#autofiction era

[brettyimages]

Brett in Brixton, 16/12/23, after he suggested he'd play The Wild Ones and everyone yelled NO!

#autofiction era #brett anderson #suede #tourstories #Suedemas tour 2023

[neurasthnia]

twenty books in spanish, tbr

for when i'm fluent!! most with translations in english.

Sistema Nervoso, Lina Meruane (2021) - Latin American literature professor from Chile, contemporary litfic

Ansibles, perfiladores y otras máquinas de ingenio, Andrea Chapela (2020) - short story collection from a Mexican scifi author, likened to Black Mirror

Nuestra parte de noche, Mariana Enríquez (2019) - very long literary horror novel by incredibly famous Argentine journalist 

Canto yo y la montaña baila, Irene Solà (2019) - translated into Spanish from Castilian by Concha Cardeñoso, contemporary litfic

Las malas, Camila Sosa Villada (2019) - very well rated memoir/autofiction from a trans Argentine author

Humo, Gabriela Alemán (2017) - short litfic set in Paraguay, by Ecuadoran author

La dimensión desconocida, Nona Fernández (2016) - really anything by this Chilean actress/writer; this one is a Pinochet-era historical fiction & v short

Distancia de rescate, Samanta Schweblin (2014) - super short litfic by an Argentinian author based in Germany, loved Fever Dream in English

La ridícula idea de no volver a verte, Rosa Montero (2013) - nonfiction; Spanish author discusses scientist Maria Skłodowska-Curie and through Curie, her own life

Lágrimas en la lluvia, Rosa Montero (2011) - sff trilogy by a Spanish journalist

Los peligros de fumar en la cama, Mariana Enríquez (2009) - short story collection, author noted above

Delirio, Laura Restrepo (2004) - most popular book (maybe) by an award-winning Colombian author; literary fiction

Todos los amores, Carmen Boullosa (1998) - poetry! very popular Mexican author, really open to anything on the backlist this is just inexpensive used online

Olvidado rey Gudú, Ana María Matute (1997) - cult classic, medieval fantasy-ish, award-winning Spanish author

Como agua para chocolate, Laura Esquivel (1989) - v famous novel by v famous Mexican author

Ekomo, María Nsué Angüe (1985) - super short litfic about woman's family, post-colonial Equatoguinean novel; out of print

La casa de los espíritus, Isabelle Allende (1982) - or really anything by her, Chilean author known for magical realism; read in English & didn't particularly love but would be willing to give it another try

Nada, Carmen Laforet (1945) - Spanish author who wrote after the Spanish civil war, v famous novel

Los pazos de Ulloa, Emilia Pardo Bazán (1886) - book one in a family drama literary fiction duology by a famous Galician author, pretty dense compared to the above

La Respuesta, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1691) -  i actually have a bilingual poetry collection from our favorite 17th century feminist Mexican nun; this is an essay defending the right of women to be engaged in intellectual work (& it includes some poems)

bookmarked websites:

Separata Árabe, linked by Arablit

reading challenge Un viaje por la literatura en español

#* #spanish langblr #langblr #spanish notes #can you imagine that if i grind i can start reading these this time next year?!?!? #3

[dipstick-university]

the Double Life of Benson Yu: A Review

Benson Yu is the story of a 1980's third-culture boy who likes to draw, a jaded illustrator looking at his past, and the real cost of facing one's demon's as an artist.

Full disclosure: I am acquaintances with Kevin and have taken his creative nonfiction class three times; he is by far one of my favourite writing teachers, with a teaching style that is collected, articulate and vulnerable. I usually think I can review books by people I know with a bit of removal, I do not know if that is the case here, but I'd like to believe, or at least pretend its so.

Suffice to say, this book does not feel collected, articulate and vulnerable. This book feels DERANGED. Benson Yu It is everything autofiction is supposed to be; it slips the reader right into the story, and leaves them wondering where the fictional narration ends and keyhole-views into Chong's biographical life begins (if any of it is Chong's life in the first place.) It jerks the reader between the believable and the improbable with ease, Chong has mastered the craft of moving through time, easily dancing the reader across eras and locales.

Benson Yu is a dark reflection on everything hard and sad and ugly about becoming an artist. It's about the self-hatred, and the creeping doubt, and the inherent selfishness that goes into carving out space to make art. It's about the monster one an artist becomes if they're note careful. And it's also about recalling sweetness, and unearthing the artistic "content" that comes from adolescence without simultaneously soiling it.

