Earlier this week, Carla Nayland conducted a very thorough investigation into the nature of the villain Grendel from the Old English poem Beowulf
Monthly Archives: August 2010
NUNNERY
(col.) A brothel.
The term is not as popular now as it was in Elizabethan times when nuns had more dubious reputations than they do now.
When Hamlet says to Ophelia ‘Get thee to a nunnery’ (Hamlet
– Wordsworth Dictionary of Obscenity & Taboo
God knows I think there is a distinction between good art and bad.
Even so, I find artistic elitists, who snub as “sell-outs” anyone who drifts too far from the cleverly esoteric, to be tediously transparent in their attempt to arrogate the status of Alpha Tribe in whatever cultural kingdom they’re raising colors over.
At the Wall Street Journal, Juliet
Although her critique does lean a bit far to the right for my radically anti-partisan tastes (characterizing public spending in a democracy as “dish[ing] out other people’s money” …. really?) it is a fun read that bops the upturned noses of the literary aristoi.
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Extra points to the first commenter to accurately explain the title.
From The Social Structure of Revolutionary America
The prejudice against novels shown by North Carolina farms was not shared by men of education. Many such books were advertised in the newspapers, and when a Yale class disputed “Whether reading of Novels be advantageous,” the President himself decided “that it is advantageous in some measure, if not much attended to.”
A reader’s question to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer‘s “Booktryst” blog leads to an intriguing peek into the publishing practices of the 19th Century and before.
Do you know what a “half-title” is, why they are so often missing from old books, or why their presence can cause the value of collectible books to sky-rocket? Do you know how those elegant leather-bound books were originally bound in leather? Do you know what’s particularly hard to find in an original printing of Pride and Prejudice (you know, the one without the zombies)?
It’s a neat read for lovers of books and the archaic.
At Big Think, novelist Rick Moody explains How the Recession has Hurt Literature. Moody discusses the stifling effect of too many writers vying for too few publishing slots, and how self-publishing is not going to make things better. A great interview!
No, nom-de-plume is not French for “snacking on feathers.”
A couple of weeks ago, I discussed how sampling an existing novel and adding new material (ex: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Well, agent Kristin Nelson shared a true literary mash-up in her “Friday Funnies” entry at the Pub Rants blog: Jane Austen’s Fight Club.
CANVAS All sails and hammocks were made from strong-fibred hemp, the Greek ‘kannabis‘.
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– The Pirate Dictionary
Today I want to perform a philosophical genealogy, tracing today’s deluge of aspiring authors to the political and theological underpinnings of the Modern age.
Roll with me on this one; I rarely get to use my formal training in comparative religion here, and I promise this isn’t going to be a conversion blog or an Anne Rice-style rant. So, let me state up front that this is more about tracing the path of an idea popular among present-day book enthusiasts than promoting or dismissing any of its religious or political ancestors.