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| The Company They Kept: Writers on Unforgettable Friendships | Book review This collection of essays by writers on their friends, all of which were first published in the New York Review of Books, throws up a few oddities from the outset. The remit goes beyond the potentially incestuous world of literature to include music, art and science, and so there are reminiscences from Robert Oppenheimer on Einstein and Joseph Brodsky on Isaiah Berlin, in addition to the more predictable essays from the likes of Seamus Heaney (on Thomas Flanagan) and Oliver Sacks (on Francis Crick). Some may deplore the American bias, or the omissions, such as no essay by Kingsley Amis on Philip Larkin. Set against this is the excellence of much of the writing, often with a humorous and wry tone that belies the sadness of the lives described.guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
Do typewriters hold the keys to fine writing? In the age of the PC, a surprising number of authors remain wedded to rather older technologyAfter five decades and 5m words, Cormac McCarthy is parting company with the faithful typewriter he bought in a Tennessee pawn shop for $50.Despite his decision to auction his elderly Olivetti – offers around the $15,000 to $20,000 mark, please – not to mention the advent of the PC, McCarthy remains a devotee of the manual typewriter.He is not alone. Will Self, Don DeLillo and Frederick Forsyth are also members of the small and select group of writers who find typewriters more conducive to the creative process than their electronic counterparts.Self, who admits to "fetishising" the old-fashioned machines, says he enjoys the enforced discipline of the typewriter: "Writing on a manual makes you slower in a good way, I think. You don't revise as much, you just think more, because you know you're going to have to retype the entire fucking thing. Which is a big stop on just slapping anything down and playing with it." DeLillo, meanwhile, says he needs to hear the words take shape as he "sculpts" his books. "I need the sound of the keys, the keys of a manual typewriter," he told one interviewer. "The hammers striking the page. I like to see the words, the sentences, as they take shape. It's an aesthetic issue: when I work I have a sculptor's sense of the shape of the words I'm making. I use a machine with larger than average letters: the bigger the better."Forsyth, who also admires their bullet-stopping properties and their simplicity, finds typewriters to be reassuringly secure allies in a treacherous world."I have never had an accident where I have pressed a button and accidentally sent seven chapters into cyberspace, never to be seen again," he points out. "And have you ever tried to hack into my typewriter? It is very secure."For most of us, what writers type is of more interest than how they do it, but for others, there remains an undeniable fascination in learning which literary masters used which bit of kit.Hemingway, for example, liked to bash away at a 1940s Royal between bouts of drinking, fighting and chasing women and bulls. And EE Cummings, scourge of the upper case, used a typewriter to striking, if discombobulating, effect in his poetry. The kings of the literary typists, though, was probably Jack Kerouac. The Beat master's ability to hammer out 100-plus words a minute may have helped him convey his loose, quick-fire thoughts, but it also prompted Capote's uncharitable observation: "That's not writing, that's typing."FictionCormac McCarthyWill SelfDon DeLilloJack KerouacSam Jonesguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
Patricia Highsmith, Hiding in Plain Sight A witty biography of the manipulative, secretive and obsessive novelist Patricia Highsmith, creator of Tom Ripley, a character who was a version of herself. feeds.nytimes.com |
The feminist year ahead This looks set to be an exciting year for feminism. Here Viv Groskop rounds up the books, films, theatre and marches that will inspire us all in the coming monthsThis is a big year for feminist anniversaries. It was 40 years ago that the first ever National Women's Liberation conference was held in the UK, that Germaine Greer published her groundbreaking book The Female Eunuch and Kate Millett published the life-changing work Sexual Politics. The year looks set to include a whole host of celebrations then, one of which is already underway – the Ms Understood exhibition at the Women's Library in London, which traces "the sisterhood and spirit of 1970s feminism" and runs until the