Recommended Reading on Art, Literature, and Surviving Through Fiction
Volume 2 of 3, December 2024
It’s interesting to be closing out this year’s Recommended Reading with similar articles about Art, Literature, & Digital Media as to the beginning of the year, when I wrote about The Internet and Digital Archiving (Jan. 7, 2024) in the context of Mindy Seu’s Cyberfeminism Index and the curation of one’s online sense of self. How does Seu’s work relate to Legacy Russell and Momtaza Mehri intensely important conversation in Frieze magazine online, back in 2020 (during the height of the pandemic), at the time of Russell’s publication of Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto, discussing and interrogating the existential contradiction inherent in creatively generating value for digital platforms that users don’t own, that can be especially alienating and disenfranchising for the socially disempowered who help create value and money for those platforms in the first place (black and queer and trans people). But this conversation is an important dialogue that celebrates the underrecognized work and contribution to the canon of digital art and disruption by queer people and people of colour. Even four years ago, Legacy Russell says,
“As a tool, the internet has given us a place to congregate, which is important in a different way than it is for a white, cisgendered, straight person. It’s important to recognize that. It has allowed us survival and coping mechanisms: being able to dialogue, collectivize and congregate without the same type of harm that has presented out in the world when we’re walking down the street.
Of course, it’s important to think about how these spaces operate at the level of the algorithm and who is designing them. I’ve been really encouraged over these last five to ten years to see a great rise in conversations about the architects of online spaces: who are they? How is that power distributed? How can it be distributed differently?”
This whole conversation is HIGHLY worth reading, and I’ve shared it frequently since coming across it earlier this year (link above and in the “Highly Recommended Reading” section below). Related, four years later, everyone is talking about the architecting of Gen AI, and the biases built into how models are trained - who is building them, how is power distributed? Do we have a way, or an awareness, to do this differently?
Speaking of AI and creativity, I was unsurprised to read Bard or bot? Study shows readers prefer AI to human poetry. We’ve already seen this general preference for simplicity with ‘Insta-poetry’ and Rupi Kaur (I have thoughts, you can guess what they are). David Moriquand writes, “According to researchers, the AI poems may be more appealing because they are more straightforward and simple to comprehend; as AI-generated poems cannot match the complexity of human-authored verse, they are better at “unambiguously communicating an image, a mood, an emotion or a theme to non-expert readers of poetry.” Why does this surprise anyone? We know that the average attention span has been dropping for the last twenty years, so of course the average person’s ability to think deeply about complex emotions or themes, or even sit in discomfort would be uncomfortable, and make it difficult for readers to determine what poetry is written by a human or an AI, or to prefer one over the other. This is even assuming that people are reading poetry at all. Which, can we really say that many are? (Less than 10% of U.S. adults in 2022)
I read a lot. And I read a lot of things.
Essentially, that’s why I started this Substack - to keep a record of all the books and articles links for myself, and to stop individually and collectively spamming my friends, family, and greater network with All The Links. I know that I read a lot less that I used to, and a lot less than I would like to. Mostly, I read fewer full-length books than I used to, and I’m actively trying to change that. One of the best gifts that I ever received from my sister was a monthly subscription to Archipelago Press: “A nonprofit press devoted to contemporary & classic world literature in translation.” [As a native English speaker, when it comes to reading fiction, I strive to mostly read international works in translation, since 97% of world literature is not written in English, and the general literary consensus is that only about 3% of all books published in the United States are works in translation.] These three novels, by Middle Eastern authors, all punched me in the gut and took my breath away. Read them.
IN PRINT:
Sitt Marie Rose by Etel Adnan, Tr. from French by Georgina Kleege, first published in 1982, this novel won the France-Pays Arabes award in Paris and has been translated into six languages.
The Last Pomegranate Tree by Bachtyar Ali, Tr. from Kurdish by Kareem Abdulrahman
Tali Girls by Siamak Herawi, Tr. from Persian by Sara Khalili
Great Fear on the Mountain by Charles Ferdinand Ramuz Tr. from French by Bill Johnston
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READING - Top of Mind
The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books To read a book in college, it helps to have read a book in high school. Rose Horowitch (1 Oct. 2024)
The Collapse of Self-Worth in the Digital Age Why are we letting algorithms rewrite the rules of art, work, and life? Thea Lim (Sept. 2024)
The effect of gamification on artmaking has been dramatic. In Rebecca Jennings’s Vox long read on the necessity of authorly self-promotion, she interviews William Deresiewicz, whose book The Death of the Artist breaks down the harsh conditions for artists seeking an income in the digital economy. Deresiewicz used to think “selling out”—using the most sacred parts of your life and values to shill for a brand—was “evil.” Yet this economy has made it so there’s “no choice” if you want a living. The very concept of selling out, he says, “has disappeared.” A few years ago, much was made of the fact that the novelist Sally Rooney had no Twitter account—this must explain her prolific output. But the logic is back to front: it’s only top-selling authors who can afford to forgo social media. Call it Deactivation Privilege.