Listen: I sat down to read this book and could not stop reading it until I was done. I cannot remember the last time I had that experience, (the first Hunger Games in 2012?) After the first fifteen pages, I desperately needed to know what happened. I "got" every characters' motivation and rooted for them, even when they made bad decisions. I wanted to know what happened at the end of every page.

Really, I recommend this book for anyone who's looking to escape, anyone who wants to feel immersed in Vancouver's 1980's Chinatown, or anyone who is an artist trying to fight their own demons. 

#bookblr #book review #the double life of benson yu #historic fiction #Kevin Chong

[grandhotelabyss]

Thoughts on Tim O'Brien? My sense is that he's pretty much the last inductee into the American high school canon who doesn't write outright YA. Is that why the kids these days all write autofiction, because they were taught in high school that the terminus of the adult novel is a swirling Vietnam trauma-memoir?

I read (and taught) the short story version of The Things They Carried once. I'm sorry he went through all that, but I thought it was dreary and gimmicky and wasn't tempted to move on to the novels. In her famous essay decrying the MFA, Elif Batuman follows the author she's reviewing to make the same connection, even before the autofiction era, between the Vietnam trauma-memoir and literary fiction's victimology:

‘Almost all artistically ambitious authors in the postwar period “self-commodify” in this sense,’ McGurl continues, inviting us to ‘think of Tim O’Brien and his lifelong use of nine months in Vietnam.’ Indeed, think of Tim O’Brien. As a White Person, he couldn’t write about most of his life experience, which was probably just like Father Knows Best. Instead, in If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home and the several novels that followed, he had to write about the period of his life when he – like the conscripted Native Americans, like the napalmed Vietnamese – was the victim of the murderous policy of the White Man.

#tim o'brien #elif batuman #american literature #creative writing

[toomuchracket]

Totally respect and understand the fact Matty doesn’t want to perform on social media anymore. But the thought of no more ‘good morning guys’ does make me wanna wail into a void :/

no absolutely like literally the thing i was having a mare trying to write yesterday was about what happens to someone if they try to be ironic or keep up a performance for too long (it was autofiction about my girlblogging era not matty tho lmao him deactivating was NOT manifested by me) and i am so glad that he's making decisions that benefit him mentally and will stop him from feeling burnt out and tired of his career (which is a career he loves so much behind all the facades) and keeps us (the fans) and him endeared to each other!! but i will miss the shitposting quite a bit i used to enjoy watching his stories and having a little giggle. overall, though, i love him a lot and i want him to feel good <3

#mads answers asks #mads muses #chatty bits

[all-rock-and-roll-is-homosexual]

I don't think I was around when you met Suede so could you tell me the story please?? What was Brett/the band like???

So I only just got back about a week ago from seeing Suede in the UK - I saw them four times while there in Bexhill, Bristol, Manchester and Leeds.

I brought along an old Coming Up era tour program to get signed so a portion of my interactions were based around that. I talked to all of them briefly for that but my biggest interactions were with Brett and Neil.

Simon was the first one to sign the program and all of them had comments about it except for Brett who will basically just sign anything you put in front of him without much question.

So the reactions to the program are basically this:

(In Bexhill)

Simon: Wow! This is really old!

Brett: (signed and handed it back without saying anything)

(in Bristol)

Me: Hi, Mat! I have something really old for you to sign. Simon's already made a comment on it.

(hands it over)

Mat: Wow, this is old. Am I in this? Where am I? (immediately flips to his page)

Me: There you are!

Mat: Do you have a pen? (borrows a marker off another person queued up out front, signs then hands it back)

Me: Thank you!

He went inside and then a short time later Brett came over to say hello to the small group of us queued up out front

At this point I didn't really say anything because he'd already signed my program so I just wanted to be near him and see what was going on dfghjk and then

Brett: Oh, I like those. (points)

Me: (only just realizing he's talking to me - panics and looks at my hands) What, my bracelets?

Brett: No, your gloves.

Me: Oh, thank you. They're nice and warm.

(pauses because he also has a pair of black leather gloves with him and is also wearing a leather bomber jacket)

Me: Oh hey, we match!

Brett: (pauses, studying me) Oh yeah. There's the gloves and the gloves and the jacket and the jacket. (jokingly- faux hurt) I thought I was the only person in the world who wore black leather gloves.

and because I'm a dumbass the only response I could think of was to play off of that

Me: (Nodding as if I understand his hurt completely) Oh, of course. Naturally.

