The Austrian author Stefan Zweig, a friend of Freud, and once the most translated author in the world, has gained a lot of stateside popularity after a 2006 appreciation by Joan Acocella. Then, the backlash began, initiated by a devastating, and convincing, critique by Michael Hofmann, who wrote that Zweig's literary output was "just putrid." So we wonder, along with The Guardian's Nicholas Lezard, is there's still "a place for Stefan?"
Canongate Books's iPhone app for Philip Pullman's The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ will feature videos of the author, allow you to to email quotes to friends, and play clips of Pullman ridiculing Christians for their foolish beliefs. (Joking on that last one!)
Booksellers and the publishing industry are eager to see how Borders will settle a $42.5 million loan due to its largest shareholder by April 1. That's two days before the iPad is set to launch. Coincidence? Yes, in fact, but we just had to mention the ubiquitous 'Pad. Anyway, as Borders stores suffer misreble sales figures, the company may be forced into bankruptcy or a shotgun merger. We'd suggest a government bailout, but we know Obama prefers indie bookshops.
Novelist Colson Whitehead is judging Electric Literature's Twitter contest. And why not, he's a master Tweeter.
