November 18, 2011

Brian Boyd on The Original of Laura

We conclude our feature on Stalking by Nabokov, by Brian Boyd with a video of Boyd discussing Nabokov’s unfinished final work The Original of Laura. As he discusses in his talk, Boyd initially thought the book should not be published...

November 18, 2011

Interview with Genny Beemyn and Susan R. Rankin, Authors of The Lives of Transgender People

The following is an interview with Genny Beemyn and Susan R. Rankin, authors of The Lives of Transgender People. Sunday, November 20th is the Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day to memorialize those who have been killed because of their...

November 17, 2011

Brian Boyd's Daily Reads

Brian Boyd, author of Stalking Nabokov, was recently featured on the Chronicle of Higher Ed’s popular feature My Daily Read. In the piece, Boyd discusses the newspapers, magazines, and books he has been reading lately. In discussing what books he’s...

November 17, 2011

Todd Gitlin on the Occupy Wall Street Movement

“Now what? What’s the relation between the turf and the movement? Both known and unknown unknowns abound, but it cannot be taken for granted that the expulsion is bad for the movement. To the contrary: Odds are that the expulsion...

November 17, 2011

Kenneth Goldsmith's Uncreative Take on Shakespeare

In Uncreative Writing: Managing Language in the Digital Age, Kenneth Goldsmith argues that language expressed either semantically or as code is behind everything we read, see, and hear online. The ability of writers and artists to manipulate this “language” opens...

November 16, 2011

Brian Boyd on His Book Stalking Nabokov

“I first read Nabokov at about 13 and first began stalking him at 16. Nabokov wanted nothing more than to turn his readers into stalkers, by planting little clues along the fictional trails he blazed, challenging them to catch up...

November 16, 2011

James Powell: Science Denialism Is Not Free, Part III

This is the third and final installment of James Powell’s series of blog posts. (To read the first and second). James Powell is the author of The Inquisition of Climate Science. “Science denial and pseudoscience are not free. We embrace...

November 15, 2011

Stalking Nabokov, by Brian Boyd

This week we will be featuring Stalking Nabokov, by Brian Boyd. Here is an excerpt from the chapter A Centennial Toast. That seems to me the key to Nabokov. He was a maximalist: someone who appreciated, as much as anyone...

November 15, 2011

Columbia Journalism Review Books

A recent article in Publishers Weekly highlighted the launch of our new series Columbia Journalism Review Books, which coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of the Columbia Journalism Review. The series will be edited by Victor Navasky, Evan Cornog, Mike Hoyt,...

November 15, 2011

New Book Tuesday: Asia's Space Race

Asia’s Space Race: National Motivations, Regional Rivalries, and International Risks James Clay Moltz The Priority of Events: Deleuze’s Logic of Sense Sean Bowden Explorations into Arab Folk Literature Pierre Cachia Let the Right One In Anne Bilson Witchfinder General Ian...

November 11, 2011

Jacques Ranciere: "It is writing’s poverty that accounts for literature’s capacity for resistance."

Fittingly enough, we conclude on week-long feature on Jacques Ranciere’s Mute Speech with Ranciere’s concluding paragraphs: And yet, strangely, it is writing’s poverty that accounts for literature’s capacity for resistance. The weakness of the means at its disposal to measure...

November 11, 2011

Obesity, the Greek Crisis, and Trollope: A University Press Blog Roundup

Our occasional feature looking at noteworthy and interesting posts from university press blogs: Duke University Press offers free access to an article from George Papandreou, the recently resigned Greek Prime Minister, on strategies for recovery in the Eurozone. For the...