end of March.But this year's feminist calendar isn't solely historical. Three major new feminist books are to be published in Britain, the TV series Mad Men continues to explore the sexual politics of the 1960s, there's an awesomely girl-centric directorial debut from Drew Barrymore, as well as the much-heralded film Precious. Without any more ado then, here's our round-up of the books, films, TV and events that will have us all talking in the next few months.FilmPrecious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire (29 January)The story of an overweight, illiterate teenager in 1980s Harlem, pregnant by her abusive father for the second time. The primarily female cast – Gabourey Sidibe, Mariah Carey, Paula Patton and Mo'Nique – has come in for fulsome praise, with Sidibe's performance as Precious, and Mo'Nique's turn as her abusive mother, being talked of as Oscar possibilities. A must-see.Ponyo (12 February)One for fledgling feminists, this is the award-winning Japanese animated film about a fish-girl who swims away from her father's underwater castle in search of enormous adventures. The voice cast includes the brilliant Cate Blanchett, Tina Fey and Lily Tomlin.Whip It (April)Drew Barrymore's directorial debut features Ellen Page (Juno) as a young woman who escapes the world of beauty pageants to find fun, friendship – and, of course, herself – in the rough and tumble of roller derby. The film also features the uber-feminist Juliette Lewis returning to acting after a few years on the road with her punk band, along with Eve, Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig, Zoe Bell and Barrymore herself. A great film for teenage punk-feminists.Others to watch out for: Tina Fey stars in screwball comedy Date Night in April; Philip Noyce's Salt stars Angelina Jolie as a CIA agent on the run in August.BooksNatasha Walter, Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism (4 February, Virago)The cover of the much-anticipated new book from Walter depicts a Barbie doll shoved into a woman's groin. "While the opportunities available to women may have expanded," writes Walter, "the ambitions of many young girls are, in reality, limited by a culture that asks them to see consumerism and self-decoration as their only proper occupations, and their bodies as their only passport to success." A must-read.Martin Amis, The Pregnant Widow (4 February, Jonathan Cape)Brace yourself for a furore as Amis takes on sexual politics. It is set in 1970: "The girls are acting like boys, the boys are going on acting like boys, and Keith Nearing – 20 years old, a literature student all clogged up with the English novel – is struggling to twist feminism and women's ascendancy toward his own ends." Amis suspects the book will get him into trouble with feminists, although he insists he is a "gynocrat" (someone who wants to be ruled by women). "It's a very feminist book," he has said. "They haven't got a case . . . It's astonishingly difficult to find a decent deal between men and women and we haven't found it yet."Kat Banyard, The Equality Illusion: The Truth about Men and Women Today (4 March, Faber and Faber)Banyard, campaigns officer at the equality organisation the Fawcett Society, writes that "Feminism is one of the most important social-justice movements of our age", before exposing some uncomfortable facts. "Women working in the UK earn on average 23% less than men," she writes. "The conviction rate for rape is 6.5%. During the 1990s the number of men paying for sex acts doubled." The book ends with a chapter on activism, with ideas for grassroots campaigning.Catherine Redfern and Kristin Aune, Reclaiming the F Word: The New Feminist Movement (8 June, Zed Books)This promises to debunk the idea that the fight for women's rights has dried up, to profile the new generation of activists, and unleash a "fresh and diverse wave of feminism". Bring it on!Others to watch out for: In the US, the brilliant young feminist writer, Rebecca Traister publishes Big Girls Don't Cry: Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Michelle Obama and the Year that Changed Everything (14 September, Free Press); Amanda Marcotte publishes Get Opinionated: A Progressive's Guide to Finding Your Voice (and Taking A Little Action) (April, Seal Press); and Courtney E Martin and J Courtney Sullivan publish Click: Young Women on the Moments They Knew They Were Feminists (May, Seal Press).In women's fiction, there's the announcement of the Orange Prize longlist in March and the shortlist in April. The book critic Alex Clark says that her top