Required Reading
Editor’s Note: The following post contains mentions of sexual assault. To reach the National Sexual Assault Hotline, call 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit online.rainn.org.
‣ Netflix recently adapted a beloved novel by the late Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez — “Gabo” to his devotees — and people have thoughts. But who better to hash it out than his own colleague and friend? Novelist Ariel Dorfman writes in LitHub:
And yet, for anyone who has read the novel—as I have, some six or seven times, since I was first enchanted by it in 1967, one of its initial readers thanks to my job as literary critic for Ercilla, Chile’s premier newsmagazine, something essential is missing.
If Gabo’s novel were only his sprawling plot and fascinating incidents, the Netflix series could be hailed as a lavish triumph. But the novel is above all a feat of language. Like all truly revolutionary works of art, it contained, from its first iconic line, a singular strategy for conveying the world being deployed, one that would change the course of world literature.
It is that unique outlook which has been lost.
Only to focus on one of the most intriguing, heraldic incidents in the novel. To the remote village of Macondo, founded by the Buendías and their friends as a paradise where death holds no sway, comes the Plague of Insomnia, its ravages anticipating, one realizes later, the apocalyptic destiny of the town and its inhabitants. By keeping its victims perpetually awake it divests them of memories and individuality. Among the many descriptions of the pestilence’s symptoms, there is this jewel: “In that state of lucid hallucination, they did not only see the images of their own dreams but could see the images dreamt by others.” A fantastic vision that’s not included in the Netflix epic (indeed, how could something like that be filmed concisely, without interrupting the narrative flow?)
‣ In the Los Angeles Review of Books, novelist Colm Tóibín narrates his experience of the LA County fires and the loss of the personal library of late writer Gary Indiana, which arrived in the area hours before the blazes began:
Then the sun began to go down. It was a livid red with a sickly fog all around it. It stayed just over the horizon for longer than necessary, showing off. We drove up to the hill to look at it. There was thick smoke in the distance and there was smoke in the air. The sun went down.
I was on deadline for a catalogue essay. I had my notebooks and some art books and my laptop on my desk. I spent Wednesday evening writing. ‘This is how they found him,’ I could imagine them saying, ‘writing his little sentences while LA burned.’ News came of many more friends who had lost their houses in Altadena.
I went to bed late on Wednesday, with my two bags packed and placed where they could be easily found if we woke with no power in the house and the need to get out of here fast. I really should have put air into the tyres of the two bicycles, but I didn’t.
Thursday morning was quiet. The Hollywood fire got put out, but the others were still raging. The acrid smell got into the house. Outside, thin pieces of ash flew wistfully in the air. There was no wind. Still, there were many friends with no electricity and no sign that it would come back. When we went out in the car at around midday some shops were open, but most were not. At the corner of York and 64th, the man who sells chopped fruit was still there, chopping away. Word came that the very air was poisonous.
‣ The last pupil of Sergei Rachmaninoff just turned 100 years old. Maddy Shaw Roberts writes about Ruth Slenczynska’s incredible career for Classic FM — featuring a clip of her playing piano at age five (the raised pedals are too precious):
During lockdown, Slenczynska uploaded videos of herself performing Beethoven sonatas to YouTube, to celebrate the German composer’s 250th anniversary.
Despite her age, the pianist is still an active performer and most recently played at Chopin International Festival and Friends in October 2021 in the Polish Embassy in New York. In February 2022, she celebrated her 97th birthday with a recital at Lebanon Valley College, Pennsylvania.
Slenczynska’s album, My Life in Music, explores the music of Chopin, a composer who had a heavy influence on the young pianist’s childhood.
According to her memoir, Forbidden Childhood, Slenczynska was made to practise all 24 Études before breakfast every morning by her father, Josef Slenczynski, who was a skilled violinist.
