An Obsession With English "Why do people get so agitated about linguistic misuses and even about changes in the language? Is English in a bad state? Are things getting worse? These questions have been made topical by Lynne Truss's bestselling Eats, Shoots & Leaves and by the spate of books (and a television show) on similar themes by authors hoping to benefit from her success." Prospect 12/28/04
Posted: 12/27/2004 7:00 pm
America - Closed Society? "Why is American culture, and the American intelligentsia in particular, so closed off from what's happening in the rest of the world? Why do we still need Paris to tell us what's going on (if we still even listen to it)? If anything, the situation is more dire than it used to be, when instability or repression in Europe supplied us with a steady stream of émigrés who acted as a bridge back to their former world. Susan Sontag used to play a similar role, but she no longer does, and no one's taken her place. The more we impose our image on the world, it seems, the more foreign the world becomes." The Nation 01/03/05
Posted: 12/27/2004 4:24 pm
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Romania's HellHouse Of Contemporary Art Romania has a new museum of contemporary art in a giant palace built by dictator Nikolai Ceausescu. "The building is monstrous, a megalomaniacal blend of baroque, neo-Gothic and modernism, sprawling over the middle of Bucharest. Its cruel facade is lined with row upon row of windows: Romanians call them "the big eye of Ceausescu". The critic Ami Barik, meanwhile, describes the Palace as "architectural pornography ... meant to exhibit the organs of power in colossal erection". Twenty per cent of the city, including some of its oldest churches, was torn down to make way for it. Workers died in near-forced labour conditions; others are said to have been killed to protect its secrets. No wonder Bucharest's inhabitants view the House/Palace with a respect tinged with bitterness." The Guardian (UK) 12/28/04
Posted: 12/27/2004 4:43 pm
Record Numbers To UK Museums In 2004 - Is This Good? Britons flocked to UK museums this year - "6 million more people passed through their doors, bringing the overall increase since admission charges were ditched for important national collections to 75%. Yesterday, the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, called the figures "incredible", and promised that free admission would continue to be a cornerstone of government policy. However, the Art Fund charity warned that the spectacular increase may prove "a hollow victory" without proper compensation for museums that formerly charged or adequate funds for museums that never charged but have lost out badly in recent spending rounds." The Guardian (UK) 12/27/04
Posted: 12/27/2004 4:34 pm
Are The Barnes' Plans Reasonable? The decision to allow the Barnes Collection to move to Philadelphia is just the beginning of a long process. And are the Barnes' projections realistic? "The Barnes has budgeted $150 million to build a 120,000- to 150,000-square-foot building, to move into it, and to create an endowment." Some experts question the plan: "All of the numbers are perfectly reasonable, but all are at the optimistic end of the scale of reasonable. Together in combination, the overall outcome is unreasonable. So the Barnes must either raise more than $150 million up front, or scale back its plans. That would require some tough, tough choices." Philadelphia Inquirer 12/27/04
Posted: 12/27/2004 3:19 pm
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Philanthropic Nature - Britain Lags Behind Breitain's level of charitable giving is quite low, especially compared with America. "Victorian Britain invented modern philanthropy, but in the 20th century an important strand of British opinion, mainly on the left, came to see charity as a poor alternative to state-funded provision, Americans have had no such qualms. Since the time of de Tocqueville's early 19th-century celebration of voluntary associations as a cornerstone of US democracy, philanthropy has enjoyed an honoured place in the American story." Prospect 01/05
Posted: 12/27/2004 7:05 pm
Cork Is For Culture Cork, Ireland is about to be crowned the new European Capital of Culture. It's the smallest city to win the title. "An ambitious programme of more than 230 events and projects range from the international to the idiosyncratically local, from Relocation, the pan-European theatrical collaboration which will transform the city centre in the summer, to celebrations of the late rock guitarist and local hero Rory Gallagher, and of the Corkonian passion for Gaelic football and hurling. Meanwhile hundreds of needles have already been clicking for a mammoth textile project, the Knitting Map, the pattern incorporating CCTV street images and satellite imaging." The Scotsman 12/26/04
Posted: 12/27/2004 3:38 pm
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Rushdie: Horrified At Lack Of Official Criticism Of Sikh Violence Author Salman Rushdie, who had to go into hiding after being the subject of a religious fatwa, says he's dismayed to see the response of official Britain to the death threats against a Sikh playwright in Birmingham. "It has been horrifying to see the response. It is pretty terrible to hear government ministers expressing approval of the ban and failing to condemn the violence, when they should be supporting freedom of expression." The Telegraph (UK) 12/26/04
Posted: 12/27/2004 3:28 pm
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What (S)he Said... Given how fiercely authors fight to make and then maintain their literary reputations, it's amazing the odd things some of them say in interviews. Herewith, a compendium from the past year... The Times (UK) 12/26/04
Posted: 12/27/2004 4:01 pm
Freaking Out Over Language For 15 years now, the Modern Language Association has seen its annual year-end conference dominated by "skirmishes between old-school traditionalists and the increasing powerful new breed of postmodernists, multiculturalists, feminists and queer-theory advocates." But "the circus is looking pretty threadbare, and the ones trying to do the freak show aspect of it are looking silly now." The New York Times 12/27/04
Posted: 12/27/2004 7:08 am
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