A roundup of the most engaging recent pieces on the web read by the Pittsburgh Review of Books this week.
“Where Have All the Book Reviews Gone?” from The New York Times
“Only yesterday, it seems, nearly every American newspaper, dozens and dozens of them, even in midsize cities, ran book reviews by local critics.”
“What Literature Did Agents Build?” from Public Books
“The literary agent is not the only or even the most important person involved in making a book. But the agent’s unique position between writer and publisher embodies the strategic alliances between art and commerce, form and finance, imagination and industry that has defined literary production in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.”
“The Lost Idealism of Heartland Rock” from The Atlantic
“Heartland rock had a big heart, too. It was concerned with the lives of everyday people, building worlds so vivid that listeners effortlessly recognized themselves in them.”
“The Puzzle of Minor Poetry” from Portico
“Certain poets are familiar to the general reading public only for the scant number of their poems that recur over and over in these volumes. But this can present a skewed view of a poet and his or her work. Either anthologists are remarkably alike in their tastes, or—dare we say it?—they are prone to copy one another.”
“The Social Edge of Intelligence” from the ideas letter
“So far, so on message: a familiar story about the inevitable takeover by intelligent machines. But when the researchers examined the full body of stories rather than individual ones, the picture became murky.”
“On the Propaganda of Early Nazism, and How We See it in America Today” from LitHub
“When you are arrested in a totalitarian regime, you do not even get a chance at asking why. Formalities might still be followed, but they’re for appearances only.”
“The Revolutionary Tapestry of Nigerian Modernism” from Hyperallergic
“This revolutionary thrill can be felt throughout the explosion of works that emerged during this pivotal moment, as Nigeria charted its course to independence and beyond.”
“Observations from Inside Immigration Court” from Electric Literature
“As a court observer with New Sanctuary Coalition, I volunteer several times a month to accompany people to their routine asylum hearings when they need moral support. They know that having someone with them is no protection against being detained, and yet it is at least something, a small kindness.”
