From PopMatters, a review of The Mysterious Case of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys by Carole Kismaric and Marvin Heiferman. Move over, Prep and Harry Potter — Taylor Antrim has written the great American (or is that Korean-American?) boarding school novel, The Headmaster Ritual. The “golden age” is an apt term for the inter-war whodunnits – it describes exactly what these novels were trying to regain or create, after the horror and chaos they had just passed through. Somehow, cyberspace and the real world switched places: An interview with William Gibson on Spook Country. Race, the final frontier: Black science-fiction writers bring a unique perspective to the genre. Do novels fall into two classes? Anthony Burgess argued that novels were engaged either with the world, or with language. A striking claim, but not a very convincing one. Author Laura Albert must pay nearly $350,000 in legal fees, triple the amount a jury said she owes a production company.
From ReadySteadyBook, A Defence of the Book: Many of the most vehement advocates of new technology in education, as an alternative to books, are frankly advocating a novel species of illiteracy. Off the Shelf: Ever dreamt of weeding out the excess books in your office? Scott McLemee interviews a professor who did the deed. Book collectors discover a small market when they try to unload their treasures. From Britannica, an article on the Book as Object: Books and bytes; and Dewey isn’t synonymous with library, and the demise of his system doesn’t mean the downfall of libraries. A library bigger than any building: An ambitious project to create an online catalogue of every book in every language ever published is under way. Public goodwill is not in doubt, but some libraries remain to be convinced.
From New York Press, an article on the Official History of Music Video. A review of All That Glitters: Living On The Dark Side of Rock & Roll by Pearl Lowe. I'd Like To Dedicate This Next Song to Jesus: An article on the freaky origins of Christian rock. Heather Mac Donald on The Abduction of Opera: Can the Met stand firm against the trashy productions of trendy nihilists? From Sign and Sight, tradition, revolution and reaction in Bayreuth: Marianne Zelger-Vogt on Katharina Wagner's ambitious Bayreuth debut with the "Mastersingers of Nuremberg". An excerpt from Sketches from a Secret War: A Polish Artist’s Mission to Liberate Soviet Ukraine by Timothy Snyder. From PopMatters, an essay on The Sydney Morning Herald and the cultural life of Sydney. An interview with Elif Shafak, survivor of a court case, on her renewed love for Turkey's multi-ethnic heritage.
Bias and the Beeb: The BBC stands accused of promoting a leftwing agenda, sometimes in the name of altruism. Although it is legally required to be "impartial", is it time to question whether this is desirable, or even possible? Lessons From an Ex-Murdoch Man: As the editor of the Sunday Times, Andrew Neil witnessed just how Rupert Murdoch uses his newspapers to advance his personal interests. The Murdoch Journal Watch: Having bagged his trophy, how long will it take Rupert to bugger it?