After the show I was able to get Neil to sign the program and I think he just had another comment about it being old.

I also got a selfie with Brett and I felt so embarrassed and self conscious all I could do was just keep apologizing.

(In Manchester)

I stopped Richard on the way to soundcheck and had him sign the program

Richard: Oh my God, an actual relic!

(Watching him sign in a daze)

Richard: Do you want your name on it?

Me: Hm?

Richard: Do you want your name on it?

Me: Oh, yes!

Richard: What is it?

Me: Rhys

Richard: How do you spell that? R-H-

Me: R-H-Y-S, thank you!

(and finally, in Leeds)

I figured I should have something else for them to sign and I'd swapped CDs with @brettyimages so I brought along the copy of Autofiction she gave me and I guess I forgot to say anything when I handed it to Neil because I was so stunned. BUT

Neil: (flashing an extremely charming smile) is this for me?

Me: (feigning indignance) No, it's mine!

At this point another queue goer came over: Have you heard it?

Me: (thinking this is hilarious) Have you heard it?

Neil: (deadpan as he signs) No.

Me: (also extremely deadpan) Oh, you should. It's really great.

Neil: (hands it back) Of course I've heard it. What, do you think I'm in Westlife?

I was very confused about this because I don't know if he really thought I didn't think he'd listened or what but I thought it was really funny all the same. That Westlife comment fucking killed me. AND HIS SMILE. Being on the receiving end of that legit gave me butterflies.

In all, I'd say my interactions with them were great and they were all very nice 🖤

#suede

[ambientsoundtrackfan]

Gatekeeping Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar

Reading yet another think piece which posits that The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath is autobiographical and that Esther Greenwood's character represents the political and feminist views of Plath. I'm going insane insane, it's so much worse to me than thinking the misogyny and deranged thoughts of Winston Smith from Orwell's 1984 is indicative of Orwell's own views because I see most well read people calling that out and understanding what a braindead misreading that is. But with Plath it's like people (esp other women!!) don't even care at all that they are basically assuming its autofiction or outright biography. At this point with all of Plath's posthumous work published and the dedicated scholarship of her art it's so lazy that people ignore this myth about The Bell Jar. The novel is closer to 1984's dystopia than it is to Sally Rooney's Normal People. Esther Greenwood is deranged, pathetic and bigoted from her paranoia of her own "shortcomings" while living in McCarthy era America. It literally ends with Esther being "cured" and choosing to become a Good American Wife. Just because the themes of the US immigrant experience, homophobia, racism, classism, post WW2/Cold War politics, capitalism, archetype of outsiders don't stand out from YOUR reading doesn't mean it's not there. Analyze and read the actual novel not just going off "vibe" from female manipulator tiktoks.

tldr: Sylvia Plath ≠ Esther Greenwood

#sorry I have to rant or else I'd distract from a really interesting essay #this is just such a pet peeve of mine #Sylvia was a pacifist and civil rights supporter learn your herstory #only because I feel as if plath has become this meme which rests on a total misunderstanding of her work #her work isn't just Silly Depressed Teen Girl fiction ok that makes me so mad #was she perfect and absolutely not but engage with a text before you critique step 1 #sylvia plath #books

[allisonilluminated]

oh hey you're still alive! good! missed you!

how's your various books? i swear you were writing at least one. and i dont mean the fics.

Hey :) I'm always happy to hear from you. I suppose now's a good a time as any to give a general update about what I've been up to creatively for the past two and a half-ish years.

As you all probably know now, I've stepped away from fanfiction to focus on original fiction in the hopes of launching my dream career as a novelist. That means I've gone from about a 30/70 original-fanfic ratio in 2019 to about a 95/5 ratio now, in terms of what I'm putting out. I'm super happy with those numbers! As far as total output, I wrote 500k in 2020, and about 560k in 2021, and while I'm probably not going to manage quite that much in 2022 (shitty Life Circumstances are shitty), I'm still well on course to have a great output this year too.

The Series - My "novel" that some of you know I finished in June of 2021 actually turned out to be a complete seven book series! That means that I have full first drafts of all seven books. Additionally, in the last year, I've completed both a second and a third draft of Book One. My current goal with Book One is to pick up the fourth draft this winter, and then to query it in the spring with agents, which is super cool. The first draft of The Series was 665k words, all seven books together, but Book One now comes out at exactly 200k, so it's a real epic. Genre is on the very literary edge of contemporary, with some sci-fi and alt-history elements and some inspiration from superhero fic, but that's about all I'll say about it here ;) Keeping my fingers crossed for good luck in the querying process.

