The age of the Tudors in England is when words about sexuality and scatology started to be considered profane rather than simply matter-of-fact. Yet the most seriously offensive words were still those tied up with religious faith. - History Today
Elena Bulgakova preserved her late husband's manuscript for 20 years, retyped it, got it published first in translation in Soviet-occupied Estonia, then, in Russian, abroad. An uncensored version of the novel finally appeared in the USSR in 1973 — and Soviet readers couldn't quite make sense of it. - JSTOR Daily
During 45 minutes of testimony, King laid out the changes he’s witnessed over a half-century career in collaboration with a number of different publishers. He described independent publishers becoming increasingly “squeezed” by conglomerates. - Los Angeles Times
At the risk of offending most believers, it is necessary to state a simple but unacknowledged truth: It is impossible to understand the full glory of Christianity without understanding its poetry. - First Things
A win for the government would not appear to bode well for Simon & Schuster. Penguin Random House is already a giant and will be just fine either way. But S&S finds itself in a tricky position that belies its mojo over the past two years. - Vanity Fair
The prize honors a book-length work of imaginative fiction with $25,000. The nine shortlisted books will be considered by a panel of five jurors. The winner will be announced later this year on October 21st, 2022, Ursula K. Le Guin’s birthday. - Electric Literature
Linear Elamite is a set of characters that was used in and around the ancient city of Susa (in modern-day Iran) around 4,000 years ago, and it's one of only a few surviving ancient writing systems that scholars still can't decipher at all — until now. (Maybe.) - Smithsonian Magazine
Now, as a life-long pseud, I learned years ago how to float in an implied familiarity with an author or their work, without telling an outright lie. I have a shell like a Galapagos Tortoise when challenged on this sort of thing. But I have noticed that such libertine manners are fast becoming normalised. - The Critic
Could it be that the stories of the average middle-class white man — the ones we grew up on — were once a novelty? In one sense, yes: there are novels that were as groundbreaking and shocking then as they are considered passé today. - The Critic
"I don’t begin with the idea of plundering the word for meanings; it’s rather a discovery, a saving grace, something that clinches or copes. (I’m inclined to look up ‘copes’ here…It came to mind just now, no doubt via the alliteration, but I’m curious about the lexical meaning. I’ve a hunch it’s worth looking up." - The Life of...
Last month, the “leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world” released, in collaboration with Marvel, three volumes from what's being called the “Penguin Classics Marvel Collection,” featuring a hefty series of stories from the early days in the life of three Marvel superheroes. - The Atlantic
The Biden administration sued to block the $2.18 billion sale as part of its new and more aggressive stance against corporate consolidation. The trial will start on Monday. Such a shift could ripple through the industry, potentially impacting smaller publishers, authors, and ultimately, the books that reach readers. - The New York Times
What many readers encounter are cautious judgments affixed to a skeletal summary, leaving little opening for the decisive and expansive claims on a reader’s attention that make a piece of criticism valuable on its own, or even simply viral. - The Nation
We can shrug and chalk up English’s many quirks to tradition. Or we can try to think beyond our own time, as President Theodore Roosevelt tried to when he sent a letter in 1906 to the public printer, Charles Stillings, directing him to use in various official communications the simplified spellings. - The New York Times
Grammatically, Esperanto was primarily influenced by European languages, but interestingly, some of Esperanto’s innovations bear a striking resemblance to features found in some Asian languages, such as Chinese. - The Conversation