‣ Vulture‘s Lila Shapiro reported on the disturbing abuse Neil Gaiman allegedly perpetrated for decades, all while presenting himself as a feminist to the public. Read her piece with care:
This past July, a British podcast produced by Tortoise Media broke the news that two women had accused Gaiman of sexual assault. Since then, more women have shared allegations of assault, coercion, and abuse. The podcast, Master, reported by Paul Caruana Galizia and Rachel Johnson, tells the stories of five of them. (Gaiman’s perspective on these relationships, including with Pavlovich, is that they were entirely consensual.) I spoke with four of those women along with four others whose stories share elements with theirs. I also reviewed contemporaneous diary entries, texts and emails with friends, messages between Gaiman and the women, and police correspondence. Most of the women were in their 20s when they met Gaiman. The youngest was 18. Two of them worked for him. Five were his fans. With one exception, an allegation of forcible kissing from 1986, when Gaiman was in his mid-20s, the stories take place when Gaiman was in his 40s or older, a period in which he lived among the U.S., the U.K., and New Zealand. By then, he had a reputation as an outspoken champion of women. “Gaiman insists on telling the stories of people who are traditionally marginalized, missing, or silenced in literature,” wrote Tara Prescott-Johnson in the essay collection Feminism in the Worlds of Neil Gaiman. Although his books abounded with stories of men torturing, raping, and murdering women, this was largely perceived as evidence of his empathy.
‣ With a ceasefire reportedly set to begin on Sunday, the Israeli military continues to bomb Gaza. Ammar Kaskeen, writing for the Independent from Gaza, explains why the prospect of a ceasefire is not enough:
The ordeal of just getting flour is also the reason I started the initiative I work on, Vegan for Gaza, bringing food to the north. I realised that the greatest gift I could give anyone was a cup of flour. But I missed green food. So, 285 days ago, I borrowed money from friends and the community and convinced some displaced farmers in eastern Gaza to go back to the farms and harvest whatever was left. From there, I would buy it and with help from Vegans for Palestine, distribute it to the families most in need. It is restoring hope through vegetables.
My fear now – and the fear of every Palestinian in Gaza – is the final hours before the ceasefire. We worry that Israel will try to finish up the war – and genocide – by dropping more bombs on us. I am desperately afraid that I will have spent 15 months counting days of misery and desperation, only to be killed on the very last day. People are too scared to leave their houses, or to form crowds, in case they are targeted.
‣ With Donald Trump set to take office on Monday, the Gothamist‘s Arya Sundaram reports on local know-your-rights sessions for immigrants and undocumented people in New York City, including students from mixed-status families:
“We need to get students prepared on what to do,” said Torres, now the head English instructor at Fifth Avenue Committee, the nonprofit that runs the English classes as well as other workforce development and social services programs. “We’ll prepare them for the worst-case scenario.”
Throughout the city, schools, libraries and community groups are offering such sessions to arm immigrants without legal status on the dos and don’ts of interacting with federal immigration enforcement officers, ahead of Trump’s promised crackdown on immigration.
The potential local audience for the workshops is considerable. The Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, in a report last year, estimated that roughly 412,000 undocumented immigrants lived in the city as of 2022.
‣ George Orwell is getting a commemorative coin in the UK, writes Smithsonian Magazine‘s Julia Binswanger:
Designed by artist Henry Gray, the coin’s reverse features a large eye with the words “Big Brother is watching you” circling the iris. Orwell’s name is inscribed underneath. On its edge is another quote from the novel, “There was truth and there was untruth.”
“With phones and cameras being everywhere in your house, and being listened to by advertisers on your phone, you are really aware of how you’re being surveyed—and that’s what Nineteen Eighty-Four is all about,” says Gray in a statement from the Mint.
That’s why the eye in Gray’s design “isn’t a realistic eye; it doesn’t have eyelashes and things like that because I wanted it to be monocular,” he adds. “It’s almost like a camera lens staring at you all the time, unblinking.”
‣ The goodest boy, courtesy of Instagram Reels (RIP TikTok ?):
‣ Babe, wake up, new Love Is Blind season just dropped:
‣ To be a woman is to perform:
Required Reading is published every Thursday afternoon, and it is comprised of a short list of art-related links to long-form articles, videos, blog posts, or photo essays worth a second look.
🔗 Source: Original Source
📅 Published on: 2025-01-17 00:38:00
🖋️ Author: Lakshmi Rivera Amin – An expert in architectural innovation and design trends.
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Note: This article was reviewed and edited by the archot editorial team to ensure accuracy and quality.