The Fantasy Novel - Additionally, I have been worldbuilding a fantasy world since I was in elementary school, which means that I am now in year eleven of its development. What began as a blatant D&D ripoff now has a fully realized world, a language, deep lore and history, and about eleven failed novel attempts in my drawer. But after I finished draft three of Book One, I started a new attempt at Fantasy Novel, and it's flown off of my fingertips in a really exciting way. I'm still in the first draft, but I'm about 11/17 chapters in, which feels like a really good place to be. Not sure how long that is yet, cause I'm drafting on paper oddly. My goal is to finish Fantasy Novel's first draft within a month or two, then set it aside for a while.

The Horror Novel - After The Series and The Fantasy Novel, my next most successful project from the COVID era has been a really cool horror novel that I started in the summer of 2021, right after I finished draft one of The Series. This one is about 60k deep, but it's very complicated from a research perspective, and due both to Life Circumstances and revising Book One, I've stalled a bit. Despite that, though, I think that Horror Novel probably has some of the best prose I've ever written, including one chapter that is decisively the best thing I've ever written, so I will publish this one at some point in my life. It's too good not to. I may take a while to finish it, though.

The Autofiction Novel - I started four novels this summer after I finished draft three of Book One, and this was the first of them (Fantasy Novel is the third). This one's currently sitting at about 24k - it's cool in that it toes a really interesting line between memoir and fiction, but the tone is pretty dark, and it gets at some pretty heavy stuff I've gone through in my life. Wasn't really in a good headspace for it after the Life Circumstances, so I've set it aside for a bit.

The Romances - I've made three stabs at these since the pandemic started, one a summer, and none have gone much of anywhere. The first was a silly, kinda campy concept in 2020, and it didn't manage more than a chapter (granted, it was about jet skis, mermaids, and Florida, so what have you). The second was about baseball lesbians and shitty relationships with intimacy in 2021, and that went about 14k before I started attempt eleven of Fantasy Novel, the one before the current, so that petered out quick too. The third is very recent, novel number four on the summer, at about 12k, kind of a fun play on your typical amnesia plot, but given how much else is going on in my life right now, not sure if I'll take that anywhere.

Other Stuff - I wrote a poetry chapbook and a song in the fall of 2021. I wrote 6k of a dumb, campy fantasy novel about lesbian vampires after I watched First Kill (novel two), which should tell you everything you need to know about that. Never gonna see the light of day. I wrote a cool short story for my Japanese Literature class as a trans take on patriarchal romance in the Tale of Genji - pretty proud of that. I'm currently working on a really long piece of philosophy, which we'll see where that goes. Some fanfiction too, I guess - just some silly Twilight and Harry Potter crack, plus I've managed a chapter or two of my Ranma fic. Otherwise, well - I mean, "That's all?" That seems like a hell of a lot to me. It would make more sense how much all of this is if I told you about the Life Circumstances, but I'm not about to traumadump that shit on the interwebs.

Anyway that's what's up with me - your latest update from your friendly local writer-who-really-wants-to-do-this-for-a-living Allison Illuminated. Check in later for "oh my god oh shit oh fuck how did she write more novels."

#allisonilluminated #allison illuminated #writing #amwriting #wips #my wips #life update #writing update

[upalldown]

Suede - Autofiction

Ninth album from the English alt. rock group which they describe as their punk record was produced by Ed Buller

8/13

As well as showing our age, that period also speaks to Suede's incredible longevity; not many bands have successful careers as long as Suede, and, of those bands at a similar career stage, few are capable of producing an album as good as Autofiction.

The band have spoken about Autofiction being created to replicate their live power, and that ambition is well realized here. The albums the band have released since Bloodsports, their first album post-reunion, had tended more towards their experimental side, with the actual depth of the songs shining through when the albums were toured. Autofiction comprises eleven songs that sound like they were recorded by a band ready to unleash them live, and the album benefits from that approach.

"She Still Leads Me On" starts the album off on the front foot with post-punk guitar lines bringing to mind "Ceremony" by Joy Division and Brett Anderson sounding as good as he has ever sounded. One thing that jumps out on Autofiction is Brett's vocals. There's confidence and real power to them, which backs up his belief about the band's current performance levels when discussing this album and its recording process.

