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M.A.Orthofer
@maorthofer.bsky.social
The Complete Review and its Literary Saloon. [https://www.complete-review.com/main/main.html]
Urlaubsziel gesucht? Thomas Bernhard hätte da einige Einwände. Mehr »Städtebeschimpfungen« gibt es hier: shrk.vg/Staedtebesch...
In the mail: another Loeb ! Their new 𝑂𝑟𝑝ℎ𝑖𝑐 𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 ! www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067... "Cult classics", indeed.
Orphic Collection — Harvard University Press
Cult classics.Orpheus is familiar from Greek mythology as a peerless bard, the Thracian son of a Muse with superhuman musical abilities that enabled him to win the release of his young wife Eurydice f...
hup.harvard.edu
Paywalled, so I can't be sure how accurately headline reflects content, but how on earth is an author supposed to *prove* "their work is not AI" ? What counts as proof ? www.thetimes.com/uk/technolog...
Authors must prove their work is not AI, says literary award chief
After controversies over writers allegedly using chatbots, extra scrutiny is warranted, the head of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize has said
thetimes.com
A history of: "The Early Years of the Loeb Classical Library (1911-1939)" coming from @harvardpress.bsky.social 4/2027: 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝑑, by Mirte Liebregts www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067... Can't wait to see this !
The Green and the Red — Harvard University Press
The Green and the Red provides a meticulously researched, captivating history of the formative years of the Loeb Classical Library (LCL), the landmark publishing series that revolutionized our engagem...
hup.harvard.edu
Re-issues of Chaim Grade's 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑌𝑒𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑣𝑎 www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/818559... and 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑔𝑢𝑛𝑎ℎ www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/818561... coming 4/2027 from Schocken !
New review: Matthew Head's 1955 novel, 𝑀𝑢𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑙𝑒𝑎 𝐶𝑙𝑢𝑏 www.complete-review.com/reviews/usmy...
Murder at the Flea Club - Matthew Head
A review, and links to other information about and reviews of Murder at the Flea Club by Matthew Head.
complete-review.com
Amazing story/incident that perfectly sums up: this administration's ignorance, ineptness, & laziness; Americans' general lack of awareness/understanding of the world at large (& specifically geography & Africa); and ... the dangers of relying on (hell: using) AI. www.reuters.com/world/africa...
US government map of Africa mislabels every country at global conference
A U.S. government map of Africa mislabeled every country during a State Department presentation at a global conference taking place in Brazil this week, causing a stir among attendees who took screen...
reuters.com
In the mail: pleased also to see a Yamazaki Nao-Cola duo, from SJP Lit, 𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 zandoprojects.com/books/beauti... and 𝐷𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝐿𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑎𝑡 𝑂𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑃𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒'𝑠 𝑆𝑒𝑥 𝐿𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠 zandoprojects.com/books/dont-l... , both foreworded by @katiekitamura.bsky.social
In the mail: been holding back with the review-copy-requests as I settle in and wait for my US library to arrive (it's almost here ...), but nice to get a quartet of ... exquisite things and strange wonders, from @harvardpress.bsky.social Looking forward to all of these.
Literary escapade : Frédéric Dard & the village of Saint-Chef, France. #ParisInJuly2026 bookaroundthecorner.com/2026/07/26/l...
Literary escapade : Frédéric Dard & the village of Saint-Chef, France. #ParisInJuly2026
I thought I’d take you to another literary escapade in France, in the village of Saint-Chef in the Isère department. This is where Frédéric Dard (1921-2000) , aka San Antonio spent part of his chil…
bookaroundthecorner.com
Intrigued by (1000 pp volume of) 𝐽𝑢𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑛 by Walter Benjamin — earliest writings (1909-1921), forthcoming from @suhrkamp.de www.suhrkamp.de/buch/walter-...
Werke und Nachlaß. Kritische Gesamtausgabe. Buch von Walter Benjamin (Suhrkamp Verlag)
Band 1 der Kritischen Gesamtausgabe | Buch von Walter Benjamin versandkostenfrei & direkt vom Verlag kaufen
suhrkamp.de
I'm all for students in India (& elsewhere) encountering these authors in English translation, but maybe the proper (academic) place to do so is a different concentration ? www.educationtimes.com/article/camp... (Article title: "Why every Indian university must rethink the MA in English Literature")
"By removing the usual scaffolding that renders human life intelligible, above all custom and language, the books ask what lies beneath." Terrific Elizabeth Lowry piece on the non-"Lord of the Flies" books of William Golding. www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
Mind and Matter: Four Novels by William Golding
The novels that followed “Lord of the Flies” explored the strange states human consciousness can create.
wsj.com
The desk behind translations of Jean Giono, Jean-Patrick Manchette, Louis Aragon, Antoine Volodine, Éric Chevillard… Alyson Waters has translated over twenty five books from French, including seven with Archipelago. She and her desk live in Brooklyn, New York.
