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Books That Old White Men Love to Hate

By Emily Temple on

Yesterday, we read a fascinating article on The New Yorker’s Page Turner about impact that former president of France Nicholas Sarkozy’s bizarre hatred of Madame de Lafayette’s 1678 novel The Princess of Clèves, a staple of French cultural heritage and the favorite book of many. Sarkozy publicly bashed and mocked the book, prompting obstinate outrage from his countrymen, and the article goes so far as to suggest that the president’s position on the work was part of the reason he was ousted earlier this year.

But why hate on this book, Sarkozy? Perhaps he was just being crotchety. Which brings us to the topic of the day: books that old white men love to hate. Of course we know there are no books that only men hate (or like, for that matter), and one dissident does not a trend make, but sometimes it’s fun to make assumptions, so please take the following in the spirit that it’s meant. Read on for a few books that have set off the alarms for the white male establishment, and let us know which scary feminist novels we missed in the comments. … Read More

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Books

The Literary Canon as Graphic Novel

By Emily Temple on

Earlier in the year, we shared some of our favorite selections from the first volume of one of the coolest publishing projects we’ve heard about in a long time — The Graphic Canon, wherein almost 200 classic works of literature will be re-interpreted and published in graphic form by 130-odd visual artists over 1,344 pages in three volumes. Whew. The second installment, The Graphic Canon, Vol. 2: From “Kubla Khan” to the Brontë Sisters to The Picture of Dorian Gray, edited by Russ Kick, hits shelves next week, but we’re lucky enough to have a little preview to whet your appetite. Click through to check out a few standouts from the second volume of this amazing series, and then be sure to pick up a copy of the book for much more. … Read More

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What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

By Alison Nastasi on

Today at Flavorpill, we read about one artist’s works that traveled to space, and then we gazed at photos of three space shuttle flight decks. We caught a peek at the way Game of Thrones would have looked without its incredible special effects. We watched a tale of… Read More

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Books

19th Century Writers Who Are Even More Relevant Today

By Emily Temple on

Mary Shelley has some serious staying power. The author was born a whopping 215 years ago today, and her work is more relevant now than ever. Not only is Frankenstein, which Shelley began writing when she was eighteen years old, still ubiquitous in classrooms, but the cultural phenomenon of the cobbled-together monster has and continues to inspire and inform artists of every stripe (Tim Burton’s rebooted Frankenweenie is only the most recent example, we think you’ve probably heard of a few more). To celebrate the life and legacy of this fantastic author, we’ve but together a list of a few 19th century writers who are continually — and sometimes exponentially — culturally relevant in our time. Though some of these authors did garner some amount of acclaim during their own lifetimes, we’d venture that they’re all much more famous and more important to the culture at large today. Click through to check out our list, and as always, add any writers you think we’ve missed in the comments. … Read More

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Books

Exclusive Infographic: The Greatest Books of All Time

By Emily Temple on

What are the greatest books of all time? And who should be the judge? Recently, Brain Pickings pointed out an awesome book of lists wherein 125 famous authors — everyone from Norman Mailer to Claire Messud to Annie Proulx to Stephen King — choose their ten favorite books. The book, The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books, then handily synthesizes all that info (544 works total mentioned in 125 lists) into a few important master lists: namely, the greatest books and authors of all time. Each book is assigned a value based on its position in any given list — that is, ”a first-place pick is worth ten points, and a tenth-place pick is worth one point” and so on — and those numbers are then added up to give each book a ranking. We’ve collected a few of the top rankings here in an easy to digest infographic. How many have you read? … Read More

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Books

10 Memorable Sets of Sisters in Fiction

By Alison Nastasi on

Unconditional love and support, sibling rivalry, and family secrets pepper the world of literary sisters. One half of a famous pair of real-life sisterly scribes has a birthday today: Emily Brontë. The Wuthering Heights author spent a lifetime penning poems and other tales with siblings Charlotte and Anne (using masculine pseudonyms), all devoted to their craft and each other — especially during the troubled times of their youth. Since the Brontës often used material from their lives to inform their stories — including their tight-knit relationship — we felt inspired to take a look at fictional sisters who also shared powerful bonds full of passionate and complex emotions unique amongst women and girls. Add to our list below. … Read More

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Books

Meet the Modern Descendants of Your Favorite Authors

By Emily Temple on

As you probably know, here at Flavorpill, we’re fascinated by just about every aspect of the lives of our favorite authors — including what happened after them. This week saw the release of Tigers in Red Weather, a sultry, pitch-perfect literary thriller penned by Liza Klaussmann, the great-great-great-granddaughter of Herman Melville. Though her novel reminds us more of Fitzgerald’s gilded sneaking than Melville’s brutal sea voyage, we were inspired by her success to look up a few more of our favorite authors’ modern-day descendants. Just, you know, to check in. If you’re as addicted to prying as we are, see what they’re all up to after the jump. … Read More

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Books

Famous Authors Who Were Forced Into Retirement Too Soon

By Emily Temple on

This week, we were saddened by the news that beloved 85-year-old Colombian novelist and Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez is suffering from  dementia and has stopped writing. Though not every can scribble up until the very moment of their death (thought many do), it’s always a little heartbreaking to see the deterioration of such an amazing mind. We’ve put together a list of famous authors that were forced into retirement because of illness, depression or slightly more elusive reasons — check them out and mourn the late-life novels that might have been with us in the comments. … Read More

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What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

By Alison Nastasi on

Today at Flavorpill, we learned that raccoons hate Hannah Montana. We liked the 1960′s Spider-Man meme. We celebrated the history of the bikini. We listened to contemporary audio recordings made on old wax cylinder phonographs. We dug Mark Englert’s Walking Dead poster. We watched the making of Stanley… Read More

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What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

By Alison Nastasi on

Today at Flavorpill, we got to know Your Sister’s Sister actor and producer Mark Duplass a little better. We found out that we’re all related. We questioned if male critics were being fair to Lola Versus. We learned what kind of car would aid us during the zombie apocalypse. We… Read More

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