WRB—Apr. 23, 2022
To do list:
Links:
We were gratified to find in Alan Jacob’s review of W.H. Auden’s corpus in Harper's the inclusion of the poet’s late in life dismissal of “September 1, 1939”: “trash which [I am] ashamed to have written.” [William Maxwell, The New Yorker’s poetry editor, thought something similar when Auden first submitted the poem. He rejected it on the grounds that it was too long. —Nic]
The BBC turned 100 this year, and both The New Yorker and our imperial cousin have some thoughts about its future. And while we’re on that topic, Kyle Paoletta in The Nation wonders what’s next for the New York Times Book Review.
In the American Conservative, Wells King examines NASCAR’s fall from grace. [For years I thought my first memory was 9/11. But recently I discovered I have one previous memory: Dale Earnhardt’s death, which was a national tragedy in its own right. —Nic]
In Maclean’s, the story of the most prolific fish poacher on the West Coast.
April 25 & May 2, 2022 SHOUTS & MURMURS Review:
“Mario” by Simon Rich
A four-page S&M! If you’ve been waiting for a chance to read 4000 words in the Italian plumber voice, it is truly your lucky day.
[I liked. —Chris] [Co-sign. —Nic]
N.B.:
One of the Managing Editors [—Nic], along with Jack Butler, a loyal WRB reader, was interviewed for a documentary about a rash of UFO sightings in 1966 in Southern Michigan.
A graphic designer recently made a map of Washington, D.C., using its book stores as landmarks. He declined, however, to rank them. We have no such compunction: Second Story is the best [Its Rockville location is even better. —Nic], and everywhere else is just lucky to have loyal patrons. [I’m coming around on Capitol Hill a little. —Chris] [Nice location; good selection. Not bad. —Nic]
Get a jump on holiday shopping: Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s art collection is going up for auction.
Our sister publication has a sale on its poets series.
Manners
From Emily Post’s Etiquette:
If you know anyone who is always in demand, not only for dinners, but for trips on yachts and visits to country houses, you may be very sure of one thing—that popular person is first of all unselfish or else extremely gifted, and very often both.
What we’re reading:
A reader convinced Chris to pull The Name of the Rose off the shelf. That’s as far as that got. He also read the introductions to J R and The Recognitions while Nic was sitting in his living room yesterday. New issues of Harper’s and Liberties arrived recently, and he’s excited to look through those this weekend.
Nic used the Metro for the first time since last year and had a blast. He rode a large chunk of the Red Line and read The Recognitions. He was quite taken by it. His wife finds Gaddis tedious, but she is out of town for the next week, so he’ll probably just binge this brick.
He also found a copy of Salvation on Sand Mountain in a Little Free Lending Library. If you haven’t read it, you should. [Co-sign. —Chris]
Upcoming books:
May 10 | Verso
Girl Online: A User Manual
by Joanna Walsh
From The Paris Review: A woman is a woman, to borrow from Godard, but once she’s online, argues Joanna Walsh in her new book-length essay, Girl Online: A User Manual, she becomes a girl. In a series of meditations and “thought experiments” exploring motherhood, blogs, women’s writing, and the meaning of work both on and off the screen, Walsh examines the relationship between looking and being looked at, watching and being watched, that is inherent to both the internet and femininity. “What’s a girl to do with communication technology?” she asks. “I mean both, ‘Why is a girl like a screen?’ and ‘What is she doing in front of it / on it?’ ” The answer is clear, Walsh explains, in a passage that draws from Marshall McLuhan’s Understanding Media: “Selling herself, of course.”
Poem:
“Hard Night” by Osip Mandelstam, translated by Christian Wiman
Hard night. Homer. Homeless sails.
I’ve listened to the list of ships in my own voice.
I've seen, as my own voice fails,
Those strange cranes arrowing sorrowing over Hellas.Ever alien, ever more interior, these shores,
And the sun-flecked, god-picked wings glinting spray—
Anxiety’s army, ghost souls of Achaea,
Without your one longing, what is dying for?The singer and the sea, all things are moved by love.
But what is that to me? Homer is dead.
And a wall of silence, eerily eloquent,
Breaks like a black wave above my bed.
The WRB Classifieds:
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Personals
In Tacoma, WA: Energetic, creative, and voracious reader (F24) seeks nice Catholic boy with a sense of humor and openness to adventure. Cat lover a plus. [Email WRB with subject “Pugetaboudit”]
28, male, in D.C. looking for people to be socially anti-social with at either Suns Cinema or the Landmark theaters (usually Chinatown) where tickets are $7 on Mondays and Tuesdays. Not big on horror, but generally does not discriminate by genre. [Email WRB with subject: “The Search”]
In D.C./NOVA: Trained singer and pianist (23F) seeks other amateur musicians to play music together casually, and/or conquer DC’s karaoke scene. Some musical ability is a plus, but altogether unnecessary. [Email WRB with subject: “The Song on a Lark”]
Wanted: 30ish woman for The National-esque doctor in American midwest. Belief in predestination and disbelief in fibromyalgia preferred. [Email WRB with subject: “Coffee and Flowers”]
In D.C.: Young man has found people to play tennis with, but is leaving an open offer to play. [Email WRB with subject: “Tennis, Anyone?”]
Help Wanted
Executive Director at Lincoln network seeking Research Editor to support him and rest of the team. Position can be remote, salary is $60–80k, benefits are good, including unlimited PTO. If you are like technology, know what MITI is, write and research well, and are literate, please email schonanderl@joinlincoln.org with a pitch for yourself.
Mid-20s parents looking for young, unmarried Catholic woman who’s interested in children and wants to be in the DC area long term.
DC-local male seeking recommendations for DC-local locales to purchase oddities in the service of bedroom decoration. Economical ideas preferred. [Email WRB with subject “Priceless Moments”]
Man, single, 26, seeking to enter the next phase of life and settle down. Low-maintenance preferred, but open to a fixer-upper. Will travel to meet with respondent. No Mazdas, please. [Email WRB with subject: “Passengers Not Included”]
Aging millennial looking for a piano teacher near Fairfax. [Email WRB with subject: “Tickling the Ivories”]
Services Offered
Freelance copyeditor with 10 years’ professional experience editing everything from poetry to scholarly works on long-dead Native American languages offering services to writers everywhere. Email h.gokie@gmail.com for rates and availability.
Need a host, MC, or just jokes? Contact DC comedian Joe Pappalardo. For tickets to shows and comedy clips, click HERE. Follow him everywhere @pappalardofunny.
Want to start a podcast but have no idea where to start? Contact podcast expert and Washington Review of Books reader Shadrach Strehle! One client called his rates “cheap,” and his work “exceptional.” But don’t take his word for it, try Shad yourself! For info and a consultation contact Shadrach Strehle at shadrach.strehle@gmail.com.
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Exhortations
Pray the Rosary daily!