Certain songs on Autofiction celebrate the band's early high points, with "Personality Disorder" having a Suede era-like title and sounding like a song that could have come from their debut. Similarly, "15 Again" recalls Coming Up, its chorus as poppy as anything the band have produced since then.

"The Only Way I Can Love You" and "The Boy On The Stage" keep the pace up with Anderson again sounding fantastic on the latter before the Dog Man Star-like drama of "Drive Myself Home" slows things down slightly. It's a glorious song and one of the album's standout tracks.

"Black Ice" also recalls Dog Man Star, bringing to mind "This Hollywood Life" or "New Generation", and another standout, "Shadow Self", follows. The penultimate track, "What Am I Without You?" is one of those songs that only Suede can do well; only they can bring that dramatic feel to a song. Autofiction ends on "Take Your Brain Off And Yell",  a muscular, pounding end to an album by a band sounding fresher and more vibrant than they have in a long time.

To continue to produce quality albums more than 30 years into a career is one thing, but to produce an album as full of quality and as energetic as Autofiction is far more impressive. With this album, Suede again shows that they are a band full of surprises. At next March's concert, I cannot wait to see how these songs come across live. While my friends and I may not have the energy we did in 1994, Suede certainly seem to. Long may they continue to have that,t and long may they carry on.

https://www.xsnoize.com/album-review-suede-autofiction/?amp

#suede #autofiction

[hydralisk98]

Blackhand devlog#4

A quick refresher onto what my Blackhand cartoon pitch is about, since I have last really tackled it like a few months back.

It is a optimistic visionary slice-of-life cartoon narrative with autofiction (INTJ autistic transfem as one major character) and socio-historical political intrigue elements springled in (also to be used as a manifestation game & life scripture sample?)

Moodboard "base"

Devlog#1

Devlog#2

Devlog#3

Devlog#4 (this specific entry)

At least in my own mind, the overarching "meta"-narrative is more of a simulated alternate world with narrative twists, character arcs and than only a singular story. So more like a toybox of manifestation games (or a Turing Tarpit if you know what that means...) where you are encouraged to Bring-Your-Own content if you will.

Also taking hints from Helluva Boss, Wakfu, The Powerpuff Girls (specifically the adult puffs episode segment), Danny Phantom, Jucika and late 2D-era Disney productions, amongst a myriad of additional multimedia sources... May also make use of Neocities for immersive pages & blogs, complete with dividers, blinkies, page dolls and all...

But yes, back to the current state of affairs in 452X...

"Primary" agents

Klara Ker (that’s me with a few tweaks, in my fictional timeline born at the 1996 equivalent)

Tekla Kawa (very much inspired by Wolfenstein The New Order’s eponymous autistic character)

Ursae Eike

Valenz Chaves

Magali Soler

Irma Milan

"Secondary" agents

Teno Schwarz

Abra Elken

Maya Noonlight

Anya Zen

"Tertiary" agents

Nirvana Petra

Micha Becker

Pan Keller

Matyas Merkel

Family

Deno Hayden (younger but middle brother, born in 1998 eq.)

Wyatt Hayden (youngest brother, born in 2000 eq.)

Gustav Hayden (my father)

Falah Becker (my mother)

Justy Valeria Lorentz (my benevolent maternal grand mother)

Ava (sapient synthetic serf)

Shoshona (black turkish angora housecat)

#maskutchew #blackhand #16^12 #cartoon pitch #devlog

[brettyimages]

Suede tour photos please 🥺👉👈

I still haven't sorted through them but here's a series of Bretties from Trash in Lincoln to start us off x

#autofiction era #suede #Brett Anderson #tourstories #Suedemas tour 2023

[berisikradio]

Autofiction, Album Studio Ke-9 Suede Yang Liar Namun Dewasa

Autofiction, Album Studio Ke-9 Suede Yang Liar Namun Dewasa

Pada 16 September 2022, band Britpop asal London, Suede, merilis album teranyar mereka. Dari segi musik, album ini dapat menangkap mood dari karya-karya era awal mereka, semacam “The Drowners” atau “Animal Nitrate”; namun dengan energi yang berbeda, lebih dewasa. Autofiction bukanlah sebuah upaya untuk menghadirkan kembali daya magis yang mereka miliki pada album-album lama Suede yang sukses…

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[yellowsnow77]

