Given the publishing-world scuttlebutt last week, you might have thought the P.E.N.-sponsored tribute to Samuel Beckett, held at Town Hall on Monday night, Dec. 9, was subtitled “Waiting for Barney.” Former Grove publisher Barney Rosset, Beckett’s original U.S. publisher, was not initially asked to participate in the event, which featured such Beckett-friendly literary types as Read More
Wednesday 7th
The skinny on Gwynnie? Welcome to Shallow Hal , a movie that purports to be a parable about how fat people should be accepted by our culture -but which ends up offending on two levels: first, by actually making sport of fat people; and second, by asserting that the true ideal of “inner Read More
Ivy League This
Add one more question to the number of loose ends left by the season finale of The Sopranos : Is the HBO series using the name of Columbia University with or without the institution’s permission?
Although representatives from both sides were reluctant to discuss the subject, the answer appears to be Read More
Timbuktu , by Paul Auster. Henry Holt, 181 pages, $22.
A large dog stares at us from the cover of Paul Auster’s new novel, Timbuktu . Does that mean the book is about a dog? Mr. Auster has never written on that subject before. Or could the book jacket be some kind of clue to Read More
Night Train , by Martin Amis. Harmony, 175 pages, $20.
Martin Amis has a thing about ketchup. That’s the term he uses for the smothering sauce of ersatz that Hollywood and television plop all over the American scene. Everywhere we look, tacky imitation, like ketchup for blood; everything is an imitation of itself or Read More
