Identify this book. Literary novel, probably a first novel, published between 1994 and 1997, written by a guy who had taught writing at Harvard. The only thing I remember in it is an obsessive character in the desert who has welded multiple trailers or mobile homes in a circle so he can obsessively walk in circles inside them.
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posted by Unified Theory
on May 13, 2013 -
7 answers
I am looking for recommendations for bibles in languages other than English, specifically for their literary qualities.
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posted by ricochet biscuit
on Apr 16, 2013 -
8 answers
So people like to name-drop authors and works that those who went to university and/or have a curiosity about the world should know as part of the basic vocabulary of being an educated Westerner. For example, "Kant" or "Dickensian", or "Gertrude Stein".
I would like to learn this stuff, please.
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posted by grahamsletter
on Mar 20, 2013 -
34 answers
I am finishing my associate of arts degree. I am trying to think of possible career paths. The careers I am thinking of are related to librarian work, academia, reading/literacy teacher, speech language pathologist. Some of my interests/strengths are clerical work, very creative, research/writing, counseling/teaching, art layout, health, the outdoors. I like working with children. Are there any careers along these paths that I should consider ?
posted by Lillian7
on Feb 19, 2013 -
10 answers
I forgot the name of this young author I like. He writes weird, short fiction and had a crazy LiveJournal page (or something outdated like that). I think he's connected with HTMLGiant or some similar hip online literary site.
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posted by jng
on Dec 7, 2012 -
5 answers
Like many people, I have A Novel... I have been working on it for a while and now have the opportunity to submit it to a friend of a friend who expressed interest. How am I supposed to act? What do people expect from novel-submitter-people?
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posted by kettleoffish
on Sep 10, 2012 -
9 answers
What are the realistic odds of a movie studio buying rights to fiction? What steps could one take to even attempt this?
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posted by anonymous
on Aug 6, 2012 -
21 answers
What well-known/classic stories involve someone being transported to a magical world, from which point onwards he/she is primarily trying to get home? Important: the main character must meet fantastical characters on the journey, who eventually become his or her allies or guides.
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posted by np312
on Jun 12, 2012 -
32 answers
In
84 Charing Cross Rd Helene Hanff's 1st letter to the bookshop Marks and Co., written in October 1949, says she's responding to an ad she saw by them in the
Saturday Review of Literature. One little problem: I recently went over a library archive of the
Saturday Review. I couldn't find an ad from Marks and Co. in any of the October issues of 1949, nor in any of the issues in September, August, or July. This involved looking at both the display ads and the small-print classifieds. It also involved looking at the
Saturday Review's 25th Anniversary issue, August 6, 1949, which was more than triple the size of a typical issue of the time (180+ pgs vs. 50+ pgs, and so many one-off advertisers it had an index to them). So... Has anyone ever seen this ad, that caused such a big change in Hanff's life? Did she perhaps get the magazine wrong? If so, which magazine was it in, and when?
posted by aurelian
on Mar 20, 2011 -
17 answers
Again moved by the shimmery beauty of Broken Social Scene's "Market Fresh", after not listening to it for a long time, I decided to look up the song lyrics. I'm interested in people's interpretation of them..
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posted by robobrent
on Mar 6, 2011 -
4 answers
Literary eerie suspense novelists: I've read and loved a certain type of author and I am looking for more like them. Their main novel tropes are unreliable narrators (i.e., are they being haunted by a ghost or their own mind?) and a good balance of suspense and philosophy (well-paced novels of ideas with likable, believable characters). Prose style is literary and intelligent but not metafictional.
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posted by xenophile
on Dec 27, 2010 -
36 answers
Mind freeze: what is the word/term for a literary mistake in a piece of fiction like the wrong stovetop chimneys in Charles Dickens? Something an author has put in a period piece but could not possibly exist in the time the work of fiction took place?
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posted by eatdonuts
on Jun 8, 2010 -
7 answers
I'm looking for the name of a novel in which God, portrayed as a gigantic being thousands of feet tall and weighing millions of pounds wearing robes and having a flowing white beard, quite literally falls to earth from heaven, stone dead. The story is all about the repercussions on Earth after this event.
posted by DrDreidel
on Apr 27, 2010 -
16 answers
Should I try to move from the newspaper industry to the book publishing industry? Or is this just jumping from one sinking ship to another? Canada-specific advice appreciated.
