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Lit List: January 18, 2017

Good evening readers. Here's your round-up of today's must-read literary news, commentary and fiction.

The lifelong embarrassment of writing poetry Poetry Foundation

Why Shakespeare's Othello feels "truly, viscerally American" MTV 

Confronting the ignoble side of bipartisan hero Atticus Finch The Paris Review 

So you're getting published. This is definitely the least obnoxious possible way to announce it McSweeney's 

How and why an immigrant family lost its culture Catapult

Black American artists' search for a utopia Hazlitt

"Inaugural Poem for [REDACTED]," by jay dodd Lithub 

Wole Soyinka swore to tear up his green card, and he kept his word--here's why The Atlantic

Lemony Snicket, né Daniel Handler, talks TV adaptations and writing enigmas that are solvable, but not too solvable The Observer

Elif Batuman on Proust, Dostoevsky, and the "ridiculous age" that is adolescence The New Yorker

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A vintage edition of Arthur Rimbaud's epic "A Season in Hell" with a preface by Anais Nin 🔶. . . #rimbaud #bornonthisday #bookstagram #instabook #bibliophile #igbooks #vintagebooks #bookcoverlove #frenchliterature #poetry #aseasoninhell

#vintagebooks #frenchliterature #bornonthisday #aseasoninhell #igbooks #bookstagram #instabook #bookcoverlove #bibliophile #poetry #rimbaud

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Arthur Rimbaud, "A Season in Hell" 💫 #bornonthisday #poetry #poet #rimbaud #arthurrimbaud #literaryquotes #quoteoftheday #bookstagram #instabook #igbooks #bibliophile

#bornonthisday #bibliophile #poetry #igbooks #literaryquotes #rimbaud #arthurrimbaud #poet #instabook #bookstagram #quoteoftheday

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Two nights ago we had the pleasure of meeting debut novelist Brit Bennett at @greenlightbklyn, where she talked about her new book "The Mothers" with Angela Flournoy. The @nytimes has said Bennett's novel is "shaping up to be one of the fall’s biggest literary debuts." Here is Brit with LSP host @pruneperromat ✨ . . . . #bookstagram #instabook #themothers #britbennett #debutnovel #greenlightbookstore #literaryevents #igbooks #bibliophile #booklover (at Greenlight Bookstore)

#greenlightbookstore #booklover #literaryevents #debutnovel #igbooks #instabook #bibliophile #themothers #bookstagram #britbennett

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"Don't worry about how pretty (the story) sounds, how lilting it is, and the imagery, and the metaphor, all that. Most readers don't care. It's the people in your book that matter" - Terry McMillan . . . #bornonthisday #onwriting #booklover #bibliophile #instabook #igbooks #bookstagram #writing #novelist #literarybirthday #quoteoftheday #qotd

#onwriting #qotd #bornonthisday #booklover #igbooks #writing #instabook #bibliophile #novelist #quoteoftheday #bookstagram #literarybirthday

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Happy birthday to American novelist Terry McMillan! McMillan was a single mom working as a word processor in New York in the 1980s when she decided to enroll in a writing workshop in Harlem. 🎉 #howstellagothergrooveback #waitingtoexhale #literarybirthday #americanauthors #bookstagram #igbooks #instabook #bibliophile #booklover

#howstellagothergrooveback #waitingtoexhale #igbooks #bibliophile #literarybirthday #americanauthors #booklover #instabook #bookstagram

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Fresh books at LSP HQ 🤗 25-year-old Brit Bennett's debut novel is a coming of age story set in a contemporary black community in Southern California . . . #britbennett #themothers #bookstagram #instabook #bibliophile #booklover #bookaddict #igbooks #debutnovel #mondays #bibliophile #literaryfiction

#bookaddict #booklover #igbooks #debutnovel #instabook #mondays #bibliophile #themothers #bookstagram #britbennett #literaryfiction

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One of our favorite Aussie bookstores. So many interesting art titles you'd never get anywhere else 〰 . #perimeterbooks #bookstagram #instabook #bookstore #bookshops #bookshopping #bookcollector #igbooks #artbooks #literature #booklover #bibliophile #shelfie (at Perimeter Books)

#bookshopping #literature #shelfie #artbooks #booklover #igbooks #bookshops #instabook #bookcollector #bibliophile #bookstore #perimeterbooks #bookstagram

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"Dylan's talent in translating, with incomparable precision, feelings of despair and anger, love and scorn, hate and admiration, is just one validation of his literary gifts. But he has done more than write beautifully. With pointed words and memorable rhyme, he embraced a tradition while breaking grammatical and narrative codes, reinventing the way pop songs are conceived and perceived" -- LSP host and founder @pruneperromat on why Bob Dylan deserves the Nobel Prize for Literature, and why it couldn't come at a better time for America. Link to the full column on the @theliteraryshowproject in bio 👆🏼 #bobdylan #desire #nobelprize #literature #poetry #bibliophile #igbooks #booklover #bookstagram #igbooks #bibliophile #writing #oped #songwriter

#desire #literature #nobelprize #songwriter #booklover #poetry #igbooks #bobdylan #oped #bibliophile #writing #bookstagram

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Penguin party 🐧 #penguinclassics #shelfie #bookstagram #instabook #igbooks #bibliophile #booklover #bookshopping #bookcollector #literaryclassics

#penguinclassics #shelfie #booklover #igbooks #instabook #bookcollector #bibliophile #bookshopping #literaryclassics #bookstagram

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Bob Dylan has won the 2016 the Nobel Prize in Literature, "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition." He has given the world so many moving, eloquent and iconic pieces of writing. Go Bob 🙌🏼 #bobdylan #nobelprizewinner #literature #nobelprizeforliterature #songwriter #poet #bookstagram #instabook #igbooks #bibliophile #poetry