I've somehow missed that reading has apparently become *sexy*, but it's good to see the opportunity for a sensationalistic angle tease isn't missed: "but does reading’s trendy turn have a darker side ?" www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...
The rise of the ‘hot literati’: how reading became sexy
Celebrities are hosting literary clubs and designers are launching products emblazoned with the classics – but does reading’s trendy turn have a darker side?
theguardian.com
Der Roman "Renata wasweißich" von Catherine Guérard besteht aus einem einzigen Satz und geriet in Vergessenheit, bis man ihn wiederentdeckte: Eine ungewöhnliche Geschichte einer ungewöhnlichen Autorin eines ungewöhnlichen Romans. Kann die Übersersetzung mithalten? www.tralalit.de/2026/07/22/e...
Ein Buch, ein Satz – TraLaLit
Catherine Guérard hat einen Roman geschrieben, der aus nur einem Satz besteht. Olga Radetzkaja hat ihn ins Deutsche übertragen.
tralalit.de
Apparently using "contemporary language" in a book is "insufficiently reverential" for some subjects in Vietnam, and reason enough to (successfully) go after everyone involved with it. www.hrw.org/news/2026/07... "Conversational dialogues", "contemporary vernacular" — how dare they !
The ChatGPT maker said the ‘agent’ escaped a testing environment, gained internet access, stole login credentials and hacked into the start-up Hugging Face by itself, in one of the first public examples of a cyber attack by an AI system acting outside human control. www.ft.com/content/9db7...?
We’re delighted to announce that 14 titles from 13 publishers, 7 languages, and 8 regions have won #PENTranslates awards. Discover the winners ⤵️ www.englishpen.org/posts/news/p...
PEN Translates winners announced - English PEN
englishpen.org
I do appreciate the publisher making the effort to add the diacritical mark, but this looks like a grave mistake.
New review: Keith Laumer's 𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙 (also published as 𝐹𝑎𝑡 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒) www.complete-review.com/reviews/popu...
Deadfall (Fat Chance) - Keith Laumer
A review, and links to other information about and reviews of Deadfall (Fat Chance) by Keith Laumer.
complete-review.com
Georges Perec-exhibition slated for @labnf.bsky.social in October ! www.bnf.fr/fr/agenda/ge... "Une grande exposition de près de 300 pièces" !
Georges Perec modes d'emploi
BnF - Site institutionnel
bnf.fr
Join our international reading group! Perec’s Life: A User’s Manual. We are reading everything: his notes, his lists of self-imposed constraints, the scholarship, the translations, books he read. "Fun." It's an informal group, for everyone—readers, writers, artists, scholars. tinyurl.com/SAICreading
Schedule
School of the Art Institute of Chicago reading group Histories of the mega-novel: Perec, La Vie mode d’emploi, Schmidt, Bottom’s Dream, Joyce, Finnegans Wake, Beckett, Watt Schedule (Short URL for ...
tinyurl.com
We're seeing the Nolan fillum tomorrow, so I'm rereading this. Astonished (a) that "People Magazine" thought "Homer is better than The Smashing Pumpkins and Melrose Place" was a worthwhile judgement to make & (b) Penguin thought quoting it a valuable blurb.
New review: Nobel laureate Elfriede Jelinek's latest, 𝑈𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑇𝑖𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛 www.complete-review.com/reviews/jeli...
Unter Tieren - Elfriede Jelinek
A review, and links to other information about and reviews of Unter Tieren by Elfriede Jelinek.
complete-review.com
I am once again begging Hollywood to stop using the Greek alphabet for an Ancient World movie, if they can't afford to even throw a couple of quid at anyone with an inkling of the language. Unless they really think audiences are dying to see THS THDPSSSSPS
At the turn of the 20th century, there was more than just coffee brewing in the cafés of central Europe – from the Modernist movement in Vienna to political turmoil in Belgrade, two coffee cultures were on a collision course that would light the fuse for the First World War
Vienna’s cafés inspired poets. Belgrade’s bred dissent | Aeon Essays
While Vienna’s coffeehouses bred modernism, in Belgrade’s kafanas grew conspiracy and rage. Their clash consumed Europe
buff.ly