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In 1967, the Jornal do Brasil asked Clarice Lispector to write a Saturday newspaper column on any topic she wished. For nearly seven years she wrote weekly, covering a wide range of topics—humans and animals, bad dinner parties, the daily activities of her two sons—but the subject matter was often besides the point. These genre-defying missives are defined by a lyricism and strangeness that readers of her fiction will recognize, though they are a thing apart in their brevity and interiority. Too Much of Life: The Complete Crônicas, which collects these columns and others Lispector wrote throughout her career, will be published in English by New Directions this September. As Lispector’s son Paulo Gurgel Valente has written, “Enjoy the columns, I know of nothing quite like them.” Today, the Review is publishing a selection of these crônicas, the second in a series.
October 26, 1968
Bravado
Z.M. felt life was slipping through her fingers. In her humility, she forgot that she herself was a source of life and creation. She went out very little, turned down any invitations. She wasn’t the kind of woman to notice when a man was interested in her unless he actually said so — then she would be surprised and welcome his interest.
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The Headlines
THE ARTISTS SPEAK. Jayson Musson, who shot to fame as the wise art YouTuber Hennessy Youngman, has his first museum show up at the Fabric Workshop in Philadelphia, and is in the New York Times. “Jokes can be powerful, but it’s not easy to tell a good joke,” he said. Feminist great Suzanne Lacy has a survey up at the Queens Museum in New York, and is in the Art Newspaper. “Activism is impacting change,” she said. “I’m not convinced that art does anything profound and unique in and of itself, but that it operates to support and push a general, social, political idea forward.” And T: The New York Times Style Magazine spoke with artists who are fighting mass incarceration through their work. “I’m not interested in only telling the story of the innocent,” Sable Elyse Smith said. “I am interested in confrontation.”
AUCTION ACTION. Entertainment giant Endeavor‘s IMG has snapped up a majority stake in the collector-car auction company Barrett-Jackson in a deal worth $261 million, Deadline reports. The firm’s many other holdings include the Frieze art fair and New York Fashion Week. Meanwhile, the estate of writer Joan Didion is heading to auction later this year at Stair Galleries in Hudson, New York, Architectural Digest reports. The material coming to the block is said to include art, furniture, and of course, books. A catalog for the offerings arrives October 31; the sale will be on November 16.
The Digest
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Boy, Warner Bros. has had a week, haven’t they?
First, they canceled Batgirl, the $90 million movie starring Leslie Grace, their first headlining Latina superhero. This decision, spurred by their merger with Discovery+, appears to be part of a strategy to eliminate mid-budget projects in favor of big budget theatrical blockbusters and cheaper streaming projects. You might wonder what the point is in wasting the $90 million already spent, but don’t worry! They’re taking a tax write-down instead. I hated typing that sentence.
Then, in a presentation to investors, CEO David Zaslav included a slide revealing that HBO Max and Discovery+ have genders now, apparently – HBO Max, home of superheroes, is “lean in” “appointment viewing” with a “male skew,” while Discovery+ has a “female skew” for their “lean back” “comfort” viewing of *checks notes* People Magazine Investigates.
Then, for some baffling reason, they changed the title of Season 3 of Pennyworth to Pennyworth: The Origin of Alfred’s Butler. I loved typing that sentence. I would type that sentence in every article I write if I could. I will never write a better joke.
Meanwhile, the merger has led to the rumored cancellations of the Strange Adventures series and a Supergirl movie set to spin off from the Flash movie (starring Sasha Calle, another Latina actress), and the confirmed axing of a Wonder Twins movie that had apparently already cast Riverdale’s KJ Apa as Zan, which is almost better than typing “The Origin of Batman’s Butler.” (“Form of…the highs and lows of high school football!”) Outlook is unclear for other announced projects such as a Ta-Nehisi Coates-scripted Superman movie and the Green Lantern TV show. The wretched-looking Gotham Knights seems to be moving forward unimpeded at the CW, though, so…yay? Plus the second Joker movie, with Lady Gaga as Harley, which is honestly pretty good casting but also kind of sounds like MadLibs.
