Thief! Thief!

I'm a bit late to this piece written in 2007, but my brother just tipped me off to a great article in Harper's: The ecstasy of influence: A plagiarism. A great meditation on the ways that plagiarism is pervasive in creative works (music, poetry, literature). 

And if you're intrigued by the intro--in which we learn that the original story Lolita was written in 1918, and not by Nabokov--I've found a translation online here. 

Miscellany.

Relatively new blog I like: Schott's Vocab: A Miscellany of Modern Words and Phrases. 

I <3 short stories

Now I know that I'm not the only one in America who likes to read short stories. It turns out AO Scott (film critic at the New York Times) is pulling for a return to the form. See: In Praise of the American Short Story. To me, there are few things more satisfying to read than a bit of Flannery O'Connor, Roald Dahl or some short Hemingway. They show just how powerful a few pages can be. 

Some of my faves:

A Good Man Is Hard To Find (O'Connor) 

Royal Jelly (Dahl) 

Hills Like White Elephants (Hemingway)

BONUS PICKS: 

Big Blonde (Dorothy Parker)

Welcome to the Monkeyhouse (Kurt Vonnegut)

I'm taking recommendations, if you want to drop anything in the comments.