Is This the Last Word on Literary Fraud?

The following article ran in the BBC News on 26 April 2019. Of course, some of the gender-fluid pronouns render the text somewhat problematic. For example: << Knoop says not: they claim to be naive about what they were doing. “At the time I don’t know if I understood it as being performance art,” they say, though they admits that “performance is very adrenalising and it becomes a thing where you go out and look for that feeling." >>

Yes, you read that correctly. It's political correctness vis-a-vis gender identification, although only selectively, even within the same sentence[!]; "they admits," since "they" is [presumably??] singular, but the preceding verb is conjugated as plural within the same sentence: "they say"!

Notwithstanding my editorial reservations, I think the last paragraph offers a great summary of the "literary" world today. Here's the link: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20190424-revisiting-jt-leroy-americas-greatest-literary-scam?ocid=global_culture_rss&ocid=global_bbccom_email_26042019_culture.

Fiction, Alternate Personalities, and Related Topics

I have recently stumbled across some interesting entries on the blog of Kenneth A. Nakdimen, M.D. The first (19 February 2019) asks, "Do Fiction Writers Have Alternate Personalities," and cites a study by Marjorie Taylor: http://multiplewriters.blogspot.com/. The same site also has a five-part series (through 20 February 2019) on Aldous Huxley's "Personality and the Discontinuity of the Mind." 

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On a related and not altogether dissimilar note, I have had dreams in iambic pentameter. Indeed, the entire story-line of my one-act version of Hamlet came to me in that manner, along with some of the verse. Perhaps more intriguing is the vast amount of musical material that his been similarly "dictated" to me during dreams. Of course, I do not believe this is a manifestation of multiple personality disorder. . . .

Another Interview With Joshua Bell

Earlier this month, Stay Thirsty Magazine released "A Conversation with Joshua Bell about the Virtual Violin." Here is the url:
https://staythirstymagazine.blogspot.com/p/joshua-bell-virtual-violin.html

Publish or Self-Publish: Another Perspective

Ros Barber offers a sobering, less optimistic view of publishing and self-publishing. She correctly notes that in order to self-publish successfully – i.e., work via Kindle, CreateSpace, et al. – one must devote far more time to promotion than writing. Indeed, she points to a potential 90:10 ratio. On the other hand, she is also one of the lucky few able to get contracts from UK publishers. Interesting reading: https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/mar/21/for-me-traditional-publishing-means-poverty-but-self-publish-no-way 

Recommended Fiction

I have recently read two wonderful works, Paul Beatty's The Sellout and Robert Coover's Huck Out West. I enjoyed both so much that I felt obliged to post brief five-star reviews on Amazon.

I sincerely hope Beatty's splendid effort does not slide into the "Black literature" category. It is truly wonderful "literature," above and beyond the ethnicity of the author and most of the characters. The author even mocks political correctness; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn becomes The Pejorative-Free Adventures and Intellectual and Spiritual Journeys of African-American Jim and His Young Protege, White Brother Huckleberry Finn, as They Go in Search of the Lost Black Family Unit, while the "N-word" morphs into "little black euphemism." Suffice it to say things only improve from there, and not before we are instructed by one more choice adage: "People eat the shit you shovel at them"!

Coover breathes new life into the saga of Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, and Becky Thatcher. We can almost hear him channeling Twain's voice through Huck's sympathetic portrayal of the plight of the Native American peoples. He also develops a new character twist, as Tom clearly succumbs to the notion of "manifest destiny," which Huck simply refuses to swallow. As I note in the Amazon review, there is an ugly irony in the timing of this book, since the Trump administration will clearly ignore the rights of the Lakota. Lovers of Twain will be delighted by Coover's opus, while those who have yet to discover that giant should feel motivated to read his greatest works.

Article on "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" Published -- and Accessible

"An Interpretation of Eliot's 'Prufrock'" has been published by Literary Arts Review.

Update, 1 January 2018: Originally a subscription publication, LAR is now free and online, and I am able to provide the hyperlink to my own copy:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzVwCY1K_iuYVHNyNVcybmhEMEU

Of course, this interpretation is non-scholarly and quite personal, but I feel it has definite validity. Enjoy!

Short Story Published!

My short story, "Bach's Last Composition:  A Fantasy," appeared in the September, 2016 issue of Literary Arts Review Magazine  (LiteraryArtsReview.com).  The publishers also embedded the second movement of my Sonata for Violin and Clavier in D Minor, Op. 4.  My article on Eliot's "The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is slated for release next month.

Update, 1 January 2018: Literary Arts Review Magazine became a free publication, so I can post the following link to the story:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B30ATaX80nodU1RzVmp2M3pHVEk.