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Ding ding ding! The Premier League is back for its second round! In the red corner we have Marcus, Jim and Vish and in the blue corner we have a very belligerent Pete Donaldson who simply will not do any research about Chelsea vs Spurs.
We discuss that thigh-rubber and look forward to Mikel Arteta’s latest biological masterpiece! Meanwhile, Brendan Rodgers takes his players up a mountain for a metaphor, there’s more questionable scoreline news in Sierra Leone, and – what? – A BRAND NEW GAME!
Tweet us @FootballRamble and email us here:
Sign up for our Patreon before the end of August and get 15% off an annual membership! Plus exclusive live events, ad-free Rambles, full video episodes and loads more: patreon.com/footballramble.
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How can you find like-minded people in your community to work with in ending censorship? It can certainly feel overwhelming and, in some instances, impossible, but now is the perfect time to find your allies and work together toward ensuring access to books and information for all.
The Florida Freedom to Read Project, helmed by Jen Cousins and Stephana Ferrell, began as two like-minded parents coming together after the Orange County Public School system removed Gender Queer. From there, they’ve grown their activism work in pushing back against book censorship across the state. Their work has been instrumental in Florida and is a model for how concerned citizens can build similar networks to protect intellectual freedom and the right to access books and information for all. Here’s how to do it (kudos to Cousins and Ferrell for sharing their tips with me).
How To Find People Who Care About Book Censorship
Connect with someone you know who cares deeply about access to books. This could be a best friend or someone you met by chance at a book club. Make a pact and hold one another accountable to one action that week, be it showing up to a board meeting or contacting the local library to let them know how much having queer books available means to you and your family. Find local parent groups on Facebook that align with your beliefs. You may find them labeled as “progressive” parent groups or you may find them via issues they champion. Much of the book banning movement emerged from anti-mask movements, so you may find like-minded people in pro-masking groups. Use these groups to see what topics are being discussed, and connect with those working on censorship issues. If no one is, that’s where you begin to solicit those eager to do that work. You may create a special project or a separate group (Moms For Liberty puts captains in charge of their projects within their chapters). Twitter and Instagram can be extremely useful. Use Twitter to follow anti-censorship groups and individuals, and then engage so you can wrap your head around the issues. You’ll be surprised how quick you connect with folks locally — and remember local might mean your town, your county, your region, or your state more broadly. Watch and read the previous recorded board meetings. You’ll know the names of everyone who shows up to speak at these meetings, and from there, you might find allies you can connect with immediately. In an era where most people are on social media, looking someone up locally is not hard, and sending them a private message of support can get the ball rolling. Wear something that highlights your values. A shirt or tote or pin against censorship will attract attention in the carpool line at school, when you walk with your kids to school, or a school board/library board meeting. This is your chance to connect with fellow like-minded individuals who are eager to do something about book bans. A FReadom shirt like this one, which supports the work of Texas Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Fund, can start a great conversation. Tap your networks. Maybe you are involved in a local animal shelter or drama group that feels removed from anti-censorship work. Wear your passion when you attend those things, and talk about them before/during/after meetings. This will get people curious.Building Your Anti-Censorship Work
Your group does not need to be big to be effective, and the more work you do, the more people will want to get involved. Here’s how to do work:
Get niche. You may be part of a big group, but getting specific in your issues will help you tackle them well. You are passionate about intellectual freedom, for example, but your group is focused on overturning book bans in schools and libraries. Ferrell likens it to being a business: you find your people and strengthen your work when you focus. You care about big issues, but your focus is on something more granular and measurable.Be yourself. Use your voice and speak up at meetings, in person, and online about the issues. You don’t need to be an expert. You need to be passionate and willing to try. Activism is an action, and the more you model that, the more people find comfort in joining you (it’s likely new to them — and you! — or something that creates anxiety since they’ve never done it before). Your words have value and power because you are a citizen in a democracy, but for parents, you have an especially vital voice in the decisions that affect your students. Identify yourself as that stakeholder. Speak at school and library board meetings. You will be seen by others as someone who is doing the work and who they