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posted by anonymous
on Mar 24, 2010 -
5 answers
I"m looking for good hints on teaching a literature survey course to (mostly) college freshmen. This will be my second year of this course, and I really need to make some changes from the way I approached it last year. Any hints from current/former teachers or students would be more than welcome!
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posted by lucky25
on Feb 9, 2010 -
8 answers
What kind of mellowish, retroish virtual entertainment can I suggest at my friend's Second Life sim?
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posted by RedEmma
on Jan 20, 2010 -
4 answers
As a writer trying to press into the next stage of my career, how can I emphasize in my publishing history that "small press" isn't always a euphemism for "vanity press"?
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posted by 256
on Nov 11, 2009 -
17 answers
What are the great patterning works of literature? In
Book by Book, Michael Dirda presents a list of what he calls “patterning works” which he describes as books that “. . later authors regularly build on, allude to, work against.” and which he says “ . . . ought to lie at the heart of any structured reading program.”
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posted by jason's_planet
on Sep 17, 2009 -
73 answers
Is the use of meronym and synecdoche the same thing? If not, please illustrate. I am confused.
posted by whimsicalnymph
on Aug 30, 2009 -
12 answers
I need famous drinks from famous books. Kind of like how Holden Caulfield always drank Tom Collinses in
Catcher in the Rye. Or how the Famous Five always had Tea with their scones. Thanks!
posted by Sully
on Jul 14, 2009 -
46 answers
I just finished John Fowles, The Collector, and I need it's opposite. Spoiler inside.
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posted by duckus
on May 5, 2009 -
18 answers
Can the hive mind help me by suggesting some good, but simple, literary costume ideas for halloween?
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posted by anoirmarie
on Oct 30, 2008 -
29 answers
Deep breath: I am the online editor for a New York college's undergraduate literary journal's blog, and a complete beginner. I'm wondering about increasing net-presence, keeping the site timely, and making it vibrant. Very open to ideas. Hive mind?
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posted by omnigut
on Oct 8, 2008 -
6 answers
The phenomenology / ontology of text: has anyone examined this issue directly in philosophical, literary and/or critical terms?
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posted by 0bvious
on Sep 18, 2008 -
26 answers
What one book will allow others to gain the truest insight into the soul of each city or region
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posted by reenum
on May 6, 2008 -
16 answers
Question about obscure science fiction short story, "Allegory," by William T. Powers, which was reprinted in Groff Conklin's 13 GREAT STORIES OF SCIENCE FICTION. The question is: what is this story an allegory of? To put it another way, is there some real-world or historical event that this story is a comment on?
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posted by Mr. Justice
on Apr 29, 2008 -
8 answers
An agent is interested in my book but says that they only have an "optional" contract- authors can sign it or not, given their preference. Should I give them my book?
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posted by arnicae
on Apr 13, 2008 -
15 answers
Years ago when I took a classical mythology course, my professor used a literary term for a being who can travel between planes of being at will.
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posted by miss-lapin
on Apr 10, 2008 -
8 answers
[Literary archetype filter] I'm looking for short moral tales / folk stories / fables with themes of selfishness and pig-headedness. Specifically, I need stories about somebody who focuses so intently on X that they don't realize they're alone and screwed until too late.
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posted by mr. remy
on Aug 9, 2007 -
14 answers
Who are some literary figures who either 1) had a knack for words or 2) who analyzed other people's words?
posted by Java_Man
on Aug 7, 2007 -
24 answers
I need to read something in Spanish. I want excellent writing, with involving plots, and it must be in print. Good detective fiction perhaps?
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posted by andrew cooke
on Aug 6, 2007 -
22 answers
So a common subplot in a lot of movies is that the protagonist has a dull life and suddenly a romantic partner sweeps in and changes EVERYTHING. It spans genres from
The Mask to
Stranger Than Fiction (and of course the romantic comedy / chick flick industry would go broke without it.) I guess Cinderalla is the archetypal story here. I'm sort of curious about what larger connections there are to this thematic convention—like has anyone written about it, maybe focused more on Cinderalla and gender studies or psychology etc.
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posted by Firas
on Jul 13, 2007 -
8 answers
When an olive is missing it's pimento, some famous literary person (possibly Dorothy Parker) said that a little mischievous creature was responsible. What was the name of this creature?
posted by kuujjuarapik
on Apr 17, 2007 -
9 answers
Is there a definitive resource on the web for finding literary agents who represent science fiction and fantasy?
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posted by JWright
on Apr 6, 2007 -
13 answers
