A new issue of Open Letters Monthly is out. From TLS, fifty years after the publication of Ian Watt's seminal work, The Rise of the Novel, a look back to the review of this "penetrating study of the intellectual and social conditions which produced a new literary form". From The Believer, an interview with Pankaj Mishra, author of An End to Suffering: The Buddha in the World and Temptations of the West: How to be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet, and Beyond. The ability to see and not to see: A review of A Writer's People: Ways of Looking and Feeling by V S Naipaul (and an interview). From Sign and Sight, the impertinent muse: Ina Hartwig meets Ann Cotten, the Austrian star of Germany's poetry jet set. William Gibson's Spook Country is threatening to completely overhaul the way literary criticism is conducted.
From PopMatters, a review of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler and Dear Jane Austen: A Heroine's Guide to Life and Love by Patrice Hannon. Austen Appeal: A look at why young women can’t get enough of Jane. The perfect age for reading: Are there some books you can only enjoy when you're young? A review of Why We Read What We Read: A Delightfully Opinionated Journey Through Bestselling Books by Lisa Adams and John Heath. Not a license to print money: A review of The Business of Books: Booksellers and the English Book Trade by James Raven. The great book giveaway: Why are published authors giving their books away for free online? An article on the ethics of handling and manhandling a book. A Publisher by Any Other Name: Quick, name you favorite book. Now, quick, name who published it. Gotcha, didn't I?
From Reason, To Destroy You is No Loss: An article on the endurance of Cambodian pop culture. Mixing Music and Politics in Africa: Senegalese singer and songwriter Nuru Kane is carrying his sound, and his message, to the West. An interview with Thomas Wheelock, author of Land of the Flying Masks: Art & Culture in Burkina Faso. Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll in a Failing State: Lebanon's underground music scene sees its own demise in the fading promise of the "Cedar Revolution". The pen is mightier: For Iraqis, using violence to bring change is a tradition that goes back thousands of years. Yet exiled poet Nabeel Yasin believes culture can conquer all. An article on the poetry of Guantanamo. A review of Poems From Guantanamo: The Detainees Speak. Shall I Compare Thee to an Evil Tyrant?
