ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

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How Far Will Readers Go To Hear Music Inspired By Their Favorite Books?

Even if you don’t include the music inspired by Shakespeare’s plays, pretty darn far, like countries’ worth of travel. - The New York Times

These Are The Thirteen Books Totally Banned In Utah Classrooms

Good luck keeping A Court of Thorns and Roses out of the hands of teenagers, but also, this is horrifying - and includes Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, for instance, along with Judy Blume, Rupi Kaur, and (are we surprised?) other women authors. - Salt Lake Tribune

Zora Neale Hurston’s Unfinished Final Novel Will Be Published

"(She) was working on a sequel to her 1939 novel Moses, Man of the Mountain when she died in 1960. That sequel, The Life of Herod the Great, will be available in January 2025. The manuscript had been in Hurston’s archives at the University of Kansas, accessible only to scholars." - The Guardian

Writers At The Atlantic Push Back Hard Against Management’s Deal With OpenAI

"Nearly 60 journalists — including marquee names such as Adam Serwer, Caitlin Flanagan, Jerusalem Demsas, and George Packer — signed a letter calling on the company to “stop prioritizing its bottom line and champion The Atlantic’s journalism.” The staffers want (their) bosses to include AI protections in the union contract." - The Washington Post (MSN)

Elif Shafak On Being Prosecuted In Her Homeland For Her Fiction

"I was accused of insulting Turkishness, even though nobody knew what that meant. And it was quite surreal, because the words of fictional characters were taken out of the novel and used as evidence in the courtroom; ... my Turkish lawyer had to defend my Armenian fictional characters." - The Guardian

The Complete Freud, Revised For the 21st Century

"The new 24-volume, 8,100-plus-page Revised Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud has been three decades in the making, with psychoanalyst and neuropsychologist Mark Solms spearheading the once-in-a-generation project." - Publishers Weekly

A US Book Prize Judged By Incarcerated People Awards Its First Winner

And the winner of the Inside Prize is Imani Perry, who also won the National Book Award for her South to America. - LitHub

If You Don’t Have Any Context, Shut Up Already About Romance

Casey McQuiston explains why romance is literature - if you know how to read it. “Romance holds a mirror to our wants and needs. If we want to study works that sit within a greater literary tradition, romance has one of the richest.” - Time

Would You Like To Lengthen Your Attention Span?

Then try this 700-page Australian prizewinning novel that “is 'more like an experience’ than a story,” according to its publisher. Then there are the five million feral donkeys. - The Guardian (UK)

When Is The Right Time To Read A Famous Book?

Maybe when you’re old enough to appreciate it. “It turns out, being wrong is one of the best things in life.” - The New York Times

Philly’s Free Library, Despite The Resignation Of Its Staff, Says Author Events Are Returning

The entire Author Events staff resigned in June, after “layoffs loomed internal meetings became contentious.” The resigning staff said they found the work culture “heartbreaking.” - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)

The Collapse Of Newspapers Is A Loss To Literature, Too

"The hothouse atmosphere of newsrooms, especially at urban dailies, teaches the aspiring writer more about the world, about life, and about writing than any MFA program ever devised" — without the student debt. Think of Dickens, Twain, Whitman, Angelou, Wolfe, García Márquez … All newspaper alums. - Bob Keefer

“Zombie Alt-Weeklies” Village Voice And LA Weekly Are Running AI-Generated Listicles About OnlyFans

"Clicking on (the 'OnlyFans' tab) pulls up a catalog of listicles ranking pornographic performers by demographic, from 'Turkish' to 'incest' to 'granny.' These blog posts … are presented as editorial work, without labels indicating they are advertisements or sponsored." (The Voice has one remaining editorial staffer, who insists he is not involved.) - Wired

Young Chinese Women Are Reviving Interest In A Centuries-Old, Secret Females-Only Script

Nüshu developed among women in the south of Hunan who were barred from education. By the end of the 20th century the script had almost died out, but now younger women who see it as a form of resistance to patriarchal power are learning nüshu, even in Beijing and beyond. - AP

Five Of The Best Metatextual Novels About Visual Art

“The anxieties of the art maker – the writer – come through in anxieties about painting, or photography, or sculpture, or dance. But the best art novels transcend this self-consciousness.” - The Guardian (UK)

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