can connect with to build their bravery muscles to do the same thing. Remember: even if you’re too nervous to talk at a board meeting, you can write a letter to them and send a copy to your local newspaper. This will get your name out there with stakeholders and people in your area. Research local teacher and librarian groups and get to know them. For Cousins, this meant getting to know FAME, Florida Association for Media in Education, a professional organization for school media specialists. She was able to connect with educators and learn what issues and challenges they were dealing with. You likely have a state or more local group similar to FAME. Talk with your local school library workers and get to know what their needs are. Introduce yourself as a citizen who is eager to support them and advocate on their behalf. You can build a parent network through championing their needs. Get to know your local school board and, if you have a specific individual representing your district, learn as much as you can about them. The more you get to know them, the more involved you’re able to get, and the more articulately you can speak on behalf of their needs and the needs of the broader community. Ask to talk with your board members one-on-one if talking in front of the whole board at a meeting is intimidating. They can do this, and it is an opportunity for you to voice concerns and/or ask what you can do to support their efforts against censorship. (On a personal note, I’ve sent more than one “heads up” email to a board member or administration member when I saw things happening in a community that they may not have — the gratitude is real, since they can’t have their eyes or ears on everything). When you speak, whether at a board meeting, individually with librarians or educators, or within your anti-censorship groups, emphasize that you support teachers and librarians and are their allies. Reiterate that you know their work is tough and that their passion and the pressures they face are real. Ferrell calls this knowing when to lay or pull the punch on their behalf. Befriend the teachers’ union. Teachers’ union members are often parents themselves. Support public education? You support their unions, too. As soon as educators know you have their backs, they will spread the word about your work and mission, which continues to grow your network. Bring two friends with you to the next board meeting. At the following meeting, ask them to each bring two friends. Now there are seven of you.Now What?
Resist the temptation to believe that once you’ve created a group or have shown up to a board meeting once or written a letter that you’re done. Activism is on-going work, and in an era of dismantling public education and libraries through actions such as book banning, it’s going to be a long, hard, ever-curving road. What began as complaints about a few books has blossomed out to now be a blatant attack on LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities, and it is a coordinated effort to defund and destroy public education and services.
This moment requires a lot more than a post or two. It requires doing that, plus getting five friends to do it, and then getting five more of their friends to do it. It’s something to put on the calendar and make time for regularly, even if it’s a monthly reminder to send that letter to the board or show up to a board meeting and support those talking in favor of book access for all (wear a shirt or tote with your beliefs on it, whether you speak or not!).
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Audiobooks aren’t quite my favorite way of approaching the classics (that honor falls to print books, the older and more worn the better), but they’re a close second. For stories that are more often than not over a hundred years old, sometimes it can be easy to miss the nuance and humor in the old-fashioned language. There is a reason why the younger people are, the less likely it is that they’ll enjoy the classics at first read. A good audiobook narrator can change all that.
Think about it: the best audiobook narrators bring the classics’ nuance and humor right back to the forefront. Their tonal shifts and shows of emotion can make an older story more accessible, and even relatable, to readers today. If you have trouble getting into the classics, or if you’d like to experience your favorites in a new way, audiobooks are a fantastic choice.
Speaking of fantastic choices? The eight audiobooks below knock it out of the park, both in terms of content and performance. From audiobooks narrated by actors (Charles Dickens’ words in Richard Armitage’s voice? Yes please) to those narrated by the authors themselves (fair warning, Maya Angelou’s reading of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will wreck you), you can’t go wrong with these eight classics audiobooks. You’re welcome.
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, narrated by Ben Barnes
Not content with portraying Dorian Gray in the 2009 film adaptation, Ben Barnes went ahead and narrated the entire book. The result? A rich performance that gives even more layers to this delightfully disturbing novel.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, narrated by Ruby Dee
Janie Crawford wishes for independence and true love. In her attempts to fulfill her dreams, she carves a life of her own. Ruby Dee’s extraordinary performance makes Janie’s growing determination all the more satisfying.