picks by women writers for the coming year so far are: The Birth of Love by Joanna Kavenna; Trespass by Rose Tremain; The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna; The Lessons by Naomi Alderman; The Burley Cross Postbox Theft by Nicola Barker; The News Where You Are by Catherine O'Flynn. Look out for two possible Booker contenders for next autumn: The Long Song by Andrea Levy (February, Headline Review) and Isa & May by Margaret Forster (February, Chatto & Windus). And if all that wasn't enough, there's the upcoming book event The Life and Work of Zora Neale Hurston (28 January, The Women's Library, London), when Bonnie Greer and Bernardine Evaristo will be celebrating the work of the fabulous author of Their Eyes Were Watching God.TelevisionMad Men, BBC FourThe third series of Mad Men airs early this year, and it's still the best show on TV when it comes to exploring gender relations. Betty's ambivalence towards motherhood continues as she gives birth to her third child; Peggy branches out into pleated skirts – and a relationship with an older man with no strings attached; and, thank God, Joan gets her physical revenge on the rapist she married.Lip Service, BBC ThreeThis six-part drama series about the sex lives of twentysomething lesbians in Glasgow could prove to be even more daring than cult US series The L Word. Writer Harriet Braun describes it as a "sexy, funny and irreverent drama that reflects what it is to be a young gay woman living in Britain today".TheatreTrilogy by Nic Green (Battersea Arts Centre, 12-16 January, then on tour) Described as "a celebratory venture into modern-day feminism", Part One culminates in an ensemble choreography piece featuring up to 100 female volunteers, all naked. "It feels like young women don't want to say they're feminist in case boys and men don't like them," says experimental playwright Green. "I'd like it to be celebrated in a way that means we might all be happier."ArtThe Rise of Women Artists exhibition, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (continues until 14 March)This free exhibition includes work by Paula Rego, Helen Chadwick, Louise Bourgeois and Alison Britton, charting the progress of women artists from the 16th century to the present day and posing the question, "Does the gender of an artist matter – and should artists be labelled?" It includes a series of drop-in events in the coming months.The 2010 Whitney Biennial, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (25 February to 30 May)Jerry Saltz, senior art critic for New York magazine, has already blogged about his amazement and delight that, of all the artists featured in this year's influential Whitney Biennial, an unprecedented 52% are women. The curator Francesco Bonami says that they "didn't look for women artists. They were just in front of our eyes. It wasn't conscious at all." Expect to hear about work by Kate Gilmore, who is "known to smash through Sheetrock walls while wearing party dresses and high heels".Elles@centrepompidou, Centre Pompidou, Paris (until 24 May)This exhibition features 500 works by more than 200 women artists, including Sonia Delaunay, Frida Kahlo, Dorothea Tanning, Sophie Calle, Annette Messager and Louise Bourgeois.EventsFawcett Society Firewalk for Feminism (4 February, London) After a training session with firewalking team Survivorbility, volunteers will be skipping across hot coals to raise sponsorship funds for the Fawcett Society. Celebrity supporters include Ken Livingstone and Oona King, and Tipping the Velvet author Sarah Waters has pledged that she will do the actual firewalk. Waters says: "Feminism is part of a wider struggle against all inequalities. Surely the real question should be, not 'Why are you a feminist?' but 'Why aren't you one?'"Bristol Reclaim the Night March (26 February)Organised by Bristol Feminist Network, this celebrates four decades of Reclaim the Night marches and is intended to serve as "a great, big, public reminder that everyone has a right to experience the city free from fear, whatever the time of day and whatever their gender."Million Women Rise: The March (6 March, London)Starting at Hyde Park Corner at noon and ending in a rally at Trafalgar Square at 3pm, this is an all-female demonstration aimed at showing politicians that not enough is being done to protect women from violence.WomenFeminismTheatreViv Groskopguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
Kitty Kelley bio on Winfrey coming in April An Oprah tell-all is coming in April, but Winfrey isn't the teller. rssfeeds.usatoday.com |