10/29/20 — Literary News Roundup
I’ll go ahead and admit it: right now, the news you’re looking for probably isn’t about literature. It’s probably about the looming election. But if, for understandable reasons, you’re tired of thinking about that, here’s a roundup of the past few weeks in the literary news.
Before that though, I would be remiss were I not to mark the passing of Diane di Prima. Until her death at 86, she was one of the few remaining poets from the Beat Generation, though her literary output should not be assumed to be that of the stereotypical Beat poet. Her body of work was diverse, spanning four decades and constituting a prolonged engagement with life, politics, and language through poetry.
Recently Released
The publishing industry seems to be beginning hibernation early this year. Releases are scarce, announcements are slow. Two books I previously wrote about — Philip Kaly’s Missionaries and Don DeLillio’s The Silence — have been officially released.
I’m also interested in Rosanna Warren’s recently released Max Jacob: A Life in Art and Letters. Max Jacob was a constant feature of French literary, intellectual, and artistic life despite flying under the radar of the Anglosphere. Writer, poet, critic, and artist, Jacob was friends with everyone from Picasso to Apollinaire to Lacan before his untimely death in Auschwitz. Hopefully Warren’s biography revives interest in the idiosyncratic, underread figure.
Speaking.
Although not necessarily literary, I’d also call attention to Alex Ross’ recently-released cultural history of Richard Wagner: Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music. The book deals primarily with the legacy of Wagner in popular culture and artist, complicating the view of an influential composer whose legacy has been forever marred by his antisemitism (and his valorization by the worst anti-Semites of them all). Ross’ book And the Rest is Noise is an excellent read as well. It’s been a few years since I’ve read it, but as someone with no background in classical music I found it a fascinating text.
A Closing Note
As I mentioned earlier, this has been a fairly slow season for publishing. It seems they rightly realize that people are primarily concerned with the political volatility of the season, their attention seized by the already-in-progress election. To remedy this lack of publishing news, I’m going to be alternating this newsletter with a biweekly newsletter on my favorite pieces of cultural writing. In it, I’ll give my thoughts on everything from political writing to philosophical pieces to profiles of public figure — just whatever seizes my attention and gets me thinking. I hope you’ll enjoy it!
Until tomorrow,
Michael Ducker