Suede - Autofiction

Suede – Autofiction

Hace unos meses, cuando Suede anunciaron su último trabajo y comentaron que era su disco punk y que volvían a la urgencia de su primer álbum, me llevé toda una alegría. Y no es que no me haya gustado su reciente trilogía, en la que se iban hacia un mundo más épico y cinematográfico, pero sí es cierto que siempre he tenido un especial cariño a su debut. Supongo que, porque me compré el vinilo…

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#Indie-Pop #Indie-Rock #Post-Punk #Suede

[thelonguepuree]

[R]eaders who go in for the biographical reading of fiction are not only naïve but also savvy, drawing potentially interesting if perhaps inherently indeterminate conclusions from the proper name—e.g., “John Irving”—on the cover of a book. They know that fiction emerges in the most literal sense from the experiences of the author —writing fiction is one of those experiences. And they know that in the literary culture in which the fictional author named Garp came to exist, “personal experience” and “creativity” are primary values that relay one to the other in a relation of mutual authorization, distortion, and augmentation. They know that part of the value of the modern literary text, quite apart from the “relatability” of its characters, is the act of authorship that it records, offering readers a mediated experience of expressive selfhood as such. If, as in Speak, Memory, that story is essentially true to experience, there is still the fascination of the conversion of memory into felicitous expression. If, as in Lolita or Garp, that expression is dazzlingly ironized, turned inside out and around and folded thrice, all the better. The complexity of the situation can be seen in the fact that there is little doubt that John Irving shares the opinions of his character on the limitations of biographical reading—little doubt that Garp is in general the author’s (as they say) mouthpiece. Furthermore, the novel itself takes considerable interest in the way the raw material of Garp’s life experiences is used in the manufacture of his fiction, some of which (oddly enough) was published separately under the name John Irving. The indeterminacy of the relation between author and character is in this case quite real, a matter of pragmatic fact, but to make it a principle (whether by way of prohibitions against the “biographical fallacy,” as the New Critics called it, or in the absurd declarations of the “death of the author” that were heard in the 1960s) is to risk missing one of the most basic dynamics of postwar literary production.

Mark McGurl, The Program Era: Postwar Fiction and the Rise of Creative Writing (2009), pp. 19-20

#mark mcgurl #the program era #autofiction #the death of the author #new criticism #biographical readings #literary criticism #authorial intent #authorship #creative writing #vladimir nabokov #john irving #lolita #the world according to garp #self-expression

[thediverismylove]

Why is there a movie coming out about nicolas cage playing nicolas cage. His autofiction era I guess

[grandhotelabyss]

If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to post another of my own works for our audiovisual Monday. The Nobel Prize in Literature will be announced on Thursday, which means we’re in the waning days of Louise Glück’s reign. My video above is a quick and painless introduction to her work, which complements my much longer discussion here. I’d never really read her before she won the Nobel. I don’t always run out and read the latest laureate whose work I’m not already familiar with, but in her case I realized that with her short poems and slim volumes I could easily read most of her poetry and even prose in a few weeks, which is what I did. That was about 11 months ago; with lengthening hindsight, I’d say she lingers in the mind as a tone, not a world. Is that enough for a major poet?

The speculation in the days before the Prize are always good fun, but it tends to be unreliable. In the days before Glück won, I recall, the names on everyone’s lips were Maryse Condé and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. Those might still be my bets for Thursday. The Swedes haven’t awarded an African or African diasporic writer since the ‘90s (I don’t think Lessing or Coetzee count). If either of them win it, I already have I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem and Devil on the Cross on my shelves among all the other unread books and will be glad of a renewed impetus to finally read them.

There is also “chatter”—strange word, often used in an intelligence-gathering context, as if would-be terrorists were merely gossiping in a bar or beauty shop—about some usual suspects: Murakami, Atwood, Rushdie, DeLillo, Oates, and Anne Carson. But the Swedes give the garland to categories through individuals, and I imagine that Ishiguro and Glück between them have absorbed this period’s awards for popular mixed-genre global novelists of conscience and American writers and Anglophone poets in general.

The name on everyone’s lips right now is Annie Ernaux. I haven’t read her and, to be honest, probably won’t make it a priority even if she wins, since I don’t love memoirs. But through her they can honor the autofictional impulse that marks our era without giving the award outright to Knausgaard. It doesn’t seem to occur to anyone that they might do that—give it to him, I mean—though that’s just the kind of prank the Swedes like to pull from time to time.

#louise glück #literature #poetry #nobel prize in literature #contemporary literature