#literature #songwriter #nobelprizeforliterature #igbooks #bibliophile #instabook #bobdylan #poet #poetry #nobelprizewinner #bookstagram

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Do you like books? Writing? And interviews about books and writing?! Subscribe to the Lit List - our round-up of the day's must-read literary news, commentary and fiction. Link in bio👆🏼✨ #litlist #literaryshowproject #lsp #literarynews #newfiction #newwriting #bookstagram #instabook #igbooks #bibliophile #booklover #bookaddict #writing (at Albertine)

#litlist #bookaddict #newfiction #literarynews #booklover #igbooks #bookstagram #instabook #newwriting #lsp #bibliophile #writing #literaryshowproject

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We would have liked to hang out with Elmore Leonard: novelist, short story writer, screenwriter ✨ #elmoreleonard #bornonthisday #literaryquotes #quoteoftheday #qotd #bookstagram #booklover #bibliophile #novels #instabook #igbooks

#elmoreleonard #qotd #bornonthisday #novels #booklover #igbooks #literaryquotes #instabook #bibliophile #bookstagram #quoteoftheday

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"If a writer knows everything that is going to happen, then his book is dead before he begins it" - V.S Naipaul #writing #vsnaipaul #vintagebooks #bookcoverlove #bibliophile #bookstagram #booklover #antiquarian #igbooks #instabook #themimicmen #literaryquotes #quoteoftheday

#vintagebooks #igbooks #themimicmen #booklover #vsnaipaul #bookcoverlove #writing #literaryquotes #instabook #bibliophile #bookstagram #antiquarian #quoteoftheday

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#memoir #writing #film #battle of algiers #north africa #authors #saadi yacef #film forum #new york #decolonization #colonization #french history #france #algeria #guerilla warfare

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A memoirist, and a freedom fighter, visits New York

HISTORY BOX: France invaded Algeria in 1830, brutally suppressing resistance until the entire territory was “pacified” in the 1870s. Hundreds of thousands of European settlers came to live throughout Algeria on lands that had been bought or, more commonly, confiscated from their original inhabitants. Indigenous Algerians were governed by a separate legal code, similar to the Black Codes of the post-Reconstruction American South, that abolished civil rights and authorized collective punishment. In 1954, the National Liberation Front (FLN) rose up against French military occupation in the Algerian War of Independence. The conflict left 350,000 dead on the Algerian side and 100,000 on the French side (most of them harkis, or indigenous Algerians in the French army) and resulted in Algeria’s independence in 1962.

By Emily Lever In his lifetime, Saadi Yacef has been many things: a freedom fighter; a prisoner; a memoirist; a senator; and a film producer.

As the military leader of the National Liberation Front in Algiers in the 1950s, Yacef was a key actor in one of the bloodiest decolonization wars of the 20th century. His memoir, written after the Algerian War of Independence, was adapted into the 1966 film The Battle of Algiers, which became a box office sensation and perhaps - aside from Casablanca - the most famous movie set in North Africa. Yacef wrote his memoir – Souvenirs de la Bataille d’Alger (Memories of the Battle of Algiers) – in prison, after his capture by French forces in 1957. The book was published in 1962 and detailed his experiences waging urban guerilla warfare against the French army in Algeria's eight year struggle for independence. Yacef co-produced the movie adaptation and also stepped in front of the camera to play himself (his character bears his nom de guerre, Si Jaffar).

The Battle of Algiers was banned in France until 1971 due to threats from right-wing groups. Today, its legacy is one of critical acclaim (three Oscar nominations, a Golden Lion from Venice and scores of other awards) and continued political relevance. In fact, the film was required watching for the Pentagon as well as the Black Panthers here in America.

LSP recently met with Yacef at the Film Forum in New York ahead of the movie's re-release. An enthusiastic talker, he recounted his experience as a writer, producer and actor.

While incarcerated at Fresnes prison in France, Yacef held the status of political prisoner, which gave him access to writing materials. The book he produced "is reality," he said. "It’s what I lived through, with not one comma missing.” Upon his release from jail, Yacef was eager to pass on his message through film, “to the young people coming up." He sought a talented non-French European director, eventually landing on Venice Golden Lion winner and former anti-fascist fighter Gillo Pontecorvo. Originally reluctant to appear as himself in a film based on his own writing, Yacef was persuaded both by his friends, who said, “it needs to be you,” and Pontecorvo, who told him: “I like your face, plus you led the whole thing, this is who we need." Yacef accepted the role, “so that there would be no deviation from the truth.”

It was in this spirit that he became an on-set advisor to Pontecorvo,  enlisting other former fighters as extras because, “they knew how to shoot.” The result gives off such an air of authenticity that the film begins with a disclaimer that it contains not a single image of documentary footage.

When asked about the level of violence in the film, his memoir, and in the war both depict, Yacef said that the violence of decolonization was the result of the century-long violence of colonization.

“They’re the ones who taught us to make and use bombs; it’s all thanks to them,” he said, noting that the French bombed the Casbah (the Arab section of Algiers) 37 times - “I counted” - before the FLN ever responded in kind.

He emphasized that the status quo and reality of colonization is violence, which is vital to understanding the Algerian War of Independence. “I was never a terrorist. I was a fighter,” he said firmly. The war he waged was, “a war of liberation. [France] colonized us for over a century."

"Those who rose up before us failed, and we took over and won.” LSP

A video of LSP host Prune Perromat's interview with Saadi Yacef will be posted shortly.

#saadi yacef #algeria #war of independence #algiers #battle of algiers #film #books #memoir #literary news #decolonization #memoirist

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