Moby Lives suggests that Barnes and Noble is selling fewer books because they’re stocking fewer books in their stores.
Since his death, the big question surrounding J.D. Salinger has been whether he kept writing after he stopped publishing, and, if he did, what that writing was like. When some of Salinger’s letters were exhibited at the Morgan Library recently, Slate’s Ron Rosenbaum noticed something he believes might be a clue about the author’s output during his so-called Silent Years: correspondence between Salinger and his guru, the late Swami Nikhilananda.
Social critic and The Pursuit of Loneliness author Philip Slater died two weeks ago at his home in Santa Cruz, California. Slater published the book, a cult work of criticism about the dangers underlying American individualism, in 1970, and subsequently resigned from academia in accordance with the book’s message. In addition to writing several more books of sociological criticism, Slater “took up acting, wrote novels, and began culling his personal possessions down to the two boxes he left when he died.”
James F. English, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, and Alexander R. Galloway convene a symposium to discuss Franco Moretti’s new book, Distant Reading, and to question whether big data has a place in critical approaches to literature. For more on the Stanford English professor’s thoughts about the digital humanities, a Financial Times review provides a little background.
Since a group of interns won a lawsuit against Fox Searchlight several weeks ago, the legality of internships, particularly unpaid internships, has become a big question. In the work of magazines and media, a number of former interns have filed suit against places like Gawker, Conde Nast, Hearst, and the Charlie Rose Show. And for those interested in the issue, ProPublica is tracking the status of all these suits.
Buzzfeed profiles Glenn Greenwald, a journalist who, in addition to breaking the Edward Snowden story, was a former “underage South Florida politician, a lawyer at a high-powered corporate firm, Kips Bay’s most combative tenant, and even the legal arm of his business partner’s gay porn distribution company.”
