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New York Review Books: Then the Backlash Came
Filed under: On the Spot Tagged: Chris Hedges, Curzio Malaparte, Dino Buzzati, events, Fred Wiseman, Georges Simenon, John Banville, John Gray, Jonathan Taylor, Marina Harss, New York Review Books, Northwestern University Press, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Tete-Michel Kpomassie, Timothy Snyder, Vasily Grossman, Walter Murch
Jonathan Taylor writes:
Just kidding! Everyone loves New York Review Books Classics, and for good reason. Few things are as unreservedly worth celebrating as the 10th anniversary of this publishing project, which is single-handedly reshaping the understanding of the world's recent literary past. By the way, their cover design scheme has become so well-known, does anyone remember that, a whole decade ago, it was rather different? Here's my edition of J.R. Ackerley's My Father and Myself, alongside the current one:
Anyway, Martin's got the New Yorker Festival covered, but NYR Books are having their own anniversary festivities through November—in New York, London and both Cambridges—listed here, including:
- Monday, September 21, 7 pm Idlewild Books hosts a reading by Tete-Michel Kpomassie, author of An African in Greenland
- Tuesday, October 6, 7 pm Idlewild Books, launch party for the first graphic novel published by NYRB, Poem Strip by Dino Buzzati, featuring translator Marina Harss
- Tuesday, October 13, 7 pm London Review Bookshop, John Banville and John Gray discuss the work of Georges Simenon
- Thursday, October 29 NY Institute of the Humanities, New School Tishman Auditorium with Fred Wiseman, Walter Murch, Timothy Snyder, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Chris Hedges discusssing the war writings of Curzio Malaparte and Vasily Grossman
Incidentally, Timothy Snyder is the author of a recent eye-opening article in The New York Review of Books about where, and how, the greater part of the Holocaust took place, that should be a must-read for all humans.
And the mention of Malaparte reminds me the great work of another series, a little lower-profile, but whose distinctive jackets are equally signals of worthy reading you might not otherwise know about: Northwestern University's European Classics. They brought Malaparte's Kaputt to my bookshelf before New York Review Books yet existed, as well as another eventual NYRB title, Stefan Zweig's Beware of Pity.
About us
Hello! We're a small band of media enthusiasts, culture addicts, and journalists based in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Emdashes, formerly a New Yorker fan site, is our collection of conversations—mostly civilized—about magazines, movies, politics, design, punctuation, and other things that stir us.
You'd like to know more about the writers and artists and what our column titles mean? We live to serve!
We welcome tips, questions, comments, and corrections, and are always on the lookout for ardent, obsessive new contributors. Click here to email us.
We host occasional book giveaways. Publishers, please email us for our postal address.
Tell me more
Dashes, some say, “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like an em dash itself—provides a thoughtful pause amid the hubbub.
Emdashes, founded in 2004, is written and drawn by Emily Gordon, Martin Schneider, Pollux, Jonathan Taylor, and Benjamin Chambers, as well as occasional guest contributors. All posts before October 2008 are by Emily Gordon.
The site was designed by House of Pretty with illustrations by Jesse R. Ewing.
Additional drawings are by Carolita Johnson and Pollux (author of our web comic, "The Wavy Rule"). The Emdashes pencil logo is by Jennifer Hadley, based on a 1943 Dorothy Gray ad.
Other writing by Emily Gordon
- Writing on theater: reviews (for Time Out Chicago; imperfect but workable search results)
- Profile: Valerie Casey, Designers Accord founder, is spearheading the design of sustainability (for SXSW World)
- Feature: Rea Irvin: visionary art director, bon vivant, New Yorker founding father (for Print)
- Slide show: the Coney Island Mermaid Parade (for NYCgo.com)
- Feature: Muslim immigration iconography in the Netherlands, and an interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali (for Print)
- Review: King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman (for Newsday)
- Homage: Celebrating lindy-hop legend Frankie Manning (for NYCgo.com)
- Inquiry: Does a New Republic redesign mean a change of tune? (for Print)
- Interview: James Surowiecki on what's next for the wisdom of crowds (for Assignment Zero)
- Interviews: four up-and-coming designers under 30 (for Print)
- Profile: novelist and dance critic Laura Jacobs (for Newsday)
Blogroll highlights
- Box Office Boffo
- World of Pollux
- Jonathan Taylor
- Carolita Johnson
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