CruelestMonth.com

BAM

The final installment of Between the Lines: Emerging Voices in American Literature and Film happens Thursday, Decemeber 6th at 8pm.  This event is co-presented by the Brooklyn Academy of Music and A Public Space.

The Buk

It may seem like I am inflicting a rather slow, painful death upon my own website, and though I can't actually deny that, I ask that you imagine that the Cruelest Month is sleeping peacefully, storing energy for a balls-out comeback.  As way of explanation for the lack of activity over the past few months, you guessed it, I've been good and busy.  So has Ecco for that matter, and Fall 2007 has been a strong season.  Rounding out 2007 is The Pleasures of the Damned: Poems, 1951-1993 by Charles Bukowski, edited by John Martin, which was reviewed by Jim Harrison in the NY Times this past week.

I am not inclined to make elaborate claims for Bukowski, because there is no one to compare him to, plus or minus. He wrote in the language of his class as surely as Wallace Stevens wrote in the language of his own. This book offers you a fair chance to make up your own mind on this quarrelsome monster. It is ironical that those who man the gates of the canon will rarely if ever make it inside themselves. Bukowski came in a secret back door.

We're happy to play our part.  Oh, and the first three readers to write [email protected] with "Pleasures of the Damned" as their subject line and with their mailing address in the body will receive a free copy.  A little later in the week, I'll post the broadside and send a few of those out.

The NY Times Notable list has been posted, as well.  Ecco makes a fair showing on a strong list.  It's worth a look.

*Three readers wrote in.  Three books will be sent out.  Thanks for reading and writing--in and in general!

Congratulations to Robert Hass!

Time & Materials by Robert Hass has won the 2007 National Book Award!  We'll be changing that seal shortly.  The NY Times reports.

 

Norman Mailer dies at 84

Norman Mailer, American novelist, dies at 84.  The NY Times.  The Guardian.

Ashbery at 192 Books Tonight!

See him at 7pm.  I should have posted this earlier.  Event details.

Yves Bonnefoy honored by the Franz Kafka Society

Belated but worthy news from last week:

In Prague, the Franz Kafka Society honored the French poet Yves Bonnefoy with the Franz Kafka Prize, given annually to "authors whose works of exceptional artistic qualities are found to appeal to readers regardless of their origin, nationality and culture."

The Guardian called Bonnefoy, 84, "one of the most influential French poets of the second half of the 20th century.  He is also a respected essayist and the pre-eminent French translator of the work of William Shakespeare."

The Roots like William T. Vollmann

The next LP from the hip-hop group The Roots, which will release in April 2008, entitled Rising Down, is named after William T.Vollmann's seven-volume treatise on human violence, Rising Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts on Violence, Freedom, and Urgent Means.  Ecco publishes an abridged paperback.  I hope Bill makes a cameo on the album.  He's got mad words.