Paper Trail

Rachel Cusk discusses her new novel


Rachel Cusk. Photo: Sean Dellorco

The Man Who Lived Underground, the long-unpublished novel by Richard Wright that was recently issued by the Library of America, is being adapted for the screen.

“Like the Soviet state dangling the promise of a radiant future in front of its tired citizens, Musk’s success is sustained by predictions of a technological sublime that’s only ever another decade away.” Phil Jones on Elon Musk at the LRB Blog.

At the Creative Independent, the legendary Gordon Lish talks about the best qualities of an editor (“Listen hardest”), Raymond Carver, and whether “there is anything more important than language”: “The answer is no, nothing—save, say, the power to hear it in all its particularity, which, the which, are infinite, a boundlessness I’ve devoted my bounded time (and tide) to.”

Jessica George, an assistant editor at Bloomsbury UK, has sold two novels to St. Martin’s Press for a reported seven figures. The first of the two books, Maame, is about a twentysomething British Ghanaian woman who is navigating “family conflict, dating, unfulfilling work, roommates who aren’t quite friends, grief, and cultural differences in the wake of a personal tragedy.”

In a virtual event that will start today at 1pm EDT, Rachel Cusk will discuss her new novel, Second Place, with Makenna Goodman, author of The Shame.