fade theory

I’m a sucker for obituaries. In fact, I’m sure I’d be quite happy writing obituaries. They combine all of my favorite writing topics: interesting people, current events, and history. What’s not to love? The death part, I guess. And such is the case in these two recent deaths: Otis Chandler (transformer/former publisher of the LA Times) and Sybille Bedford (novelist and memoirist).
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Check out Narrative Magazine, featuring fiction and non-fiction writing. Even if you read nothing else, you must read “Shy” by Ric Bass. It’s simply gorgeous:

When you’re shy, and a writer, it’s not the same as being just, say, shy and a mechanic, or shy and a typist: I mean, people know you’re watching them. It’s like you’ve lost all your privacy—you can’t even stand in a crowd and be quiet and watch things, because they know what you’re up to—and then if that crowd happens to be other writers, well, that’s the worst, it’s just the absolute worst.

(via The Millions)
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The Olive Reader (Harper Perennial’s blog) ponders handwriting.
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I haven’t gotten around to reading the Life of Pi yet, but I’m very interested in the on-going competition for the illustrated edition. An illustrator will be picked in April, and the Times has a gallery of the shortlist picks. (via Drawn!)
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Ever wonder how public libraries got started, or what’s so great about the Dewey Decimal System?
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I’ve both read and seen A Clockwork Orange, but I must admit the film made a greater (or longer-lasting) impression on me. And I must admit that I never considered either to be a work of genius, though Theodore Dalrymple’s (great name, eh?) “A Prophetic and Violent Masterpiece” is quite convincing.

And surprising. Did you know that Burgess’s American publisher omitted the last chapter so the book wouldn’t end happily? A lot has changed in 44 years.