Why creative labour isn’t always seen as “real work” – and what that means for artists and designers Throughout history, artistic production has been framed in opposition to productive labour. Today, creatives are still feeling the aftereffects of this. Here, anthropologist and illustrator Julien Posture unpacks why this might be and offers some potential solutions. Julien Posture (29 April 2024)
Glitching the Master’s House: Legacy Russell and Momtaza Mehri in Conversation The author of Glitch Feminism on correcting the cyberfeminist canon, the Black trauma at the root of memes and why online space is still ‘real’. (19 Aug. 2020)
"MM: We come up against the violence of legibility, its restrictive logics.
LR: Legibility comes up a lot in this discussion. Oftentimes, in lectures that I’ve given and classes that I’ve taught, there is a white man in the room, who gets very angry about not understanding. To some degree, Glitch Feminism as a text and tool is encrypted in its own right, it is meant to be used and seen by those who need it as an agent towards change and survival.
[Laughs] I find that very interesting when that happens because it’s no fault of that individual: it’s built into certain systems. If you’re raised in a world where you are told all the time that you can have everything, when you come up against something that refuses you access, I’m sure it’s very upsetting. As a Black queer woman, that is the lived experience we’ve grown up with – moments where our access is denied, where we are gate-kept out of certain systems. I’m also thinking of trans identity and the violence that trans people, trans Black women in particular, experience – even in these past weeks. That’s something which needs to remain at the forefront of all of our discourse and dialogue: ways that we can actively, collectively, refuse to be read."
Bard or bot? Study shows readers prefer AI to human poetry David Mouriquand (Nov. 2024)
According to researchers, the AI poems may be more appealing because they are more straightforward and simple to comprehend; as AI-generated poems cannot match the complexity of human-authored verse, they are better at “unambiguously communicating an image, a mood, an emotion or a theme to non-expert readers of poetry.”
"Our findings suggest that participants employed shared yet flawed heuristics to differentiate AI from human poetry: the simplicity of AI-generated poems may be easier for non-experts to understand, leading them to prefer AI-generated poetry and misinterpret the complexity of human poems as incoherence generated by AI," the researchers said.
ART / LITERATURE
Your Memories Are Like Paintings Understanding that memories are interpretations can transform you. Kevin Berger (14 Aug. 2024)
When body stigma is a burning issue Sculptor Katharina Kaminski is exploring her intersex identity with her candlemaker partner. Rodrigo Garcia Ellie Pithers (April 2024)
Sarah Manguso Says Wifehood, Not Motherhood, is What Really Fucks Women In her new novel “Liars,” a resentful husband is gaslighting his wife into thinking she’s crazy. Marisa Wright (26 July 2024)
More Generous Pedagogy Michele Herman on Bringing the Golden Rule to Her Classroom. (5 Sept. 2024)
Why reading and writing poems shouldn’t be considered a luxury in troubling times Emily Cullen (April 2024)
Pandemic effects linger, and art invites us to pause and behold distance, time and trauma Julian Jason Haladyn (23 July 2024)
Why Close Reading is An Essential Part of Literary Translation What Emerging and Established Translators Can Learn From a Careful Examination of Texts. Damion Searls (Oct 2024)
Maggi Hambling’s Deathly Visions Just before an opening this spring, the artist had a heart attack. She said, of her work, “We’ll have to see what happens now Madame Death has stepped in.” Anna Russell (10 May 2022)
How Have Song Lyrics Changed Since the 1960s? A Statistical Analysis How have song lyrics evolved over time? Daniel Parris (23 Oct. 2024)
Meet the women who shaped the art world in 1920s Paris These artists, gallerists, and intellectuals paved the way for generations to come - and Art Basel Paris will celebrate their legacy. Marie-Émilie Fourneaux (19 Sept. 2024)
On the Making of That New York Times Best Books of the Century List Maris Kreizman Was One of 500 Participants Asked to Contribute. (July 2024)
'My novels explore human suffering’: Nobel Prize winner Han Kang writes with empathy for vulnerable lives. Valentina Gosetti (11 Oct. 2024)
The Struggle to Unearth the World’s First Author Decades ago, archeologists discovered the work of Enheduanna, an ancient priestess who seemed to alter the story of literature. Why hasn’t her claim been affirmed? Elizabeth Winkler (Nov 2022)
Cutting Class: On the Myth of the Middle Class Writer Alissa Quart Reckons With the Precarity of the Writing Life (April 2024)
Meta ‘discussed buying publisher Simon & Schuster to train AI’ Audio shared with the New York Times appears to record executives discussing purchase of the US books giant to feed into its large language models. Ella Creamer (April 2024)
