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Franzen Thinks Big about Floridian Plovers and Chinese Gulls
Filed under: Jonathans are Illuminated Tagged: Calvin Trillin, Christina Stead, David Remnick, E. M. Forster, Graham Greene, Jane Smiley, Jonathan Franzen, Paul Muldoon
Martin Schneider writes:
The website bigthink.com has just put up a bunch of entertaining clips featuring the full-throated inflections of Jonathan Franzen. There’s one on his difficulties accepting Oprah’s endorsement in 2001, a pair on over- (Forster, Greene) and underrated (Smiley, Stead) books, and a few on China. And there are some I haven’t even mentioned!
I’m a recent devotee of birdwatching, so I choose to single out Franzen’s “Idea” in which he reads a portion of his glum and illuminating essay, “My Bird Problem,” (abstract only) which
(continued)
Revealed! Jonathan Lethem's True Identity!
Filed under: Jonathans are Illuminated Tagged: Jonathan Lethem, Paul Schmelzer
It turns out that Jonathan Lethem is actually Paul Schmelzer.
Or else, he was Paul Schmelzer when he wrote Amnesia Moon.
It is not out of the question that Jonathan Lethem has amnesia. —Martin Schneider
(continued)
Festival: Saunders and Foer Get Incredible
Filed under: New Yorker Festival Tagged: Ernest Hemingway, events, Franz Kafka, George Saunders, Jonathan Safran Foer, Leo Tolstoy, New Yorker Festival, The New Yorker
If the High Line Ballroom is an interesting venue, the Angel Orensanz Foundation is a gorgeous one. Not having ever been there before, I cannot divulge whether the blue and purple rear facade is a permanent feature or a creation of the lighting crew. Either way, the effect was jaw-dropping.
In these stately trappings, Saunders and Foer explored the concept of the Incredible. It was an interesting evening of chat. Unlike the earlier Pamuk/Rushdie event, Foer and Saunders genuinely didn’t see eye to eye on more than a few matters, and therefore something rather unexpected occurred — genuine hortatory verbal sparring, albeit respectful.
(continued)
Tonight, Tonight, You'll See Gaiman, Wilsey, Ames, &c. Tonight
Filed under: On the Spot Tagged: cartoons, comics, events, fiction, Jonathan Ames, memoir, Sean Wilsey
Park yourself at 37 Arts, a gleaming new West Side performance complex, for a literary evening tonight. First up: the cartoonist Neal Gaiman, the African children’s book author Marguerite Abouet and Sean Wilsey, the author of “Oh the Glory of it All,” the poor-little-rich-boy memoir that Michiko Kakatuani called “by turns heartfelt, absurd, self-indulgent, self-abasing, silly and genuinely moving.” Then Mr. Gaiman joins Jonathan Ames, Pico Iyer and Edgar Oliver, the Poe of the East Village, to tell tales of home and travel for the Moth storytelling series. Just by staying in your seat you’ll seem erudite.(continued)
Sean Wilsey talk, 6 p.m, and the Moth readings, 8 p.m., 37 Arts, 450 West 37th Street, Clinton, (212) 560-8912; $15 and $30.
Jonathan Lethem's Book Tour Schedule
Filed under: Jonathans are Illuminated Tagged: books, events, fiction, Jonathan Lethem
Wed 3/21 New York, Barnes & Noble Union SquareMore after the jump. (continued)
Thurs 3/22 Philadelphia, Free Library
Mon 3/26 Raleigh, North Carolina, Quail Ridge Books
Tues 3/27 Boston, Brookline Booksmith/Coolidge Theater
Wed 3/28 Princeton New Jersey, Princeton University
Thurs 3/29 Washington D.C., Politics and Prose
Fri 3/30 New York, Housing Works
Mon 4/2 Minneapolis, University Book Center
About us
Hello! We're a small band of culture writers, editors, and artists based in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Emdashes, which spent its formative years as a New Yorker blog, is our collection of conversations—mostly civilized—about magazines, movies, design, punctuation, and other things that stir us.
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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
- Reviews: theater writing (for Time Out Chicago)
- 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)
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