://www.brokenfrontier.com/lowdown/p/detail/talking-dreams-with-theo-ellsworthhttp://www.tcj.com/the-theo-ellsworth-interview/http://www.newsarama.com/comics/understanding-monster-theo-ells.html

A new anthology of queer comics is coming out (pun TOTALLY intended) http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/11/01/rediscovering-comics-queer-history-an-interview-with-no-straight-lines-editor-justin-hall/

Preview of an ongoing crowd funding project for the graphic novel Elysium, about a social media platform that lets you communicate with your dead loved ones (and causes the apocalypse) http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/11/09/elysium-online-indiegogo-preview-crowd-funding-watch/

#Crime

The author was a hitchhiking teen and possibly escaped a serial killer http://www.gq.com/news-politics/newsmakers/201211/truck-stop-killer-gq-november-2012

Rhonda Roby works as a forensic scientist identifying the dead in cold cases, serial murders, and during 9/11 http://www.dmagazine.com/Home/D_Magazine/2012/November/Rhonda_Roby_Naming_the_Dead_at_Ground_Zero.aspx

#Design

Innovative design in the home of an architect http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2012/11/lessons-from-a-surprise-visit-to-richard-rogerss-house.html

#Development

A round up of critiques regarding journalist Nicholas Kristof and the Savior Identity: http://postwhoreamerica.com/nicholas-kristof-half-the-sky-all-the-credit/

Factory labor in Cambodia has all the trappings of unions but no outcomes: http://truth-out.org/news/item/8307-the-fashion-industrys-perfect-storm-collapsing-workers-and-hyperactive-buyers

Another critique of development and aid work that uplifts workers to “savior” status: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-white-savior-industrial-complex/254843/

How NGOs have failed Haiti: http://www.thenation.com/article/170929/ngo-republic-haiti

#Election

I love this fist pump of optimism after the 2012 elections http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/11/hippies-wander-into-the-lions-den-maul-lions/264921/

Talking about the white vote for Romney http://www.thenation.com/blog/171093/bad-news-about-white-people-romney-won-white-vote-almost-everywhere

Gifs of Karl Rove’s meltdown http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/11/time-karl-rove-took-fox-news-decision-desk/58777/

What a second Obama term means for the rest of the world http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-20233941

The GOP needs an accessible, moderate charmer to reestablish the party… but finding that seems unlikely http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/109864/why-the-gop-needs%E2%80%94-wont-get%E2%80%94its-own-bill-clinton

#Fashion

Interview with the Rodarte sisters: http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2012/03/rodarte-201203

#Feminism

Roxanne Gay writes about being a bad feminist: http://www.vqronline.org/articles/2012/fall/gay-feminism

#Film

Could the internet have garnered cult support for the biggest film failure in history? http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/movies/2012/11/would-the-internet-have-rescued-heavens-gate.html

#Food

Hanging with Aziz Ansari and eating everything http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7776162/qa-parks-recreation-star-aziz-ansari-kanye-west-favorite-foods-more

The legend of the Burger in the West http://gearpatrol.com/2012/10/26/the-oral-history-of-in-n-out-burger/

Traveling to Sichuan to eat the best the region has to offer http://www.bonappetit.com/blogsandforums/blogs/badaily/2012/04/sichuan-travel-story.html

I’m a Ramen Hack Genius. This is for the neophytes: http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/03/ramen-hacks-30-easy-ways-to-upgrade-your-instant-noodles-japanese-what-to-do-with-ramen.html

#Health

David Sedaris goes to the dentist. That’s all you need: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/04/02/120402fa_fact_sedaris?currentPage=all #essay

Manipulating soldiers’ diets to fight off depression: http://www.eatingwell.com/print/15781?page=show #science

#Literature

The critical theory of the ghost in literature: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/jun/17/hauntology-critical

Excerpt from a new novel by Jennine Capo Crucet: http://www.guernicamag.com/fiction/magic-city-relic/

Interview with daytime lawyer/part-time author Charles Yu http://www.themorningnews.org/article/charles-yu

Charles Yu’s review of IQ84 by Haruki Murakami http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php?id=17

Interview with John Sayles http://www.themillions.com/2011/10/robert-birnbaum-in-conversation-with-john-sayles.html

New short story by Alice Munro http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/nov/02/the-eye-alice-munro-short-story

The case for David Mitchell’s Black Swan Green to be taught as the new Catcher in the Rye http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2012/11/schools_should_replace_catcher_in_the_rye_with_black_swan_green.single.html

How publisher and literary taste maker Malcolm Cowley shaped New York http://www.vqronline.org/articles/1982/autumn/shi-malcolm-cowley/

Review of a new collection of Adrienne Rich’s poetry http://www.tnr.com/book/review/poetry-adrienne-rich-eavan-boland

#Religion

The frustrations of religious conservatism felt by those who share the religion http://www.guernicamag.com/daily/jennifer-sky-faith-and-politics-in-the-sunshine-state/

The monster of atheism might be “Gawd” http://www.realitysandwich.com/neo-atheism_demiurge

