MetaFilter posts tagged with prose

Excellent fiddlesticks for the insolent rascal, and other ways to while the days

filthy light thief — Fri, 29 May 2009 13:32:57 -0800

As a belated tribute (of sorts) to Victoria Day, may you find interest in a variety of Victorina era literature, short and long. In the short category, there is Chit-Chat of Humor, Wit, and Anecdote (Edited by Pierce Pungent; New York: Stringer & Townsend (1857), who has written quite a bit of such work) [via mefi projects], and Conundrums New and Old (Collected by John Ray Frederick; J. Drake & Company Publishers Chicago, 1902) [via mefi projects] This publishing house also published The Art of Characturing, copyright 1941. If you prefer your antiquated humor with a twist, take a gander at bizarro version of Conundrums New and Old [via mefi projects]. In the category of longer works, behold the The Lost Novels of Victorian New Zealand [via an older mefi projects]. The lost novels is a free online archive of New Zealand and Pacific Islands texts and heritage materials, provided by the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre, which is part of the Victoria University of Wellington. The content of the online archive ranges from novels written or set in New Zealand to shorter fiction that appeared in local pamphlets and newspaper supplements, and covers a broad range of topics. The long list of archive projects are available under various licenses, and where the original text is out of copyright it is our policy to provide the digitised version under a New Zealand Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License (CC BY-CA).

Autobiography of Read

zoomorphic — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 07:27:18 -0800

Happy Birthday, Anne Carson! The iconoclastic modern poet who published the arresting, compulsively readable Autobiography of Red turned 57 this weekend. The Canadian writer has been called “a philosopher of heartbreak” and “unclassifiable” due to her genre-bending novel in prose poetry, though in her own words she is measured and cerebral. Professor of the Classics, recognized as one of the definitive translators of Sappho, Carson’s appealing mastery of ancient literature and contemporary prose has garnered her more mainstream attention than many of her contemporaries, as well as peer accusations of shilling pretentious, anti-bourgeois pastiche, fomenting an intra-critics debate. So where do you stand? Read her poetry for yourself. Enjoy.

This is a sexual harassment suit.

saslett — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:24:26 -0800

Everyone's favorite pro se plaintiff, Jonathan Lee Riches, whose complaints have previously graced Metafilter's front page, has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit [pdf] against Eliot Spitzer. For those who have trouble making out Riches's one-page handwritten complaint, it reads: "This is a sexual harassment suit. Gov. Spitzer is try [sic] to sell me for prison prostitution labor to Albany legislators. Spitzer threatend [sic] to take my money like he did with Grasso. all [sic] corporate convictions Spitzer used the fines to pay for prostitutes for himself and implants for Silda. I'm personally offened [sic], I seek a restraining order Against [sic] him." Baseball fans may want to check out his lawsuit against Atlanta Braves pitcher Tom Glavine, who apparently can throw a mean pitcher of lemonade.

This is a baseball writing thread

anotherpanacea — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:19:29 -0800

John Rawls gives six reasons why baseball is the best of all games. Marianne Moore's "Baseball & Writing." John Updike's "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu." "Let no one post 'Casey,'" shall be the whole of the law.

the cupboard, the cupboard.

hama7 — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 18:47:34 -0800

The Cupboard.

Pro Se Poetry

saslett — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 00:22:22 -0800

It's common for pro se prisoners to sue unusual defendants, but never before have I seen a list of defendants [pdf] so awe-inspiring. Francois Rabelais would truly be proud. Unfortunately, this particular prisoner's follow up lawsuit against Atlanta Falcons Quarterback Michael Vick isn't nearly so entertaining.

Bad Writing = Good Writing?

gregb1007 — Thu, 30 Oct 2003 20:02:25 -0800

Bad Writing = Good Writing? The academic journal Philosophy and Literature used to hold a "Bad Writing Contest" to ridicule dense, unreadable academic prose... but a new book argues headache inducing sentences are necessary to express subtle theoretical points.

Evelyn Waugh, 1903-2003

MiguelCardoso — Sun, 20 Apr 2003 23:07:14 -0800

Why Isn't Evelyn Waugh The Most Popular Great Writer On Earth? It's his centenary this year and it's time to ask why such an irrefutably superb prose stylist - after Samuel Beckett, I rate him last century's funniest and most perceptive tragicomic writer, the best since Dr. Johnson - is still not as widely known and loved as his work deserves? Is it because he was so utterly reactionary and misanthropic, as brought out by this adorable BBC interview? After all, other far more reactionary writers, such as Ezra Pound, Fernando Pessoa, Gottfried Benn, Georg Trakl, T.S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, Allan Tate or Philip Larkin are, arguably, more widely read today than Waugh is. Which brings me to my question: are poets forgiven their ideological trespasses far more than is the case with novelists and essayists? Why? Isn't this one of the most unfortunate - and unfair! - consequences of today's outrageously politically correct culture? I fear so. And hate so, too! [A little more on Evelyn Waugh inside... ]