Valkyrie. Acrylic on canvas 40 x 30 cm by Shaharee Vyaas.
Artists and the Middle Way.
Why do you have so many contemporary painters who pose with brush and pallet in their hands while most of their work consists of digitally created canvas prints? Previous generations were proud to pose with the latest tools of their craft that offered them more possibilities to increase the quality and quantity of their output. … Continue reading Artists and the Middle Way.
The $12 Million Stuffed Shark
Why would a smart New York investment banker pay $12 million for the decaying, stuffed carcass of a shark? By what alchemy does Jackson Pollock’s drip painting No. 5, 1948 sell for $140 million? Economist Don Thompson explores it in his book, tracing the money, lust, and self-aggrandizement of the art world in an attempt … Continue reading The $12 Million Stuffed Shark
Literature, Information Technology, and the Internet.
Information technology refers to the ways most literature comes nowadays into existence while the internet refers to its most popular distribution channel. The book industry has come to the realization that they have lost their monopoly of being the sole gate keepers of the literary world, while it can still be a career boost for … Continue reading Literature, Information Technology, and the Internet.
The Ripping Blogoclowns.
This article whines about the ripping and attention seeking blogo-clowns.
The US Literary Universe.
Since US literature, as represented by the US Library of Congress, has the whole universe as a subject, one could assume that this system is also governed by the same mechanisms that it describes. In the following two paragraphs I would like to outline some analogies between what most people consider as two disciplines who … Continue reading The US Literary Universe.
The Mindset of the Average Aspirant Writer on Facebook.
Under this paragraph you find a synopsis of the most recurring questions that were posted on a Facebook page about creative writing.
Resurrection as a Literary Device.
Resurrection isn’t anymore the monopoly of theologians, priests and other religious leaders, but has become also a recurring subject of intense research and speculation among artists and scientists.
Serial Series Yes. Serialized Novels NO.
Lately I’ve out of frustration canceled my Kindle Unlimited account about this issue. Too many authors don’t seem to grasp what’s the difference between a serialized novel and a serial series. Put simply: a series is a collection of books that all belong to the same “franchise” but can be read in any order (because they’re … Continue reading Serial Series Yes. Serialized Novels NO.
The Egg in Dali’s Work and in Literature.
The egg is ubiquitous in Dalí: he draws and sculpts it in all the possible shapes and sizes, and I came spontaneously to wonder; why can the eggs be found everywhere in Dali’s works?
An Author’s Thoughts about Literary Criticism.
I just take sometimes offence at some critics who base their weighting of a novel on a very narrowly defined scale and sometimes these scales are provided by academics whose job it is to provide an informed opinion about them and not some biased fodder.
The Novel as a Source of Knowledge.
Novels, while not in the business of stating truths about the world, tell a human story very often universal in scope and present them back to us as concrete forms of human engagement. A novel has the capacity to give shape, form, and structure, to the range of values, concerns, and experiences that define human reality.
The Novel as an Infinite Literary Jest.
“Fiction’s about what it is to be a fucking human being.” One who gets lost in life and takes all those tales literally, can forget that novelist very often lie in order to explain some truth.
Why do people always want to read about misery?
The simple answer? Because it makes them feel fortunate.
Literary Hoaxes: when fun turns into irritation.
So what sets the literary hoax separate from the rest of fiction?
Can we use fewer acronyms? Please?
If you don't have time to communicate while using whole sentences, better don't
The Moral Crusaders and Literary Criticism.
Once an artist releases a product, it stands on its own and must be judged as such. The only views and opinions that count, are those ventilated or provoked by the artistic creation itself.
The Reader as a Protagonist in Modern Literature.
A post about books that allow readers to become protagonists.
Pseudo-intellectualism in Modern Literature.
People who presume, not-entirely-unreasonable, that "literary fiction" represents a value judgment, fail to understand that "literary fiction" is just a marketing category (coined in the 1970's by publishing and book retailers) characterized by slower pacing, stylized prose, introspection and a focus on interior life over exterior action, a focus on character over plot. What they are not, though, are inherent markers of quality.
The Anatomy of a Best-Selling Book.
The average length of a best seller is 375 pages, set inside the USA and the protagonist is a female lawyer or detective. Romance is an upcoming segment: from 5 % of the sales in 1994 to 40 % on Amazon today and it has been demonstrated that men have a slight preference for a male main protagonist.