Our economic system needs to be spiritually restored: http://www.realitysandwich.com/waxing_sacred_economics_charles_eisenstein

An essay from the eighties about the rise of “feminist spirituality,” including goddess worship etc http://ww.utnereader.com/the-new-feminist-spirituality.aspx

Thinking about possession and writing: http://www.granta.com/Online-Only/Necessary-Daemons

Alexander Chee writes about Tarot http://www.themorningnews.org/article/the-querent

#Technology

Warren Ellis on living in the Science Fiction Condition http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/1/3569208/warren-ellis-futurism-new-aesthetic-social-media

Attempting to live on a self-sustaining, productive farm http://www.businessweek.com/printer/articles/79854-the-post-apocalypse-survival-machine-nerd-farm

#Travel

John Jeremiah Sullivan writes about conservative politics and Kentucky in this 2010 piece http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/201001/american-grotesque-john-jeremiah-sullivan-birthers?printable=true #politics

How the eighteen hundreds saw a rise in the panicked belief that the dead were rising http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/The-Great-New-England-Vampire-Panic-169791986.html?c=y&story=fullstory #folklore

Hiking Hawaii’s Big Island http://www.cntraveler.com/islands/2012/11/big-island-hawaii-hiking-adventure-landscapes-beaches-lava-fields

Essay by Vonnegut about the short-lived Kingdom of Biafra in Africa http://journeytoforever.org/rrlib/biafra.html

Living in the mining villages of Peru http://www.vqronline.org/articles/2012/fall/arana-dorado/ #feminism

LongReads Round-Up Volume Seven

#Art

New Statesman provides an English translation of the tax evasion charges China is laying against artist Ai Weiwei as a means of suppressing his work: http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/politics/2012/10/ai-weiwei-papers 

August interview with Ai Weiwei about censorship, China, and individual expression: http://www.realitysandwich.com/ai_weiwei_dj_spooky

#Comics

I’m not Tomine’s biggest fan, but I appreciated what he had to say about the evolving art of cartooning/comics/ illustrating. I’m also a sucker for his “Missed Connections” cover. http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2012/10/29/urban-renewal-an-interview-with-adrian-tomine/

#Education

New technological frontiers in learning a second language: http://www.salon.com/2012/10/27/whats_the_secret_to_learning_a_second_lanuage/

#Environment

When is the human species going to hit its second inflection point? How our species’ success will destroy us. http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/7146 #recommended 

#Feminism

Looking at several new books that deal with gender, feminism, and sexuality (The End of Men, How to Be a Woman, Heroines, This is How You Lose Her) and where we are all losing out in the gender divide: http://therumpus.net/2012/10/how-we-all-lose/

Two interviews with the author of Heroines, Kate Zambreno (essay-memoir-history-lit-theory hybrid about female modernist authors)

http://believermag.tumblr.com/post/34763897153/why-dont-you-like-me-writers-tamara-faith-berger-andhttp://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2012/10/22/heroine-worship-talking-with-kate-zambreno/

Moore lived in Cambodia and taught university women how to make zines: http://therumpus.net/2012/10/the-sunday-rumpus-interview-anne-elizabeth-moore/

#Film

Nice completist review of the Coen Brothers’ body of work, from one auteur theory enthusiast to another: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/the_completist/2011/08/i_watched_every_coen_brothers_movie.single.html

The predicament of political filmmakers in China: http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/world-affairs/2012/10/hazards-independent-chinese-cinema #censorship

Following the Wachowski siblings’ passion for unique storytelling and the journey of filiming Cloud Atlas: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/09/10/120910fa_fact_hemon?currentPage=all

Puzzling out the complicated paths of characters in Cloud Atlas: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/10/27/cloud_atlas_meaning_what_does_the_wachowskis_movie_say_about_reincarnation.html

#Health

Treat yo’self: Weeks worth of massaging does a body good. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/magazine/my-multiday-massage-a-thon.html?ref=magazine&pagewanted=all

A tiny island in Greece has one of the longest average lifespans in the world. In many ways the lifestyle reminds me of Indonesia, pre-processed food boom. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/magazine/the-island-where-people-forget-to-die.html?pagewanted=all #longevity

#International

Interview with civil rights activist in China who has fought forced family planning legislation and led class action suits against the Chinese government: http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/human-rights/2012/10/chen-guangcheng-facts-have-blood-evidence 

What countries would be voting for Obama this month? http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/10/31/blue_planet?page=full

#Journalism

Specifically, the ethics of found-out plagiarizer and science journalist Jonah Lehrer, But on a grander scale, the state of branded journalism and pop science: http://nymag.com/news/features/jonah-lehrer-2012-11/#

Encounter was a cultural literary arts magazine published out of Britain and covertly funded by the CIA as part of the cold war agenda. http://www.newstatesman.com/node/135185

1960s article about the resignation of Encounter editor when he discovered the CIA was funding the publication. (You need a NYTimes subscription to access this article) http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70815FF3D5B107B93CAA9178ED85F438685F9

Censorship in China: http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/politics/2012/10/virus-censorship

