This anthology offers samples from the works of over 70 Palestinian writers and poets living in Israel, such as Emile Habiby, a laureate of the 1992 Israel Prize; in the occupied territories; and in the diaspora. Foremost among the themes are nostalgia and loss of homeland, which the editor considers the essence of the Palestinian experience.
“They were both experienced in such affairs, and powerful with the spade; and they had scarce been twenty minutes at their task before they were rewarded by a dull rattle on the coffin lid.”
—Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Body-Snatcher”, read by Sir Christopher Lee
Ruth Richardson writes in The Lancet on how Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Body-Snatcher” shows the author’s
“acute analysis of degrees of guilt; the complicit socialisation of maleness; the hypocrisies which so often lie behind worldly success; the damage behind apparent failure; the dark silences that can exist in social relations that pass as bonhomie”
Author James Kelman joins the Unburied Books Podcast to discuss James Hogg’s THE PRIVATE MEMOIRS & CONFESSIONS OF A JUSTIFIED SINNER, originally published in 1824.
The podcast discusses the novel’s unusual structure, moral ambiguity, & mixture of genres. Kelman offers historical insight into the book’s philosophy & places the work in a modern, international context.
free ebook:
THE DEVIL I AM SURE – three short stories by James Hogg
In these three stories – “Mary Burnet”, “The Brownie of the Black Haggs”, & “Strange Letter of a Lunatic” – James Hogg (1770–1835) demonstrates his mastery of the craft of storytelling, & his understanding of the quirks, possibilities, & dark undercurrents of human psychology
“The Life of Samuel Johnson was an instant sensation. While the works of Johnson were quickly forgotten, his biography has never been out of print”
—When the Worst Man in the World Writes a Masterpiece: James Boswell & the Nature of Genius
James Boswell (1740–1795) was born #OTD, 29 October – happy birthday, Bozzy!
Oh look - yet another author who's written a #SciFi novel, but can't bring themselves to admit this.
After all, 'serious' novelists wouldn't dirty themselves with something as vulgar as that, would they? Who'd invite them to cocktail parties? Long live the Posh vs. Tosh false dichotomy.
"#SamanthaHarvey: ‘I like Alien as much as anybody else. But I see this novel as space pastoral’...
James Macpherson (1736–1796), of “Ossian” fame, was born #OTD, 27 Oct. The “Ossian” poems were the literary sensation of the #18thcentury, attracting rapturous admiration from figures such as Goethe, Diderot, Jefferson, Bonaparte, & Mendelssohn; they inspired the Grimms to collect German folktales, & Elias Lönnrot to compile Finnish poems into the Kalevala. They are the founding texts of European #Romanticism & of modern #fantasy
#Writers – send your work to NEW WRITING SCOTLAND 42!
We want poetry & prose in English, #Gaelic, & #Scots from writers who are Scottish by residence, birth, or inclination. Submission is free & all successful contributors are paid – deadline 31 October!
“so much of the writing submitted (and selected) peeks through the cracks of doors, pushes boundaries, asks the reader to step out of the known and comfortable… these are haunted pages. There are many, many ghosts.”
‘It’s half giraffe, half anteater, half horse, half deer and half some more giraffe.’ The man crouches, leans over the dark mass, prods it with a hesitant finger. ‘And definitely dead.’
—Read Kevin MacNeil’s short story “Fall in Love and Buy a Horse” on Books From Scotland – published in nothing but a set of eyes for stars: New Writing Scotland 41
“My interest was sparked by the circumstances – the discovery of a manuscript that had long been thought lost. Add to that the very questionable rumours surrounding Craik’s abrupt departure from Arbigland, and you’ve got yourself a plot that seems to jump out of the pages of academic fiction.”
—Rachel Mann & Patrick Scott discuss their co-edited edition of Helen Craik’s POEMS BY A LADY (Nov 2023)
#CfP for the "4th International #Conference on the #Philosophy of Language, #Literature, and Linguistics", which will take place in Manisa (Turkey) on May 9-11, 2024.
#CfP for "Book Chapters for an edited volume: Interdisciplinary Studies on German #Philology - #Utopia and #Dystopia in German #Literature, Film, and Television", which will be published by Istanbul University Press.
The University of Glasgow will hold 2 virtual gatherings, bringing together experts, enthusiasts, & curious minds for discussion, laughter & an insight into the life & times of Robert Burns
NB: these sessions will be identical to accommodate participants from different time zones
#CfP for the "10th Congress of the European Society of Comparative Literature" (#EuroCompLit) at Sorbonne-Université on September 2-6, 2024. It will address "Le jeu: Gambling, Gaming and Play in #Literature".
Book 47, 2023: Sleepless – Marie Darrieussecq. I loved these sketches and stories about insomnia culled from artists and literature through the ages, as the writer contends with her own inability to sleep. Another killer book from the always-reliable Fitzcarraldo Editions.
Call for submissions: Moderns & Others: genre, gender, faith & form in noncanonical British literature
Deadline: 3 Nov 2023
To shift attention away from canonical categories (like modernism), the editors are keen to receive proposals for chapters that consider obscure, middlebrow or popular texts that are or have previously been excluded from processes of canonisation
Scottish Society for Northern Studies half-day conference – exploring literary cross-currents between Scotland & Scandinavia via the prism of crime fiction
@bookstodon "In his introduction to the Tao Te Ching, translator Stephen Mitchell calls it “among other things, a treatise on the art of government.” It is a book for leaders about how to wield authentic authority and power, power which is always flowing and changing... And read with this mindset, it’s a book that ought to unsettle us more than it does."