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Michelle Yeoh, who turned 60 last week, is a Malaysian Chinese actress, former Miss Malaysia, martial artist, and so much more — she’s lived a very bookish life and is set to continue on that path. She has recently been in the public eye as the star of Everything Everywhere All At Once, which is not based on a book but has the multiverse vibes of Sal and Gabi Break The Universe, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, and The Space Between Worlds.
Yeoh was born on August 6, 1962, in Ioph, Perak, Malaysia. She took ballet lessons beginning at age 4 and continued after her family moved to the UK when she was 15. A spinal injury while she was at the Royal Academy of Dance led her to switch majors to choreography, with a minor in drama. After a few years of beauty pageants, she appeared in a TV commercial with Jackie Chan, and began working in cinema, where she performed her own stunts.
She got her cinematic start in Hong Kong action movies, including Heroic Trio (one of my personal favorites) in 1993; the same year, she starred in Butterfly and Sword opposite Tony Leung, based on the novel Liuxing Hudie Jian by Gu Long. In 1997 she began making Hollywood movies, beginning with a starring role in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, the 18th in the series based on Ian Fleming’s novels and the second starring Pierce Brosnan.
In 2000, she starred opposite Chow Yun-fat in the internationally acclaimed, Mandarin-language film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, an American-Chinese co-production based on Wang Dulu’s Iron Crane series. A native Malay speaker who also speaks Cantonese, Yeoh learned her Mandarin lines phonetically. The movie has since been adapted as a comic book, among other things. She continued to work in both Chinese and American cinema, and in 2004 starred in the titular role in Silver Hawk, based on the character from Huang Ying by Xiao Ping.
In 2005, Yeoh starred in the adaptation of Memoirs of a Geisha, based on the best-selling novel by Arthur Golden. The film’s casting was controversial, as Yeoh is Malaysian and star Zhang Ziyi and co-star Gong Li are both Chinese, while the characters are Japanese. The film’s western box office was middling after a high opening week, and reviews were mixed; China banned the film entirely and the reception in Japan was mostly negative. It was nevertheless nominated for several awards.
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If I wasn’t reading as a kid, I was playing with dolls. I still find dolls fascinating and beautiful. I love the variety of dolls, from baby dolls to fashion dolls to artist’s mannequins. I love the rich history of dolls and how entwined doll history is with culture. One of the world’s first and most popular dolls, the paper doll, continues to thrive in new ways with doll enthusiasts of all ages. Since paper is such a delicate art form, not many whole pieces have survived history. However, paper art and paper dolls can be traced back thousands of years.
Historical Paper Arts
The predecessors of the modern paper doll were different variations of paper art across the world.
In Japan, early origami took the shape of figures in kimono. Paper art and doll making are historically linked in Japan. Hinamatsuri, or Doll’s Day, is celebrated on March 3 with expensive heirloom dolls crafted from wood, paper, and clay. The wayang puppets of Java and Bali have been in use since ancient times. Made of leather, wood, or paper, these delicately carved puppets are used to tell the stories of Hindu folklore, local stories and legends, and historical events.
The first paper dolls of Europe appeared in Slavic countries, where paper crafts continue to thrive. Paper cutting folk art, or wycinaki in Polish, began to appear around the 15th century. As popularity rose, more figures began to appear in the art. Wycinaki is and was part of home decor, toys, furniture, and gifts.
French jointed puppets, called pantins, were first fashioned after famous 17th century figures. This satirical figures were among the first mechanical toys in the west. Other common pantin figures were Commedia dell ‘arte characters, like Harlequin, Pulcinella, and Pierrot, the clowns. The early hand painted pantins were simplistic, but as printing technology progressed, more detail could be added to mass production pantins. Printed pantins and paper dolls had the advantage of intricate detail over their manufactured porcelain cousins. Mass produced pantins were printed on a sheet, much like current paper dolls, with limbs separate from the bodies. Each piece was to be cut out separately, then strings, brads, or other fastenings attached to limbs to make the dolls jump and dance. Early paper toys share a similar look to contemporary paper dolls, but even pantins, dressed up like their contemporary counterparts did not come with an assortment of paper fashions and accessories.
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