There Are Too Many Books; Or, Publishing Shouldn’t Be All About Quantity Maris Kreizman (April 2024)
Amazon is filled with garbage ebooks. Here’s how they get made. It’s partly AI, partly a get-rich-quick scheme, and entirely bad for confused consumers. Constance Grady (April 2024)
‘I’m never bored’: Willem Dafoe on art, yoga – and alpacas Willem Dafoe has made more than 150 movies, but in a forced break from filming he leaned into a new role. He talks about art, his new film Poor Things – and gentleman farming. Rebecca Nicholson (Jan. 2024)
Emma Corrin and Maggie Nelson on the Strength in Vulnerability The “Nosferatu” actor and the writer discuss solitude, self-editing and the playfulness of their work. Liz Brown (Nov. 24)
‘Art has become surrounded by middle-class, intellectual bulls---’ Liverpool-born sculptor Tony Cragg on why he left the science lab for the art gallery – and how curators became ‘the new zealots’. Chris Harvey (April 2024)
The Most Coveted Screenshot in the Literary World It’s what proves you’re a “real” writer. Jordan Michelman (Nov. 2024)
Is beauty natural? Charles Darwin was as fascinated by extravagant ornament in nature as Jane Austen was in culture. Did their explanations agree? Abigail Tulenko (Nov. 2024)
There Is No Point in My Being Other Than Honest with You: On Toni Morrison’s Rejection Letters Melina Moe (March 2024)
The Troubadour: How Alynda Segarra, a former train-hopping punk from the Bronx, became one of America’s best songwriters. Jenn Pelly (March 2024)
FICTION / POETRY
Poetry Was an Official Olympic Event for Nearly 40 Years. What Happened? Pierre de Coubertin hoped the modern Games would encourage the ancient Greek notion of harmony between “muscle and mind” Ellen Wexler (6 Aug. 2024)
The World Will Always Drop Her “Tender” by Sarah LaBrie, recommended by Halimah Marcus for Electric Literature (16 Sept 2024)
The Bedtime Story That Keeps Him Awake The title story from GOOD NIGHT, SLEEP TIGHT by Brian Evenson, recommended by Eric LaRocca (9 Sept 2024)
The Mudmen Want My Sister More Than I Do “Trogloxene” from MYSTERY LIGHTS by Lena Valencia, recommended by Rachel Lyon (29 July 2024)
Not All Men Are Wolves But Some Are "The Cry of the Pack" by Elizabeth Garver Jordan, originally published in 1914, recommended by Brooke Kroeger (22 July 2024)
She’s More Alive Online Than in Her Body An excerpt from SWALLOW THE GHOST by Eugenie Montague, recommended by Ramona Ausubel (19 Aug 2024)
The Dumbest Animal at the Circus Is Me “Dumb Animals” by Alastair Wong, recommended by Wynter K Miller for Electric Literature (26 Aug 2024)
The Day Before the Revolution Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) From Ursula K. Le Guin: The Hainish Novels & Stories Library of America Story of the Week (Aug. 2017)
SCIENCE / HISTORY
From Vikings to Beethoven: what your DNA says about your ancient relatives Scientists are using consumer-genomics databases to link living people to ancestors from the recent and not-so-recent past. But the meaning of these connections isn’t always clear. Ewen Callaway (7 Aug. 2024)
The woman who left Britain to parachute into Nazi-occupied Poland Tim Stokes (3 Aug. 2024)
"The Blood Countess" was called the most prolific female serial killer of all time, but researchers have a new theory AP News (Oct. 2024)
From Manahahtáanung to New York: The forgotten history of the original inhabitants of Manhattan The Lenape people, who lived in the area before the arrival of the Dutch settlers, are at the center of an exhibition in Amsterdam. They also want an apology from the Netherlands for its colonial past. Isabel Ferrer (May 2024)
The Pendle Witches: ‘The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster Gemma Hollman (May 2017)
This is why you like to speed up podcasts, movies and music Scientists and researchers explain the allure behind entertainment and education at 2x speed. Jackson Weaver (Nov. 2024)
A Rock-Star Researcher Spun a Web of Lies—and Nearly Got Away with It Jonathan Pruitt was prolific, influential, and charming. Then academic sleuths started poking around. Sarah Treleaven (December 2024 issue)
Femicide surge: the Cycladic figures found in the Aegean show a deep respect for the female body. How did Greece lose this? With their serene poses, beautiful curves and arms often enfolding pregnant bellies, these figurines celebrate the miracle of fertility. Sadly, I saw them during protests about violence against women. Katy Hessel (April 2024)
What Drives the "Wet Dog Shakes" Reflex in Furry Animals? Scientists identified the mechanoreceptor that triggers the distinctive shake-off behavior observed in mice when they become wet. Hannah Thomasy (Nov. 2024)
'That was the greatest day of all our lives': The migrants who passed through Ellis Island - Isabel Belarsky was one of the millions of people who were processed on Ellis Island before its immigration facility closed in 1954. In 2014, she told the BBC about reaching the gateway to the US from the Soviet Union in 1930. Myles Burke (Nov. 2024)
“according to the National Park Service, some 40% of Americans living today are descended from immigrants who came through Ellis Island.”