A&L Daily

Maybe you've seen these already, either because I have Arts & Letters Daily linked at my sidebar and you're so damn curious you couldn't resist, or because you're just naturally smart and have beat me to the goodies.

In any case, here are three lit-related pieces that might interest you:

This one reveals a few interesting things about Pynchon.

Here's a bitchy look at Kerouac from an oh-so-precious critic.  He presents a few decent points, but mainly misses the mark by skewing his subject matter--the Beats--so thoroughly that he seems silly.  He strikes me as being a Log Cabin Republican, one of a group with nothing on the Beats--unless arrogance and money count for more than imagination. Which in fact is plausible.

This one tackles the success vs. talent question, one of my favorite subjects, because I know I have one inch of talent and zero success. Unless you consider this blog a success, in which case you should send me some money to help offset my monthly rent.

In fact, if I had it to do over again I'd do something else.  I don't know what, but certainly not this.


TS