Despite ample evidence and countless testaments to the opposite, there persists a toxic cultural mythology that creative and intellectual excellence comes from a passive gift bestowed upon the fortunate few by the gods of genius, rather than being the product of the active application and consistent cultivation of skill. So what might the root of that stubborn fallacy be? Childhood and upbringing, it turns out, might have a lot to do.
The New York Times talks to four book cover designers about going from an original concept to a final design. Above, Jason Booher talks about his concepts for J. G. Ballard’s autobiography, Miracles of Life.
“The fall of nations and empires begins with the fall of libraries.”
“Every inch of this book screams of quality. It’s a true masterpiece, and likely to pick up just as many awards as Kings in Disguise did, 20 years ago.”
A review of James Vance and Dan Burr’s latest graphic novel On The Ropes from the UK graphic novel review site Grovel. On The Ropes follows the adventures of young Fred Bloch who becomes involved in dangerous underground activity while working as an apprentice to an escape artist in a traveling circus during the Great Depression.
“Scotty, I’m a spy.”Over at Medium, read Scott C. Johnson on discovering his father’s secret career.
Johnson’s The Wolf and the Watchman is out today. “This stunning memoir,” per Michael Hastings, “could be ripped from the pages of a John le Carré novel.”
“Hage’s prose is addictive…[Carnival is] amazing, original, and impolite.” —Montreal Review of Books
“Imagine Camus rewriting Taxi Driver.” —Toronto Life
“There’s a lot of myth about the CIA, the Agency, espionage, and so forth. It’s not a world of guns and arrests, like most of the books. It’s more about counterespionage—trying to find the spy within.”
“There is no simple formula for the relationship of art to justice. But I do know that art—in my own case the art of poetry—means nothing if it simply decorates the dinner table of power which holds it hostage. The radical disparities of wealth and power in America are widening at a devastating rate. A President cannot meaningfully honor certain token artists while the people at large are so dishonored.”
Happy birthday, Adrienne Rich! The 1997 letter with which the beloved poet became the only person to turn down the prestigious National Medal of Arts.
