Last Wallace Novel Now In Bookstores
David Foster Wallace's last, unfinished book was released posthumously last week. Pale King, the cult novelist's chronicle of IRS employees in Peoria, would, fittingly, have been released on April 15, tax day, were it not for internet booksellers such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble online, which began selling it nearly three weeks early. A case study of American beaurocracy and boredom, the novel has already garnered a great deal of attention.
- Read a review of Pale King in the New York Times.
Gone With The Wind: Found In Connecticut
In other literature news, the final typescript pages of another novel of another age, Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind, long taken for lost or destroyed, have turned up in an unlikely library in Southport, Connecticut. It's good timing; this June marks the 75th anniversary of the first publication of the novel, which, according to a librarian at the Southport library, still sells 250,000 copies a year. The valuable manuscript bears some of the author's own handwritten corrections. It will go on exhibit at the library Saturday, before traveling to Margaret Mitchell's hometown, Atlanta.
- Read about the found manuscript in the New York Times.
2011 Country Music Awards
13 million viewers tuned in to CBS this past weekend to watch the 46th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards. The ceremony and celebration, held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, featured performances by country, folks and pop stars alike, including Rihanna, James Taylor, and Steven Tyler. Country singer Miranda Lambert won four awards, including Best Female Vocalist, and Brad Paisley won Best Male Vocalist. Lady Antebellum, the group that swept the recent 2011 Grammies, won Top Vocal Group and Album of the Year. 21-year-old Taylor Swift became the youngest person ever to win Entertainer of the Year.
- Visit the Academy's Web site.
Representation Of Warhol Looms Over Crowds In New York
A sculpture of pop artist and personality Andy Warhol was unveiled last week in New York City's Union Square. Its creator is artist Rob Pruitt, who crafted it in part with funds from the Public Art Fund. The likeness features Warhol with a Polaroid camera around his neck, wearing his signature round glasses, and carrying a Bloomingdale's bag (in which the real Warhol would customarily carry issues of his magazine, Interview). Crafted of shiny chrome and slightly larger than life, the monument is mounted on a tall pedestal, so that, at ten feet tall, it looms brightly over the crowds. After its unveiling Sunday, several cans of tomato soup were left at its feet.
- Read a blog post about the piece.
- Find out more about the Public Art Fund and its upcoming projects.