#Literature

Survey of HP Lovecraft’s body of work and how it has influenced culture, and how the internet made all that influence possible. http://www.themorningnews.org/article/h.p.-lovecraft-author-is-dead #obituary

Neil Gaiman created the holiday “All Hallows Eve,” a day to encourage children reading “scary” stories. The Millions has a list of recommended reads. http://www.themillions.com/2012/10/all-hallows-read-a-parents-guide-to-scary-books-for-young-readers.html #children’s lit #spooky

Excerpt from the new David Foster Wallace biography by DT Max (see next link)  http://www.themillions.com/2012/08/excerpt-the-opening-paragraphs-of-d-t-maxs-every-love-story-is-a-ghost-story-a-life-of-david-foster-wallace.html #biography #DFW

DT Max wrote this piece in 2009 after DFW’s suicide. Give yourself a good chunk of time to work through and process this thirteen page longread. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/03/09/090309fa_fact_max?currentPage=all #biography #DFW #obituary

Ongoing interest in articles dealing with parental aging http://www.vice.com/read/i-asked-my-dad-who-has-dementia-to-annotate-jonathan-franzens-how-to-be-alone- #photography #dementia

Certain literature is there in times of grieving, heartbreak, and disappointment—but what story can you turn to when you’re mourning the loss of a pet? http://www.themillions.com/2012/10/elegy-for-a-grey-cat-on-grief-books-and-his-dark-materials.html #grief

James Pogue works out some of his John Jeremiah Sullivan jealousy:  http://nplusonemag.com/the-son-shines-bright #SouthernLit

Series of essays by Rachel Yoder from her collection The Hard Problem: A Guide for the Intergalactic Writer Looking to Mate: http://therumpus.net/2012/11/three-short-essays-from-the-hard-problem-a-guide-for-the-intergalactic-writer-looking-to-mate/ #essay

#Music

THIS QUOTE: “As demure as she may be, this girl is also intense and out for blood — of Red’s title, Swift said, “All those emotions — spanning from intense love, intense frustration, jealousy, confusion, all of that — in my mind, all those emotions are red.” Not to put too fine a point on it, but in this she echoes another passionate artist constrained by traditional expectations of femininity: Sylvia Plath.”  http://thisrecording.com/today/2012/10/30/in-which-we-get-taylor-swift-alone.html

The tiny echelon of producers and top-liners pumping out all our Top 40 hooks: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/03/26/120326fa_fact_seabrook?currentPage=all

#Photography

The Atlantic has been busting fake photos of Hurrican Sandy damage: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/12/10/instasnopes-sorting-the-real-sandy-photos-from-the-fakes/264243/ #sandy

Series of photos and quotes from four young Chinese photographers: http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/world-affairs/2012/10/generation-next-photo-essay

#Relationships

Worries and joys while dating a 500 pound man: http://www.xojane.com/it-happened-to-me/it-happened-to-me-i-fell-in-love-with-a-500-pound-man #essay

#Travel

Coming to terms with death during the Running of the Bulls: http://www.themorningnews.org/article/the-bull-passes-through

A tiny span of the Massachusetts coast seems to be a magnet for everything spooky and strange:  http://www.themorningnews.org/article/cape-fear

A recent visit to post-Fidel Cuba, tentatively developing: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/11/new-cuba/gorney-text #international

The First Throb of Lolita

I first read Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita a few years ago during a film course on screenplay adaptations, in conjunction with studying the 1962 Stanley Kubrick film. Lolita is one of those stories that brings out strong reactions in people; I've never met someone who felt simply "meh" towards it-- people find it either passionately compelling or passionately distasteful.

A few weeks ago when I read this previously rounded-up interview with author Martin Amis, I was struck by his Nabokov reference:

"Nabokov said, 'The first throb of Lolita went through me" when he read an account in a French newspaper of a monkey that had been taught to draw, and all the drawing consisted of were the bars of its cage. That was Lolita."

-Martin Amis, "Martin Amis: Redux" via The Morning News

And I went on the hunt for the primary source of that story. It's from an essay Nabokov wrote in 1959 for Encounter (with its own fascinating back story, being an Anglo-American intellectual/cultural magazine that was covertly funded by the CIA to suppress cold war neutralism. Tangent. Links to come in the next Round Up). He writes that the story had no textual influence on the story, but something about the shiver of emotions the newspaper story invoked sparked his early drafts. Similarly, the desperation of the monkey drawing his own cage struck me, and I found myself looking for that same desperation in the novel.

Nabokov's essay, "On a Book Entitled Lolita" : http://www.unz.org/Pub/Encounter-1959apr-00073

Amongst the internet hunting, I also found this essay from Chicago Reader about the original draft of Nabokov's story, originally titled The Enchanter : http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/reading-the-first-throb-of-lolita/Content?oid=870862 . I especially enjoy the comparison of the opening lines from the first draft and the published novel.

"'How can I come to terms with myself?' he thought, when he did any thinking at all. 'This cannot be lechery. Coarse carnality is omnivorous; the subtle kind promises eventual satiation.'"

versus the now famous opening lines of Lolita

"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta."